Every perfectly imperfect human on this planet has a strategically designed Neuromatrix that is unique to the individual.
Quick And Dirty Background
As is common in research and development, Ronald Melzack continued working with The Gate Control Theory of Pain and proceeded to launch his Neuromatrix Theory of Pain in the 1990s. That’s 30 years after GC was introduced. The Neuromatrix Theory suggests that pain is produced by a pattern of nerve impulses. These impulses can be triggered by painful stimulus such as illness or injury, but can often be triggered by chronic stress. Think back to ‘flooding the gates’.
The biggest takeaways to come of this theory is that pain is produced in the brain and that pain does not always have physical trauma or damage. Yeah…. all that chronic and stress induced pain that has no explanation finally started to get an explanation.
Neurosignature Pinball
In times of trauma or stress information is launching itself into the brain from internal and external sources. This information is bouncing around into different processing centers within the brain to verify what is currently happening, if this is similar to past experiences, and how it should advise the human to get through to the other side of this current experience.
These processing centers are all working together! Which means the brain is not trying to separate the physical, mental or emotional triggers. It’s simply trying to figure out how you need to to adapt forward.
We can’t separate physical from mental or emotional pain.
We have numerous methods and thought processes on how to treat physical trauma, mental trauma, and emotional trauma. It’s entirely possible that more of the neurosignature is leaning further into one direction than the others, but it will likely contain threads of all. In a neuronutshell though, if the brain is not separating traumas, why should we?
Why Understanding This Is Important
As Practitioners we need to understand that this makes what we are treating much more complex than we realize. There are always going to be multiple factors involved with the client’s pain experience. We need to be able to recognize when what we are working with triggers other components of those experiences so that we are not taken off guard. More importantly, we need to recognize when that human’s neurosignature is leaning into a different area of concern where we are going to be inefficient in working with.
As the human in pain, it’s important to understand that all your past experiences are bound up into what you are currently experiencing. It may take some time and effort to unravel these experiences as the Nervous System processes and adapts into self-regulation. What you may think is the most important thing causing your pain may simply be the result of something else that did not process appropriately at the time. It’s an adventure in healing.
