Emotional awareness and expression therapy for chronic pain

Domain I · Psychodynamic & depth psychology · Lumley, Schubiner · 2012

What it is

Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET) is a brief, emotion-focused, exposure-based psychotherapy for chronic pain that is primarily centralized (also called primary, nociplastic or neuroplastic pain), such as fibromyalgia, many back and neck pains, IBS, tension headache and pelvic pain.…

Format

• Formats and dose actually tested
• Group (canonical manual). 8 weekly 90-minute sessions with 5–7 patients and 30–60 minutes a day of home practice.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Avoiding anger or disappointment at you. Invite it explicitly.
• Hypervigilant monitoring disguised as mindfulness. Keep it brief.
• Long stories in place of naming feelings. Interrupt and redirect.
• Debating the beliefs. The sources favour new experience over argument.
• Avoidance of a specific assignment, which usually signals the next target.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.