Human Skills Program

TOPICS TO BE COVERED ARE:

1. Understanding the Pain Box and Self Imposed Barriers.

2. The Brain Game of Pain

3. Grief Reaction to Pain

4. Narcissistic in Pain

5. Boundaries and Relationships

6. Triggers and Traps

7. Learning Coping Skills

8. Communications Skills

9. Monitoring your Rage Center

10. Catastrophe and Reality

11. Fears and Anxieties

12. Identity and Self-Respect

13. Human Spirituality

14. Taking Charge and Taking Responsibility

15. Lessons Taught by Pain.

 

PAIN AND HUMAN SKILLS

Pain tests all of our human skills. It tests our ability to be human. It makes it harder to deal with others in our life no matter how much patience we or others may have. For the most part, those closest to us take the brunt of many of our behaviors, so it is important for everyone to learn the essential human skills for the protection of marriages and families; for those who stay in our lives, and from whom we hope to receive the love and nurturing needed for maintainence of and return to good health.

My goal is to encourage everyone to learn these things and hopefully those important relationships will be strengthened. Nearly one third of all Americans are affected by someone in pain, so it becomes a very important goal for the preservation of families and society, besides the individual and his/her intrinsic worth as a human being. How we all approach this problem reflects on ourselves and our respect for the dignity of life. Our goals should be to "live simply" and develop "high thinking" with respect for relationships and family bonds.

This group of pages will deal with basic human skills that everyone should master and practice, not just pain patients. These topics cover skills that are a must for the pain patient to understand and incorporate into their own behaviors and reactions. The skills to be discussed are found in others whom we may admire or feel that they have everything going for them. For pain patients, these skills and behaviors are needed to protect health and allow for the recovery of inner resources. It will lead to changes in inner emotions and thought processes that generate positive healthy feelings that are associated with good health.

TO NOT HAVE DESTRUCTIVE EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIORS THAT GENERATE POOR HEALTH AND PAIN.

1. Understanding the pain box and self imposed barriers to change: The pain box for the chronic pain patient is the pain generator plus the patient' life time of experiencing pain. It is what we both consciously and unconsciously perceive. It is how we have learned to cope with pain during our life. We have a unique inward view of a what is occurring in our life. The ability to communicate our total inward experience can be quite frustrating to many patients. The inability to think outside the pain box can also be a problem, if one can not accept other's perceptions or outside opinions about their own pain.