Pain is Pain

When you consider pain, what is the first thing you think about? Most people think about physical pain. Cuts, bruises, broken bones, etc. What do you think happens when we have emotional pain? What do you think our human body does with it?

This is truly a fascinating topic to consider, since we as humans spend a lot of time either pushing emotional pain down and away, or ignoring it when it pushes to have our attention. We are traditionally more set up as a society to deal with physical pain and injury than we are for dealing with emotional pain and injury. It is estimated that 1 in 3 people have a diagnosable mental health condition. How many people do you think reach out for help for that pain?

So how do I begin to address emotional pain? Well, as with any pain, you must assess the symptoms. Have you noticed increased irritability? Do you have feelings of hopelessness? Do you notice that you have difficulty controlling your worry? Are you experiencing trouble sleeping- staying asleep, falling asleep, nightmares? Basically, how is this pain showing up in my life?

The next step is to start cleaning out the wound, as you would with any physical wound, in order for new tissue to grow.

Some people notice that emotions come up out of nowhere. That logically, nothing may be happening right now, but they still feel that flood of emotional pain, of things that hurt, that they feel guilt or shame about, flood them in a way that they feel that they cannot escape from. What we do not realize is that like any physical ailment, injury, or wound, emotional pain does not really go away after we experience something that hurts us. When it is coming up, it is our brain's way of saying, it is time to deal with this, please address this pain. The brain does not separate physical and emotional pain, the same pain receptors and the same brain process all pain. Pain is pain.

That is where I come in. There is great power in talking about what is hurting us, since we cannot see emotional pain. Contact me today and let's get started sorting out how you can feel better.