Total recovery
Subtitle: solving the mystery of chronic pain and depression : how we get sick, why we stay sick, how we can recover
By: Dr. Gary Kaplan, D.O. with Donna Beech
Contributors: Beech, Donna, author
Publisher: Rodale
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 250
ISBN-13: 9781623362751
Subjects: Mental Depression; Chronic pain; Complications
Description: Chronic pain has always been a mystery. For the more than 100 million Americans who suffer from it, chronic pain often returns at the slightest provocation, even when doctors can't find anything wrong. Conventional treatments focus on symptoms, not causes, and can leave patients locked into a lifetime of suffering. Here, Dr. Gary Kaplan argues that we've been thinking about the nature of pain all wrong. Drawing on patient stories and cutting-edge research, Dr. Kaplan concludes that chronic physical and emotional pain are two sides of the same coin. Whether pain is traumatic or slight, physical or emotional, our brains register all pain as the same thing, and these signals can keep firing in the nervous system for years. Moreover, Dr. Kaplan asserts, disease is not the result of a single event, but an accumulation of traumas. Every injury, every infection, every toxin, and every emotional blow generates the same reaction: inflammation, activated by tiny cells in the brain called microglia. Turned on from too many assaults, their stimulation can have a devastating cumulative effect. Dr. Kaplan's unified theory of chronic pain and depression helps us understand not only the causes but also the issues we must address to create a pathway to healing. With this revolutionary new framework in place, we have been given the keys to recover.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-237) and index.
Table of contents: title: Pt. 1: Asking new questions. The one-two punch : what if assaults are cumulative? ; Listening for clues : what if physical traumas build up? ; The canary in the coal mine : what if pain and emotion are signs of the same thing?; title: Pt. 2: Solving the mystery. Eureka! : discovering the single point of origin ; Hidden connections : how allergies and malnutrition created panic attacks ; Conflicting truths : how food, malaria, and a fender bender led to fibromyalgia ; Unsuspected impact : how childhood abuse and infection caused chronic pain; title: Pt. 3: The path to total recovery. Stacking the deck in your favor : what you can do ; Conclusion: A game-changing insight : what it all means.