Being Unsympathetic: Psychology’s Secret Weapon For Managing Pain

People often think about chronic pain as only benefitting from medical treatment and interventions. Jessica Pullins focuses on an essential strategy for lowering pain-related distress: being “unsympathetic.” In this case, “unsympathetic” refers to the Sympathetic Nervous System, the part of the Autonomic Nervous System responsible for the Fight or Flight (or Freeze) Response. Recorded on 02/18/2016. [6/2016] [Show ID: 30797]
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[@akashverma5756]

Internet is better therapist than my local therapists.

[@ssppeeccttrruumm]

Some I learnt myself through the internet and intuition but if I had a psych like her I wonder how many years of suffering I could have prevented. Better late than never. I love how the model for chronic pain is changing.

[@MorGan-jz9hx]

Luv you thanks

[@nunaubzness3266]

What a wonderful human being. She seems very sincere and caring toward people who need help.

[@brownsugr111]

It was the universe that brought this video to me.

[@anitahaynes6171]

So happy to watch and listen to you. You put together the missing pieces. Hope the doctors and counselor listen to understand chronic pain that patients experience. I've been trying to put it together but you are the first I've seen and heard in 20 years. Thank you. I had resisted the video based on title. So happy I watched to day and hope I can find more from you. I just read comments and now I know others have been where I have been.

[@American_Eagle]

Excellent presentation. Thank you!

[@jimbattaglia8317]

Best presentation on the subject I have heard. Excellent

[@cinnamon4605]

Thank You JP.

[@voulieav]

Amazing video. Need more on/like this.

[@flying71jd]

Thank you !!

[@7heavenlyvirtues]

That was a great lecture. Thank you.

[@whit2642]

This, for me, is beyond fascinating and very informative... it’s a whole new perspective on evil and how it manifests.

[@yvette3831]

Very clear and approachable presentation. You are very smart because you took a very technical topic and made understandable. Thank you.

[@AviZvi]

Brilliant. Thank you

[@flutterbyenterprises8452]

Thank you this has explained my symptoms

[@manxx25]

WOW. this is very much what i have been in - reflux and gallstones - I don't know how I kept my job for those two horrible years. Wife has some dead bone at hip and a helluva lotta pain- had one hip replaced and one hip going to be replaced. we both had/have all of this. Knew about some of these connections, but didn't know that it keeps you marinating in danger juice. This is pretty amazing.

[@jrobertmoore9406]

Story of my life, and my local university neurology department says there is no treatment for the sympathetic and para sympathetic imbalance, especially as out of balance mine is, so they discharge me as too complex and too time consuming....smh

[@marpeot-Ekim]

16:30 emotinal response to sympatetic

[@Theta-i1n]

LOVE "....that popcorn kernel probably didn't really hurt as much as I thought it did when I thought it was a hornet."

[@hannahbear9683]

This was very interesting and helpful. :)

[@Elliebellie4729]

Hannah Bear she’s my mom :)

[@Buddhabellie]

Thank you. I've gone through 2 pain management classes and I really just need to watch this almost weekly to remember anything when those flare ups happen. Talk about tunnel vision. Keep fighting the good fight....

[@jilllindfield2187]

Sadly each time I “do things” regardless of my pain…..I end up in nervous breakdown again and again. I have a lumbar spinal fusion and thoracic outlet syndrome, where my brachial plexus bundles (which control the sympathetic nervous system) have been compressed all my life by strong fibrous bands, hence they are dysfunctional, whatever I do with my arms causes me “anxiety as a symptom” …..

[@indiabharat5014]

Get tested for.bacterial.infevtion like Lyme and Brucellosis. Also, start don't breathwork along with vagus nerve exercises. You will come out of this.

[@Aamina101]

how do you heal this? a constantly on fight or flight? i think this is what is happening to me and i’m scared to get heart problems and other problems in the future

[@brentcarey9616]

See a pain psychologist

[@Truerealism747]

How are you now

[@whit2642]

What if the chronic pain is emotional due to an outside prolonged abuse by family >10yrs and they show ALL these symptoms but inverse of it being an actual OUCH pain

[@puddyt]

1:10 - basically word for word described my life story

[@kitten1122]

chronic pain isnt a condition, its a symptom. we deserve REAL HEALTHCARE! not this neglect and abuse. its so easy to tell who has never had chronic pain because they believe you can just think it away.

[@racquellwiggins4609]

At 13mins, she explains why pain persists even though the injury has healed...

[@hilhud5523]

This is amazing! Why was that person coughing sooooo annoying 🤣

[@JCResDoc94]

13:00 it doesnt hurt any less - no damage chronic pain.

[@CaptainWumbo]

My feeling is that chronic pain is too broad a category, there are worlds of difference in the intensity of pain a person can experience, and worlds of difference in how the location of the pain affects you, and of course if the pain is associated with trauma from being assualted and mutilated. The truth is that some people have it much worse than others. All the examples being about the back, or the arm, or the leg... kind of proves the point. Such pain is easier to live with. Sometimes any snake oil is enough to give a placebo effect if the pain is mild enough, if someone just needs permission to stop obsessing over the pain and seeking sympathy.

