{"id":4640,"date":"2025-07-30T22:20:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T12:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/report-pain-brain-drug-free-equipping-3\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T22:20:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T12:20:44","slug":"report-pain-brain-drug-free-equipping-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/report-pain-brain-drug-free-equipping-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Pain, Brain &#038; Drug Free Equipping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Opening<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright size-full wp-image-4637\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/braintherapy.jpg\" alt=\"braintherapy\" width=\"393\" height=\"261\" style=\"margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 30px; float: right;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/braintherapy.jpg 1173w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/braintherapy-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/braintherapy-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/braintherapy-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 393px) 100vw, 393px\" \/>Chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, migraines, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) present with complex symptoms, often involving&nbsp;<em>both<\/em>&nbsp;physical sensations and intense emotional suffering. Recent neuroscience advances, particularly a July 2025 study from the Salk Institute, have identified a key brain circuit that gives pain its emotional tone, transforming our understanding of pain and paving the way for innovative management techniques. Evidence-based brain training aims to reshape neural pathways, empowering people to reduce and manage pain\u2014even when traditional drugs fall short.<\/p>\n<p>Key New Findings: The Affective Pain Circuit<\/p>\n<p>A pivotal study published in July 2025 reveals that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A specific group of neurons in the thalamus<\/strong>, identified by their expression of CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide), forms a direct link between the sensory detection of pain and its emotional impact.<\/li>\n<li>This&nbsp;<strong>CGRP spinothalamic pathway<\/strong>&nbsp;relays pain signals from the spinal cord to a region of the thalamus connected to the amygdala, the brain\u2019s emotion center.<\/li>\n<li>Silencing these neurons in mice<em>&nbsp;eliminates the emotional suffering associated with pain<\/em>\u2014mice perceive the pain, but do not experience distress or learn to avoid it.<\/li>\n<li>Overactivation of this pathway may be a cause of chronic pain disorders (like fibromyalgia and migraine) and affective disorders (like PTSD), making the brain overreact to normal sensory inputs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This has further insights and implications for Brain Training and Therapy practices, continuing to reduce the need for either pharmaceuticals or self-medication with non-pharmaceutical grade substances.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Pain is not just about detection\u2014it\u2019s about how much the brain decides that pain matters emotionally.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>These findings confirm that targeting the&nbsp;<em>affective<\/em>&nbsp;(emotional) aspect of pain, not just the physical sensation, is crucial.<\/li>\n<li>Treatments that modulate this CGRP-affective circuit may offer new hope for conditions where pain\u2019s emotional burden is a primary driver of disability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Types of Evidence-Based Brain Training Interventions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Teaches the brain to \u201cunlearn\u201d chronic pain<\/em>&nbsp;by reframing pain as non-threatening and teaching safety.<\/li>\n<li>Could help quiet overactive affective circuits by changing the emotional meaning of pain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2. Neurofeedback and Brainwave Training<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Uses real-time EEG feedback to help&nbsp;<em>regulate brain rhythms<\/em>&nbsp;associated with pain and emotional distress.<\/li>\n<li>May reduce the overactivity seen in the thalamus-amygdala circuit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>3. Sensory Relearning<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Retrains the brain\u2019s response to sensory input, helping distinguish safe from threatening sensations and minimizing overreaction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>4. Cognitive Flexibility Training<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Engages tasks that enhance cognitive control, potentially reducing learned pain-related distress and disrupt habitual threat responses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>5. Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Helps patients understand the&nbsp;<em>difference between pain sensation and pain suffering<\/em>, reducing fear and emotional threat estimation. Now with new neuroscience backing regarding distinct brain circuits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>6. Emotional Regulation and Mind-Body Therapies<\/p>\n<p>The July 2025 research underlines the value of approaches that reduce&nbsp;<em>affective pain:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mindfulness, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and emotion regulation techniques may help downregulate CGRP pathway activity by promoting detachment from pain\u2019s emotional tone.<\/li>\n<li>Newer therapies (e.g., emotion-focused groups) could target the \u201calarm\u201d element of pain directly. (Complete Report:&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wrdnews.org\/brain-training-special-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WRD News Special Report<\/a><\/strong>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opening Chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, migraines, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) present with complex symptoms, often involving&nbsp;both&nbsp;physical sensations and intense emotional suffering. Recent neuroscience advances, particularly a July 2025 study from the Salk Institute, have identified a key brain circuit that gives pain its emotional tone, transforming our understanding of pain and paving the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dalgarno-research-you-can-use"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}