Change your thoughts, change your reactions
Thoughts, feelings, beliefs and activities are very important in the experience of pain (whether physical pain, emotional pain, or both!). That’s why its important to know that your thoughts and the things you do are all under YOUR control. By learning ways of re-framing negative thoughts, you can take greater control of your life experiences.
Dr. Holowaty uses EMDR therapy to reframe cognitive beliefs that underlie many of our maladaptive reactions, especially related to traumatic events from our past. These traumatic events do not have to be life threatening to have a profound and long lasting effect on us, making us react in a certain manner or pattern for the rest of our lives.
By changing those memories and the beliefs that went with them, we can change the way we feel in the present, and the way we react in the future.
improving mood to improve overall health
How Trauma Affects Health
Positive Psychology and Gratitude
Positive Psychology and Gratitude
We know that trauma can have long lasting affects on the body and mind. Treating your trauma can also help your health.
PTSD can overlap with chronic pain, as well as a number of other mental health diagnoses. The US Department of Veterans Affairs has the best PTSD website out there. Wondering if trauma is contributing to your pain? See more here.
Read more about trauma and treatment with Veronique and Bessel's "The Body Keeps the Score".
Positive Psychology and Gratitude
Positive Psychology and Gratitude
Positive Psychology and Gratitude
Positive psychology focuses on the good in your life, and the study of what makes life worth living. Read more about what positive psychology is here, watch a video on it below, or access an android phone app here that focuses on affirmations.
Feeling adventurous? Take the famous course from Yale at Coursera on Well-Being.
Stress Reduction Techniques
Online and Cost-Free Supports for Anyone
Online and Cost-Free Supports for Anyone
Stress can worsen our mental health, but can also be linked to chronic disease as outlined in Dr Mate's book When The Body Says No.
So it makes sense for us to keep our stress well managed!
Proven techniques to reduce stress and pain and become more connected to the present moment (important if you suffer from anxiety or PTSD) include meditation, guided imagery, body scans, and body movement. Read more here from Harvard Medical School, learn guided imagery techniques here, download a workbook on stress reduction here and experience guided meditations with Tara Brach.
Anxiety Canada has lots of information, apps, worksheets and videos for dealing with feelings of anxiety.
Online and Cost-Free Supports for Anyone
Online and Cost-Free Supports for Anyone
Online and Cost-Free Supports for Anyone
Wellness Together is a Canadian support for anyone with mental health or substance use concerns and offers free live counseling by phone or by text.
TogetherAll is an online anonymous peer support community for mental health.
Online therapy from the University of Regina is available free of charge.
This Australian website offers a lot of information on a number of mental health conditions.