Dissolving Pain: Simple Brain-Training Exercises for Overcoming Chronic Pain

My son suffers from severe chronic pain from migraines. He had learned many autogenic techniques (self hypnosis, etc.) that allowed him to escape the pain, but he couldn't function in school while using them. He was able to learn the open focus techniques from the book to allow him to essentially meditate and function at the same time. He then worked with his pain therapist to practice them. You can access voice recordings to help guide you linked through the book. It does take a lot of practice and is very effortful to start with. However, the techniques were clearly described and are not magical - they're based on using particular visualizations to stimulate particular brain areas. No pain meds work on my son, so these techniques have been invaluable to him. I urge EVERYONE to learn them - particularly in conjunction with a skilled pain therapist. But it's like learning the violin - it takes serious daily practice. And it's hard to learn when you're in a lot of pain because you have to concentrate. I encourage people to practice when they're feeling their best, not their worst. And practice them in short bursts with your full concentration. Then as you become more skilled, you'll be able to use them when in more and more pain. With practice the techniques become second nature. I do not think he would have gotten through the last few years without them.

I am a therapist who uses Neurofeedback and Biofeedback in my clinical practice. The author of this book is highly respected in this field and I have benefited from many of his other books. Dissolving Pain has also been very helpful to me as a practitioner, but I'm not sure how useful it would be to my clients if I just had them read it without some guidance and without helping them find a way to tailor the exercises to fit into their lives - most people simply don't have the time to do these exercises as they are presented in the book. I think that overall - this book is great for people who are familiar with neurofeedback but will be a challenge for those who are new to the method or who don't have therapist support.I liked the way the book was written - easy to follow and well laid out.

For too many-the other becomes pain. Pain becomes the object of our attention and energy. We become fixated on the physical or emotional discomfort.An excellent tool is well described in Fehmi and Robbins latest book: Dissolving Pain".As a psychotherapist specializing in facilitating client's goals to optimize their lives, I work with many high achievers. Discomfort, soreness, fatigue, and pain are a recurring issue for many.The Open Focus training process is a group of verbally guided exercises asking the listener to focus on specific places and space. This procedure which is easy to learn improves attention and performance.The second book "Dissolving pain" permits the listener to localize and accept the discomfort without trigger a stress response. For over 14 years, I have been introducing dissolving pain to athletes, golfers, singers, dancers, business people and clients who have experienced developmental trauma.The guided process permits the client to merge-disengage-accept the emotion-sensation -the blocking energy. This is a well written book.Rae Tattenbaum, MSW,LCSW,Director, Inner Act, West Hartford, Conn.[ASIN:1590307801 Dissolving Pain: Simple Brain-Training Exercises for Overcoming Chronic Pain]

This book recommended by another author whose book gave me new information that’s been helpful in managing pain. I did, however, skim pages. Book looks like it will be helpful as well.

Incredible and insightful book. I finished it in a few days. Found it really factual while staying interesting. Unlike a lot of medical/science based health books this didn’t overdo it with individual case studies, just a few strong examples and references to back up their claims and got to the point rather than caught up in those individual stories.. loved it and recommended it to many people. It’s very practical

Les Fehmi and Jim Robbins have written a book that gives the brain research behind having the ability to train your brain to get rid of pain. They also have a series of exercises that take you through this process. I have been successful, it just takes so much work. I see the promise in it as I've experienced it, my pain level can be intense so it might take a long time. It is very tiring.

I am excited to read this book and know I will get good results from it. I read it real fast, not the best idea but that is just me, lol. I am now reading it slowly and following the exercises. I did a lot of research on books that would help me with chronic pain relief. And I have taken countless supplements and medications and nothing gave me long lasting relief. This is a great book to me because it is scientific. There is another school of thought that I totally dislike and I think is ridiculous. But this one makes sense.

This book was recommended to me by my rheumatologist as a resoource to help me to deal with chronic pain. It is so boring, and convoluted that I have not even been able to finish it. I am not an illiterate, have had a career in the medical field for almost 30 yrs. before retirement and hold a Masters in English / Secondary education. This is just not the book for the average person looking for pain relief.

Very good book

Shingles pain is a terrible experience, and doctors and drugs did not help at all. This has no side effects and it makes you take responsibility for your own discomfort.

This is an excellent book and is helping me with my meditation. I have used the pain dissolving with a headache which dissolved very quickly. I mention meditation because any of the usual distractions which nearly everybody experiences in meditation e.g. odd aches, itches and of course the persistent inner talk, can dissolve easily using the Dissolving Pain method outlined in this book. Open Focus is not just about dissolving pain, anxiety, insomnia, any troublesome emotions, but about how you attend to your everyday life and learning how to do this in a relaxed resourceful way.The accompanying CD teaches you how to learn Open Focus - you do need to practise as you are learning a new way of interacting with the world. Up to recently there was nobody teaching Open Focus in this country, but now there is and I can recommend him highly - [...] I had a Skype session with him and he really helped me tailor the Open Focus exercises to suit the way my brain works.

Excellent book

I like the theory and I have tried many times to do the meditations/open focus but somehow I just dont seem able to click with it. At any rate, hasnt worked for me.