[@janny474]

Some people kill themselves due to back stenosis so I don't see how back pain could be considered "mild". It depends on the MRI. Many people can't walk due to their back condition. Ever.

[@youdontwanttoknow5203]

@35:40 "You're trying to tell your body there's nothing to be afraid of" When you're in so much pain and it's caused by a real physical problem (like severe arthritis) it becomes impossible to focus. I still go for walks, but they are not enjoyable. Every step is painful and jarring - and the arthritis isn't in my legs, but my arm. You try going 4 - 5 miles every day to not break your routine when your in extreme pain. Walking gently for me is not an option. That's not me. What makes me angry is that I can't get the medical relief that is available because of the opiophobia out there. Just one more dose would be a big help. Or double the dose for when I wake up during the night - the meds work during the day, but not at night. I need a more effective dose. I can't get my sleep and it's driving me nuts and so is the pain. No amount of psychobabble is going to change that. And neither is psychiatric dope

[@patsaultz721]

damn she's talking about me

[@thumbprint7150]

Thank you for uploading this lecture. And thank you Jessica Pullins; great presentation. It's interesting and useful and I will watch it again to better absorb it. PS what is written on Jessica's hand?

[@jesspattphotos]

Hi! Dr. Pullins here. I have ADHD so I write notes in Sharpie on my hand. I think I wrote “Costanza” and “hornets” for this presentation. 😂

[@vKarl71]

There's a lot of overlap here with depression in all the areas she's talking about.

[@youdontwanttoknow5203]

The pain causes depression. Let's not get the cart before the horse.

[@youdontwanttoknow5203]

Old back injuries that have stabilized can destabilize again. There actually may be new damage.

[@mohannadzaaza5162]

All Love ❤️ ❤️❤️

[@JCResDoc94]

1:09:50 trauma re-trigger by injury

[@JCResDoc94]

28:00 neg attribution due to sys exhaust (+hyperVig/+insom/+adreno)

[@joshuaforgenie773]

What about when your mind persieves harmless things as threats

[@youdontwanttoknow5203]

How about when your doctor is a threat? When any doctor is a threat?

[@JCResDoc94]

1:02:00 Question time.

[@Nan-59]

Ohhh. I thought it said this was 17 minutes!!! I saw somebody post that said something about one hour or something or other to look at whatever and looking again I see it’s one hour and ...whatever minutes!! Idk for sure. You can’t look back at the video when you’re typing a comment.

[@kalvinboatman2996]

Captions please.

[@andecap1325]

most people that go to the doctor are ignorant of the fact that you can google symtoms diagnosis,treatments,and causes for free!!!

[@7heavenlyvirtues]

Howdy!

[@janny474]

It's not that in chronic pain the injury is no longer there. You can have herniated discs that are not eligible for surgery and will keep causing the pain. The tissues haven't healed and it's not in their heads.

[@robinhoman8594]

Herniated discs can heal. First you must take away the poor mechanics that are stressing the disc, centralize the tissue, and then provide time to heal. In almost all cases, surgery is not necessary if it is truly due to a discogenic pathology.

[@janny474]

@@robinhoman8594 could you please share a link on this?

[@robinhoman8594]

@@janny474 well I don't necessarily have a link off the top of my head. Overall, connective tissue has the capacity to heal in about 6-8 weeks ( think broken bones, 6 weeks in a cast). That is with connective tissue that has quality blood supply. Disks ( annular fibrosus and nucleus pulpulsous) do not have a fantastic blood supply but they do have the ability to metabolize tissue and excrete their by products. If you look of "Robin Mckenzies repeated motions" there are mechanical techniques to "push" the disk into the preferred shape. If you can maintain position, by improving lifting mechanics, avoiding prolonged seated positions, and providing a quality enviroment, it will heal. Due to poor blood supply it takes significantly longer which is why disks get a bad rapt. The neurophysilogic changes that occur during this time, explained in the video, are what lead many to suffer for years and years.

[@janny474]

@@robinhoman8594 thanks.

[@jilllindfield2187]

@@robinhoman8594 that’s actually really quite incorrect. A disc bulge may heal IF it has not desiccated and split on the inside of the disc and allowed disc fluid to leak out and new nerves to grow into the damaged disc, in an attempt at the body repairing it, this then causes even more pain……your blanket statement is not a good one to share actually…..it disheartens others who arnt in your situation

[@nononouh]

4 27

[@christran2557]

This is free

[@Truerealism747]

Tms

[@mariahorne610]

To me it seems that if you have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression and have chronic pain...then when you express the pain to doctors you are referred to a pain psychologist. No one knows how a person feel. If you have a toothache!!! You need counseling..BS

[@unsponsrd]

Still stands 2 years later 😒 anxiety is horrible and feels untreatable.

[@youdontwanttoknow5203]

Totally agree. This can't be about arthritis that is bone on bone and it's a real injury causing the problem. I can do biofeedback - the problem is that it does nothing for the pain.

[@laviniadumais17]

Bs

[@TraversyMedia]

What the hell is BS? Everything she has said is just science