When “Neuroplastic Pain” Becomes Medical Gaslighting

Are people with chronic illness and chronic pain simply just malingering? Is psychosomatic pain real? When “neuroplastic pain” becomes the explanation for every chronic condition, an approach intended to reduce fear can become another way to blame the patient.

For years, people with chronic pain and chronic illness were told their symptoms were “all in their head.” But has the pain industry simply repackaged that same message using terms like neuroplastic pain, nervous system dysregulation, and Pain Reprocessing Therapy?

In this conversation, I’m joined by licensed professional counselor Destiny Davis, The Chronic Illness Therapist. Destiny specializes in chronic pain and chronic illness, trains other healthcare providers, and brings her own lived experience with chronic pain to this conversation.

We talk about why patients are still forced to prove they’re sick before they can receive care, why it can take years—or even decades—to receive an accurate diagnosis, and why so many qualified providers are choosing to work outside the traditional insurance model.

Then we take an honest look at Pain Reprocessing Therapy: what PRT actually is, what the research does and does not show, and what happens when findings from one specific group of people with chronic low back pain get applied to fibromyalgia, CRPS, EDS, long COVID, and nearly every other chronic pain condition.

Listen now!

CONNECT WITH DESTINY DAVIS:

Website: https://www.thechronicillnesstherapist.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.chronicillnesstherapist/

The Chronic Illness Therapist Podcast: https://www.thechronicillnesstherapist.com/podcast-episodes