One of my psychotherapy clients who suffers from fairly recent-onset chronic pain recently bought Dr. Gupta’s book and asked me if I’d heard of it and what I thought of his work. The timing of this interview is serendipitous! I will buy the book. It also sounds like a resource that will be very helpful to many of my clients.
I do think it is so important that we de-stigmatize chronic pain - which both of you clearly do - and talk about it with others, especially if we’ve found successful strategies. About 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with significant arthritis, a bulging disk and pinched nerves in my neck (likely the result of an ancient skiing accident). As my doc looked at my MRI, she asked me if I was in a lot of pain. I said, “no, I actually do not have measurable pain.” She told me to keep doing whatever I was doing. (Intense exercise, good work/life balance, supportive people in my life.) This past spring, after months of agony (and maybe a little shrieking 😁), I was finally diagnosed with reactive arthritis. While this has been a rougher road, I defaulted to what I know: I’m a long distance cyclist, so I bought an e-bike so I could keep biking - accompanied by some shrieking, of course. I’m responding well to treatment, but still not back to normal. I’m absolutely convinced that staying active has not only helped my recovery, but kept me sane. I teach and practice mindfulness based stress reduction, which is another good tool. I look forward to more wisdom from Dr. Gupta to help clients who don’t move at all because it hurts, as well as those who feel so terribly discouraged. Thank you both for a ray of hope!
One of my psychotherapy clients who suffers from fairly recent-onset chronic pain recently bought Dr. Gupta’s book and asked me if I’d heard of it and what I thought of his work. The timing of this interview is serendipitous! I will buy the book. It also sounds like a resource that will be very helpful to many of my clients.
I do think it is so important that we de-stigmatize chronic pain - which both of you clearly do - and talk about it with others, especially if we’ve found successful strategies. About 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with significant arthritis, a bulging disk and pinched nerves in my neck (likely the result of an ancient skiing accident). As my doc looked at my MRI, she asked me if I was in a lot of pain. I said, “no, I actually do not have measurable pain.” She told me to keep doing whatever I was doing. (Intense exercise, good work/life balance, supportive people in my life.) This past spring, after months of agony (and maybe a little shrieking 😁), I was finally diagnosed with reactive arthritis. While this has been a rougher road, I defaulted to what I know: I’m a long distance cyclist, so I bought an e-bike so I could keep biking - accompanied by some shrieking, of course. I’m responding well to treatment, but still not back to normal. I’m absolutely convinced that staying active has not only helped my recovery, but kept me sane. I teach and practice mindfulness based stress reduction, which is another good tool. I look forward to more wisdom from Dr. Gupta to help clients who don’t move at all because it hurts, as well as those who feel so terribly discouraged. Thank you both for a ray of hope!