Glossary

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists past usual healing time, and is usually considered as pain that persists more than 3-6 months. Healing implies an injury, and it’s important to note that chronic pain can also occur without any triggering injury.

Extinction Burst

This refers to an intensifying of symptoms that some people experience before the symptoms start to reduce.

Fight or Flight response (fight/flight/freeze/fawn)

This is the automatic and instinctive response of the body in a threatening situation, triggering the urge to fight or run away (flight). Researchers have now also identified the freeze/fawn response in addition to the more commonly known ones. Freeze describes a response to trauma where one dissociates, and fawn describes a survival strategy where a person tries to please/appease others.

Inner Child work

This is the reparenting we do when we go back and ask the child within us to speak, and allow him/her/them to know we are listening. I have many references to this work and how to do it in my podcast and retreats. I also have an Inner Child meditation, here. My Inner Child Mini Retreat is also available to purchase here.

Journalspeak (often shortened to JS in my Facebook group)

This is the method of journaling that I created during my own recovery from chronic pain. Through JournalSpeak, you are encouraged to explore your deepest, darkest, most shameful/scary thoughts and tell the truth about them. Imagine you’re writing with the voice of a tantruming 5-year-old, but with the vocabulary and consciousness of an adult. Rage on the page, cry, let yourself feel the feelings you’ve been suppressing.

Neural Pathway Pain

All pain is created in the brain, and it can be created even when there is no structural cause or injury. Neural pathway pain is pain that is felt when neural circuits are activated, which produces real physical pain in the absence of any actual tissue damage.

Normal Abnormalities

This refers to Dr. Sarno’s theory that we all have differences in our bodies that are normal and not necessarily a problem. Bulging discs do not cause pain, spinal abnormalities and many arthritis diagnoses do not cause pain, etc. This applies to many findings on films, as thousands have become pain free through this work, although their MRIs and X-rays remain exactly the same.

Other chronic conditions

It’s very important to note that the term “chronic pain” in the context of my work is about so much more than pain symptoms. It refers to any symptom or condition that has no cure, but only treatment (and often treatment is ineffective). Migraines, body pains of any kind, neuralgia, pelvic pain, irritable bowel and gut issues, fibromyalgia, unexplained chest pain, numbness, skin disorders, anxiety, depression, fatigue, the symptoms of auto immune disease, insomnia, and eating disorders. This is not a comprehensive list, but it gives a solid idea of what could be considered TMS.

Outcome Independence

This means that you stop defining success by tying it to a specific outcome. In relation to recovery from chronic pain, you stop defining success by focusing only on your level of pain. Try to cultivate an attitude of indifference to your symptoms. For example, if you have back/leg/knee pain and go for a walk, try to find things to enjoy about the experience regardless of what happens with your pain that day. “However this goes, it’s okay for me,” is a phrase I use a lot, and is a good one to remember when you’re trying to cultivate an attitude of acceptance/indifference.

Somatic Tracking

Somatic tracking is a technique for overcoming pain, in which you observe the sensations in your body with curiosity rather than fear. In this way you learn to reinterpret the signals and deactivate the fear/pain cycle.

Symptom imperative

This is the process where new symptoms often appear as the old or original ones subside. So for example, someone who’s main issue was back pain may find that disappears or reduces significantly after doing this work, but then they start to get foot pain or stomach issues that they didn’t have before. The symptom imperative is the brain attempting to find new focus to distract you from your emotions. Please note that the symptom imperative is not a bad thing at all - it indicates that the brain and nervous system are preparing to release the symptoms as they feel more safe to allow the feelings to rise.

The work

When people in my Facebook group or Instagram community talk about doing the work, they’re referring to doing what I recommend in order to heal from chronic pain: 20 minutes of daily JournalSpeak followed by 10 minutes of loving kindness meditation. (See the JournalSpeak page for more details).

TMS: Tension myositis syndrome, or tension myoneural syndrome

This is the term created by Dr. John Sarno (the pioneer of mindbody healing for chronic pain) to describe all the variations of chronic pain syndromes that he saw during his years of practice. Myositis relates to muscle, so he updated it to Myoneural as research showed the involvement of learned neural pathways in chronic pain. It is an umbrella term that encompasses many chronic conditions that have very real physical symptoms, but a psychological cause.

TMS can be used interchangeably with the following terms:
Mindbody Syndrome (MBS)
Psychophysiologic Disorder (PPD)
Stress Illness

Compiled and written by: Phil De La Haye