BEHAVIORAL CHANGES TO REDUCE OR PREVENT PAIN

I've been watching a series of lectures on mind-body medicine by Dr. Jason M. Satterfield, a professor of behavioral medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. In one of these lectures, titled “Staying on the Wagon – Making Changes that Last,” Dr. Satterfield speaks about behavioral changes that can play an important role in getting over alcohol, drug, or smoking addictions, but the lecture is more broad than that and applies to any physical pain or emotional problem that we know from TMS knowledge can be caused by our thinking and actions.

Dr. Satterfield says the behavioral changes needed are better self-control, self-discipline, stronger personal motivation, and willpower to fight the addiction and win the battle.

I, fortunately, have no alcohol, drug, or smoking addiction, but have a Type A personality that means I am a perfectionist and also have a “goodist” monkey on my back that makes me want everyone to like or even love me and approve of everything I do or say. I am learning to modify those traits so that I am not so hard on myself.

My boss, a book publisher, is a perfectionist’s perfectionist, but he is not a “goodist.” He couldn’t care less if he’s liked, he just wants an almost impossible amount of work done and done perfectly. I knocked myself out trying to comply with his needs and deadlines, and it gave me headaches and back pain. But I learned to work at my own pace which is still more conscientious than most anyone else he could get, especially for the low pay.

So I have, as Dr. Satterfield suggests, made changes in my behavior that causes me to be relieved of back pain that came on partly from my boss and my perfectionist personalities.

A good friend says she has trouble getting to sleep and knows it’s from worrying about her husband who has advanced cancer. She was in the process of divorcing him for several reasons, mainly that he has treated her like a servant for more than 20 years and blames his loss of income on her, when in fact she has kept him going by hiring herself out as a house cleaning woman. When she learned he has cancer, she has been trying to help him, but he doesn’t appreciate anything she does for him. Her “goodist” personality causes her to worry about him so she has back pain and is anxious during the day and sleepless at night. I told her today she has to modify her goodist nature. That would be in line with Dr. Satterfield’s lecture on making behavioral changes so we are healthier.

We may at times “fall off the wagon,” as alcoholics may, but we need to increase our self-control, self-discipline, motivation, and willpower so we don’t let others or ourselves cause us physical pain or emotional discomfort.

Dr. Satterfield says most of us fall off the wagon soon after we make a new year’s resolution. I make one each year that if it doesn’t bother my dog, it won’t bother me.

But it isn’t long, maybe just a few days later, that something does bother me and I go into my “Donald Duck” fluster mode. I then have to work on changing that behavior so I don’t give myself pain or make myself sick.

Dr. Satterfield discusses techniques for changing behavior that affects our health which I will share and comment on in the second part of this lecture discussion.

 

Walt, I marvel at how you can be so conscientious with your work and still produce wonderful articles like this for the forum!

I think the fact that you can recognise when you are being 'Donald Duck' means you're already way ahead of most of us. The changing of our behaviour is our biggest challenge in beating TMS, and it's an ongoing journey. Like yoga - you can spend a lifetime trying to master it!

 

Walt.....Your paragraph above describes me to a "T". I'd love to know what you're doing to learn to modify those traits. Thanks!!