Penney Megginson
Many patients complain of the side effects of medication or that these only work to minimize the pain but are not sufficient during â??flare upsâ??. It is known that there are many mind therapy techniques used to combat stress, decrease anxiety, decrease inflammation and improve sleep. These techniques can also have dramatic benefits for pain. Using mind therapies can help to change a patientâ??s pain perception so that they are able to achieve more throughout the day and perceive less pain by using easy strategies such as visualisation. This puts the patient in control of how they are feeling. They can actively bring down their pain or stress perception in order to get through tasks during the day and to improve overall mood and mindset. The purpose of my work is to demonstrate a methodology that can be taught to patients to manage or overcome their symptoms to allow them to accomplish more in their daily activities and to help them through their â??flare upâ?? episodes. These techniques can be done anywhere at any time and most of them offer instant relief/ benefits. Patients were guided through a 6-week program of one hourly online session per week. Each week, patients were taught a different technique to practice for the rest of the week. The mind training therapy sessions included Emotional Freedom Technique, Neurolinguistic Programming, Guided Meditation, Guided Visualisation and breathing techniques for stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Patients were given a questionnaire related to pain perception level, levels of basic activities, and general mood/ mindset/ overall happiness each week to assess the benefits of each technique and also at the beginning and end of the 6-week program to assess the overall benefits.
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