LINK TO ARTICLE

Thought control brings pain into line
Brain imaging helps pain patients learn to reduce their own pain.

Researchers have managed to teach people suffering chronic pain to reduce their own discomfort simply by controlling their thoughts.

It's unclear how long the effect lasts, but the researchers hope that this approach could one day be used to treat chronic pain, which affects tens of millions of people in the United States alone and is a major reason for sick leave.

The team, led by Christopher deCharms, showed eight patients real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, of the activity in their rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), a part of the brain known to be involved with pain control. They asked participants to try to increase or decrease activity in this area, by focusing on their pain or by distracting themselves from it.......

: g : Hmmm...bet this could be applied to different other maladies

I know there were times when it seemed I could focus on the seizure and it either didn't happen or it was a very mild one. Our minds are such wonderous organs.

Psst.. Here's a secret...

This is a form of neurofeedback. :coolthumb:

The only difference is they are using an fMRI for the feedback device instead of an EEG system. :)

Many years ago I had Biofeedback training and I still use the techniques to this day. Great party trick when I can drop my heart rate down to 52!!!

Howdy Bernard!

Psst...

Sounds quite a bit like yogic contemplation & meditation too!

Sounds like maybe we're taking different trains but that are using the same tracks! :yes2: