A deep dive with my friend, former client, and brain retraining coach, Alex Wetz, into her experience with chronic pain and illness, what it means to have a "highly sensitive" system, the identity shifts that can emerge from seasons spent obsessing over root cause, and the neuroplasticity of pain and symptoms.
References:
1. The Way Out — Alan Gordon & Alon Ziv
Pain Reprocessing Therapy and a very accessible explanation of how learned/neuroplastic pain can be reversed.
2. Unlearn Your Pain — Howard Schubiner
A structured mind-body approach to chronic pain, combining pain neuroscience, emotional processing, and techniques for retraining learned pain responses.
3. Explain Pain — David S. Butler & G. Lorimer Moseley
A foundational pain-science book explaining pain as a protective output influenced by far more than tissue damage.
4. Pain Is Strange — Steve Haines, illustrated by Sophie Standing
A short, beautifully illustrated introduction to modern pain science: why pain can persist after tissues have healed and how understanding pain can help change the experience.
5. Pain and Perception — Daniel S. Harvie & G. Lorimer Moseley
A highly visual exploration of how context, expectations, learning, and sensory information shape pain.
6. The Mindbody Prescription — John E. Sarno
An influential early mind-body account of persistent pain, emphasizing the relationship between pain, emotions, and the brain.