Wise Anderson Protocol: Paradoxical Relaxation

Paradoxical relaxation in the treatment of prostatitis/ CPPS
In a recent NY Times article, the usefulness of concentration as an integral part of mindfulness meditation is discussed. The ability to concentrate is not a subject that is often discussed in the psychological literature on pain reduction, thus this article is a welcome addition to the narrative of what we consider a crucial issue in dealing successfully with chronic pelvic pain.

It has become clear over the last decade that nervous system arousal is a central issue to treating those suffering from CPPS. … David Hubbard from San Diego have convincingly shown that emotional arousal raises the level of electrical activity in pain referring trigger points in those who have myofascial related pain. There have been recent studies evaluating the usefulness of hypnosis and cognitive therapy to deal with nervous system arousal, but it has been our observation that psychotherapy by its self has little effect on modulating or reducing chronic pelvic pain. Traditional methods of cognitive therapy help patients recognize their dysfunctional thinking and analyze distorted thoughts in order to discard them. In our work using the Wise-Anderson protocol over the last numbers of years, we’ve observed that these kinds of methods are not greatly helpful when a person’s pain goes on unabated, and he or she remains helpless to do anything about the pain.

The method of paradoxical relaxation that we use in the Wise-Anderson protocol is one of the main ingredients we offer to help those with pelvic pain lower their level of anxiety and autonomic nervous system arousal. Many of our patients who have become competent in this method commonly report they can significantly reduce their pain using relaxation. Paradoxical relaxation is the practice of focusing attention on sensation rather than on mental thought. The aim is to take attention away from all thought; not to analyze it. While it is sometimes useful to analyze dysfunctional thinking, this is not the aim of paradoxical relaxation used in the Wise-Anderson protocol. If someone is helpless to stop their chronic pain, it doesn’t matter how much analysis of dysfunctional thinking is done, because the inability to effect the pain is the main driver of the sense of helplessness and disempowerment.

In the paradoxical relaxation session, the nervous system is deliberately deprived of the symbolic stimuli that cause it to become aroused. This break in arousal can help break a flare-up of symptoms, and can help move someone in the direction of reducing their anxiety and the default level of nervousness that they have; resetting their nervous system and their idle speed to a level that is more manageable and less irritating to their pelvic muscles. The most profound relaxation occurs when attention is controlled and kept focused on sensation. Just as the deepest sleep is dreamless sleep, non-rem sleep, relaxation that is void of thinking produces the deepest level of relaxation. This type of relaxation allows for a nervous system that is very tense and upregulated to quiet down.

In the east, this state of down regulation can be called Samadhi; the state of relaxation depending on the control of intention rather than releasing of such control is actually counterintuitive. And, yet over the years patients have experienced the ability to control attention to reduce pain, and there by down regulate their nervous system.
Learn More about the Wise-Anderson Protocol (formerly known as the Stanford Protocol) at: http://www.pelvicpainhelp.com/

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