The Pain Reprocessing Therapy Workbook: Using the Brain's Neuroplasticity to Break the Cycle of Chronic Pain

As an LPC who is certified in PRT - this workbook is an excellent tool to use with anyone with chronic symptoms, especially in tandem with support from a counselor/coach/physician/physiotherapist who understands the mind-body connection and the presence of not just nociceptive pain but neuroplastic pain. The explanations in this workbook are understandable for any reader and the thoughtful journaling and verbalizing exercises add excellent practices for anyone desiring to understand why their chronic pain or chronic symptoms change and increase/decrease in intensity and how we can change the pain-fear cycle we can get in that increases symptom because of activation of the limbic system in the brain. Review of many concepts from Alan Gordon's "The Way Out" book are explained in this PRT Workbook and thoughtful questions are posed to engage with those concepts, such as outcome independence, confronting common myths about chronic symptoms, common personality traits and practices that can "dial up" our symptoms, noticing evidences of neuroplastic symptoms, leaning into pleasant sensations and somatic tracking, and decreasing pressure/intensity. This workbook goes beyond the basics of PRT (Pain Reprocessing Therapy) giving tools like parts work, attending to your internal state and emotions, gauging distress about symptoms, noticing the stories our brain comes up with, finding safety, speaking to ourselves with kindness, and some nervous system reset/vagus nerve stimulation strategies to help calm our bodies and brains. Overall, the tone of this book is very kind and caring and provides a conversational feel to help anyone who goes through it learn how to care for themselves in any sort of chronic symptom.

I recommend this workbook to all my clients. It has the new pain science clearly laid out and how to retrain the brain and nervous system from Brian generated symptoms (anxiety, digestion, long COVID included). Can’t say enough. Written by one of the best in the field.

This is cutting-edge cognitive science at its best, made completely accessible by the authors’ easily comprehensible metaphors. If you have chronic pain and have been cast out of the medical-industrial complex, the strategies here of helping your mind “reprocess” pain to more adequately consider it a stuck false-alarm just trying to hyper-protect you from future suffering, can be life-changing. It certainly helped me, and I have cited it many times. It is also a short program, which makes it concise and effective.

As a psychologist working with clients with chronic pain—and as someone with two decades of post-TBI chronic migraines—I found this book to be excellent. It turns cutting-edge research on pain neuroplasticity into step-by-step practices that are straightforward, doable, and genuinely compassionate. More than a workbook, it has real heart and wisdom. I was familiar with PRT, but this book gave me more clarity and confidence in putting it into practice. I’ll be recommending it widely to my clients.

A step-by-step workbook that takes one through the process of regarding their chronic pain from a very different perspective.... that if not structural, the pain is likely a neuroplastic response to a variety of factors.

I would give this book 10 stars if I could. It’s the absolute best I’ve read on neuroplasticity without any gaslighting. The words are gentle yet firm and grounded enough to get the points across in a way that’s so easy to digest. The words are warm and comforting, which is the opposite of what so many people experience when they’re in treatment of any kind for chronic pain.

My chronic pain psychologist and I have been working our way through this book. It has helped me understand how pain works in the brain and how all of our different systems are connected, and aren’t always sending the right messages. I’m still practicing and am not pain free, but I’m definitely equipped with the knowledge to get there I believe.

This workbook offers a refreshing and unique focus on the central nervous system’s role in chronic pain. The concepts are explained in a remarkably simple and clear way, making them accessible to anyone, regardless of prior knowledge. What truly sets this workbook apart is its practical approach, providing actionable insights and tools that empower readers to calm their central nervous system and take control of their healing journey. It’s an invaluable resource for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of pain and a pathway to relief.

This is a very practical workbook that is easy to read and it has lots of exercises which help you to understand that your chronic pain is coming from a different part of your brain to where acute pain comes from. Once you believe that, you will have the ability to tone down your pain and start living your life again without being afraid. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has had to suffer from chronic pain.

Very helpful and well-written workbook for anyone dealing with chronic pain. The evidence cited in the book is all extremely high quality and up to date. The authors themselves are leaders in their field and are brave and humble enough to share many of their own personal struggles with chronic pain and hardship. The book takes many concepts from Alan Gordon's previous writings in his book "The Way Out" (while adding in some new teachings too)...and brings them together in a guide that is concise and easy to understand. The book teaches you how to address your pain from multiple different angles...and how to begin to view your pain (and yourself) through a lens of safety and self-compassion. In doing this, we can begin to "re-train" our brain to process pain differently. Nothing about dealing with chronic pain is easy. We all know that. Even after completing the workbook, I'm still working toward the ultimate goal of "retraining" my over-active nervous system so I might begin to perceive my chronic/neuroplastic pain in a different way. A way where I have more control over my pain There is no doubt all of this takes a lot of courage & diligence...and of course it takes time too. Few easy solutions are put there. But, with the wisdom presented in this book, I feel like a life where pain is no longer "in the driver's sear" might just be within reach. If physicians, other practitioners, and the mainstream health system continue to fail to help you with your pain...this might just be the book for you.

This is a very good book with a lot of helpful exercises and questions. The content is excellent. I have given four stars because the writing style is not accessible enough. My teenage daughter, who has chronic pain, chronic fatigue and several other diagnosis, finds it difficult to follow. Since a lot of people with chronic pain have functional cognitive problems, it would have been good had the book been written with this in mind.

I really love this book. I also have the Audible version so I listen as I read. I take it very slow. Let this be therapy for your pain suffering. Take it slow as it says in the book and with Grace and it will heal you. I’m going step-by-step and I already feel more confident And that I’m creating constant messages of safety for my brain.

but I had read other sources previously, and chronic pain is a major problem with no real fix.