A systems view of biological health

Section 4: Application and Practical exercises

13 : Specific applications: 2. Central sensitisation and ongoing pain

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Central asensitisation is the result of a feedback loop. Your body-mind does not understand context or even discriminate between uinside and outside - since it relies on the cognitive level of mind to make these distinctions. Therefore, fear of the body - and particularly fear of pain (including anxiety, worry, and general emotional agitation about internal processes) is confused by the body-mind as being about some external mortal life-threat. Its response is then two-fold :

1. Healing is delayed
2. The body assumes that you need more information about the danger, and so presents more information. Thus, pain levels go up. As the aversion to and fear of the pain incerase, so the survival urgency increases and the nervous system responds by increasing your awareness of it.

The audio track goes some way to explaining how to interrupt and reverse central sensitisation. A brief and inadequate summary of this is something like : (a) Some cognitive input is required. (b) It's important to at least begin to re-frame your attitude towards your body to one that is more compassionate and less fearful or hateful. (c) It's important to begin to find and explore spaces in your field of attention that are outside the pain. And (d) it's also important to at least begin to build skills in shifting attention in ways that suit the way your nervous system evolved.