A life without chronic pain

Break the Vicious Cycle of Chronic Pain

How do neuroplastic and structural pain differ? How can you break free from the cycle of chronic pain? What should you do when the pain returns?

A MEDICAL METHOD, PROVEN BY RESEARCH AND CONFIRMED BY PRACTICE, TO BREAK THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF CHRONIC PAIN

Alan Gordon started experiencing pain during his postgraduate studies, which gradually became chronic and took over his life completely. He visited several doctors and received many diagnoses, but none of the treatments helped. Frustrated with conventional medicine, he developed Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), which eliminated his own chronic pain and changed the lives of thousands of his subsequent patients.

PRT is rooted in neuroscience, which has shown through numerous research projects, experiments, and studies that while chronic pain feels as though it comes from the body, in most cases it is generated by faulty circuits in the brain. PRT is a system of psychological techniques that retrain the brain to break out of the cycle of chronic pain.

The book is structured as a practical guide. After an introduction to the issue of pain and chronic pain, and a presentation of interesting research and experiments, it elaborates on a step-by-step guide to eliminating pain, offering numerous variations so that every reader (patient) can find what works for them. The author states that the book itself will not cure us; it only provides an effective and functional tool, but everyone must find their own specific path.

The book is written in a very light, readable style, which is due, among other things, to the large number of real-life stories and the use of intelligent humour.

Why is Chronic Pain a Problem?

Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide. These desperate individuals are told time and time again that there is no cure for chronic pain. The treatment scenario is usually the same.

After exhausting conventional treatments – injections, surgery, rehabilitation – the patient is kept relatively pain-free with the help of addictive opiates. Chronic pain is an epidemic. What's more, its treatment is extremely expensive.

Neuroplastic pain, which is the cause of chronic pain, is actually a false alarm that spreads as the human brain misinterprets even safe messages from the body as threatening. The body is fine, but the brain still creates pain, which is, however, real.

How does PRT work?

The starting point for treating chronic pain according to PRT is to determine whether the pain is truly chronic (often referred to in the book as neuroplastic) or structural (physical, real, etc.). To this end, PRT provides a set of questions to determine the origin and type of pain. It is also based on the premise that chronic pain is learned, so it can also be unlearned. Fear plays a significant role in the development of chronic pain, so a number of techniques are aimed at breaking the vicious circle of fear–pain–fear. The cornerstone of Gordon's method is somatic tracking, for which the book provides methodical guidance. Other common techniques that appear in the book include: corrective experience, exposure to fear, avoidance behaviour, sending messages of safety (calming the brain), uncovering threats, looking for exceptions, gathering evidence, capturing fears, and others. The author also works with the fact that pain can return after some time (relapse). One whole, very reassuring chapter is devoted to this phenomenon.

Who is the book for?

For doctors who want to help their patients. For psychotherapists whose patients are experiencing pain. For people who feel pain and want to resolve it or want to help people around them.

“The Way Out offers a wonderfully understandable and convincing combination of personal experience with the latest scientific knowledge about the brain and shows how to alleviate chronic pain. K