New Consciousness Review # 52: Reversing Chronic Pain with Dr. Maggie Phillips

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Dr. Maggie Phillips, is a psychologist in Oakland, California. In this interview we discuss her most recent book, co-authored with Dr. Peter Levine, called Freedom from Pain: Discover Your Body’s Power to Overcome Physical Pain. Chronic pain is all too common in Western society. Whether it is back pain, frozen shoulder or fibromyalgia, Dr. Maggie Phillips and her co-author Dr. Peter Levine, offer a real solution. Pain starts from some kind of trauma, which can be physical and/or emotional. In an animal, the natural responses to a threat are fight, flight or freeze. If it survives, a trembling response enables it to shake off the residue of fright, and then continue on its way. In humans, however, we are more likely to hold onto the freeze response as our subconscious relives the trauma repeatedly. Since the memory and emotion of a trauma trigger the same stress hormones as the original event, the fear often becomes locked in our tissues, resulting in chronic pain that arises or lingers after the physical body should have healed.