Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital has found an effective way of helping chronic pain sufferers across the province manage their symptoms, all without medication or high tech medical equipment.
The treatment is a class known as mindfulness meditation, where participants learn how to change the way they think about their pain, and decrease the suffering they experience as a result.
Jon Kabatt-Zinn first developed this technique, based on Buddhist principles, in 1979. Since that time, it has been used in the treatment of several different medical conditions including irritable bowel syndrome and even multiple sclerosis.
Brief periods of pain can actually be positive in that they tell the brain that something is injured or not working properly and needs to be treated. Once it has been dealt with, normal activity can happen. It is only when pain continues without stopping that daily routine can be negatively affected.
With the help of meditation, class participants learn self-reflection and join in group discussions to see the connection between their physical pain and the emotions and thoughts they have related to these symptoms.
Studies have proven that if the mind is calm and relaxed, the physical symptoms of pain can be managed better than when it is distressed and under pressure. With ongoing and frequent practice, the techniques teach pain patients how to soothe themselves and have less suffering in the process.
The classes offered at St. Michael’s, unlike Kabat-Zinn’s, are taught specifically for people with ongoing, or chronic, pain. Moreover, they are offered over a long period of time for those people who may not always be able to attend. They have been personally approved by Kabat-Zinn himself.
Furthermore, the training is almost fully covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, and can even be accessed through videoconferencing for people who cannot come into the hospital personally. There are also audio programs that patients can use when they are not in the class.
Source: Hospital News
