Mij
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Brain Retraining Isn't the Cure for Chronic Illness — The Woods Counselling Co.
Chronic illness is biological, not imagined. A Canadian RCC explains why brain retraining misses the mark and what online therapy actually helps.
www.thewoodscounselling.com
The Woods Counselling: "Are You Looking For Someone That Get’s It?"
Online Therapy for ME/CFS across Canada
Category 2: Disease-Related Chronic Illness with Secondary Amplification
Definition: Ongoing illness involving measurable biological abnormalities (immune dysfunction, inflammation, metabolic dysfunction) with secondary nervous system sensitization that amplifies symptoms.Pathophysiology: Primary disease processes (e.g., autoimmune activity, mitochondrial dysfunction, chronic infection) cause legitimate symptoms. Chronic stress response and central sensitization develop secondarily, adding an amplification layer to baseline disease activity.
Appropriate Interventions (Elysia Bronson's Integrated Clinical Approach):
- Medical management of underlying disease (primary - coordinated with physicians)
- Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) - Polyvagal-based intervention using filtered music to regulate the autonomic nervous system, reducing hypervigilance and stress amplification
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills - Emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness specifically adapted for chronic illness populations
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) - For trauma related to medical experiences, diagnostic delays, or medical PTSD
- Pain neuroscience education - Emphasizing the "And" framework: acknowledging biological disease WHILE addressing nervous system amplification
- Pacing and energy management strategies - Essential for preventing post-exertional malaise and boom-bust cycles
- Trauma processing - Addressing medical trauma, systemic dismissal, and complex PTSD from chronic illness experiences
- Empowered Relief principles (adapted) - Pain management skills taught in context of ongoing disease, not as cure
- Universal Pain Therapy (UPT) - Integrative online course combining adapted PRT principles, DBT skills, SSP, and pacing specifically designed for chronic illness populations; explicitly framed as managing stress system effects on symptoms, NOT curing disease
- Somatic therapy approaches - Body-based regulation techniques for trauma and nervous system dysregulation
- Fibromyalgia: Immune dysregulation, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction with secondary central sensitization. Nervous system work helps manage amplification; does not cure underlying immune/inflammatory pathology.
- ME/CFS: Mitochondrial dysfunction, immune abnormalities, post-exertional malaise with biological markers. Pacing is essential; nervous system regulation can help reduce symptom amplification but cannot reverse mitochondrial pathology.
- Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and other autonomic disorders: Dysautonomia with measurable physiological abnormalities. SSP and nervous system regulation may help modulate autonomic function but do not cure the underlying dysregulation. Medical management (fluids, salt, medications) remains primary.
- Chronic Kidney Disease: Progressive loss of kidney function with systemic effects. Pain management and stress reduction are adjunctive; medical management and eventual dialysis/transplant considerations are primary.
- Post-viral syndromes (including Long COVID): Persistent immune activation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and multi-system involvement. Pacing, nervous system regulation, and symptom management are supportive; addressing underlying viral persistence or immune dysfunction is the goal.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis: Active autoimmune disease with joint inflammation and systemic effects. DMARDs and biologics are primary treatment; nervous system work can help with pain amplification and stress response but does not treat joint inflammation.
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Crohn's, Ulcerative Colitis): Active intestinal inflammation with immune dysfunction. Medical management is primary; nervous system work can help with symptom amplification and gut-brain axis regulation but does not treat the inflammatory disease.