Meta-Stating Chronic Pain

John Burton, D. Ed.

This article concerns the use of Meta-States (Hall, 1995) as a means of treating chronic pain. As a
licensed counselor, I work with a number of clients who experience varying degrees and causes of
chronic pain. While these clients receive medical treatment for their pain, I provide counseling for the
emotional impact of long term pain. Chronic pain can lead to considerable depression as well as anxiety.
But at the root of these emotional symptoms is the pain itself. Part of my intervention addresses the
emotional components of depression and anxiety. But another portion of my intervention addresses the
pain itself. This treatment consists of a two-part process that includes teaching the client deep muscle
relaxation and teaching the process of meta-stating. This meta-stating process as applied to physical
pain will be the focus of the remainder of this article.

Case Study - Fibromyalgia

This example of meta-stating pain involves a condition known as Fibromyalgia. This condition literally
translates into painful fibers. It is not like arthritis where a persons joints hurt. Fibromyalgia results in
the bodys fibers aching in regions or globally. This ailment also includes extreme fatigue, inability to
reach a deep, restorative stage of sleep and mental confusion at times. Very often people with
Fibromyalgia find themselves so debilitated that they end up unable to work, relying on disability
income.

This particular case of Fibromyalgia actually involves two people, a husband and wife, each suffering
from Fibromyalgia. She has had the condition for almost 5 years while he was diagnosed about 6
months ago. The couple came into the session together, each complaining of the usual symptoms of
Fibromyalgia. In particular they each experienced significant body pain. During the course of one
session I told them about the process of meta-stating.

I began by explaining that we each possess layers of consciousness. With each higher level we access
we become more resourceful and when we reach especially high levels of consciousness most people
find a sort of calm or peace which includes a very relaxed yet invigorated feeling. With this feeling a
person often finds that their experience of pain is decreased. At this point I made sure they each
understood the general consciousness structure. When they indicated they understood, I proceeded to
ask each of them for a simple example of a situation that was mildly distressing. I did not directly
address the pain at first since this is often emotionally laden and can complicate the basic meta-stating
skill development. Once the person reaches the highest meta-state, I then map this resource across to
the pain which is then usually gone. When they each said they had an example of a mildly distressing
event, I then worked with one person at a time, individually through the meta-stating process.

I asked the wife of the couple to name the emotion she felt about the distressing situation. For her it
was frustration. I then asked her to notice where she felt this frustration physically, where the emotion
was felt in her body. She identified her chest as being where she felt the state of frustration. I then
asked her what she would feel if she took both the emotion and the physical feeling and just peeled
them away. She quickly identified calm as what she would feel. I asked her to notice where she
physically felt calm. She stated she felt this in her chest. I then asked for a description of this feeling
such as warm or full. Once she described the particulars I asked her to take this feeling and expand it
so that it filled her from her scalp to her fingertips to her toes and all points in between. I then asked
her to take the state of calm and turn it up to the absolute maximum and asked what she felt then. She
felt peaceful at this point. I elicited the corresponding physical sensation and made sure she physically
felt it throughout her entire self, not just in an isolated spot.

Expanding the sensation allows for a more complete and deeper experience of a state. Once she was
fully peaceful I asked her to turn up this state to the absolute maximum. We continued this process of
using the auditory and kinesthetic steps until reaching her pinnacle state. For her, the ultimate state
was joy. At this point I asked her, When you experience total joy as you are now, what became of
what was your pain? She stated that her pain was gone. I explained to her how she has an effective
method for controlling her pain and that she is now in greater control of herself. I also emphasized that
she could now feel good about feeling in such good control.

I used this same auditory, kinesthetic meta-stating process for working with her husband. He also
reached his pinnacle state, peace, and found that he was free of all pain. I suggested that he and she
could both just bask in this place of great feelings like lying in a hammock supported by these
wonderful feelings. We spent a short time future pacing and noting ways to access and apply this
process to pain as well as any situation that either may find troubling. The result was two people who
came in for their session experiencing significant physical pain, leaving pain free.

Commentary

What each of these people does from this point forward is up to them. We will continue working for a
short time more in counseling to assist them in maintaining their gains and deciding how to apply them.
I have used this meta-stating process applied to pain on numerous occasions with the client reporting
great success in losing the pain, gaining relief. But this intervention, like all interventions, does not
work with all clients. Sometimes pain results from structural impairments and nerve involvement. This
is a more complicated condition, but it can, at times, be positively affected by meta-stating or other
interventions.

Some clients fear releasing the pain because they lack some life skills or feel obligated to live within
limiting beliefs. Releasing the pain would leave them more vulnerable than if they kept the pain. The
world of psychology, or the medical model, calls keeping pain in these cases, secondary gain. But
secondary gain is primary loss. A person forever limits their ability to directly pursue satisfying life goals
if fear motivates the choice to keep pain. It is a poor compensation for loss of life and I believe never a
persons true first choice.

I encourage you to explore and experiment with meta-stating as a treatment for pain management. I
find this method to be a very effective tool in treating pain and include it as a standard in treating all
cases involving pain. I am convinced that higher states of consciousness invoke certain brain chemical
and neurotransmitters such as endorphins and serotonin in much the same fashion as does deep
muscle relaxation. The relaxation response, as its known, has been studied extensively at Harvard
University by Herbert Benson, M.D.. I believe that meta-stating not only expands awareness and
resourcefulness but also invokes beneficial physiological changes similar to the relaxation response. I
hope more research will eventually lead to revealing the full affect of meta-stating.

References:

Hall, Michael. Meta-states: Self-Reflexiveness in Human states of Consciousness. Grand Junction, CO.
E.T. Publications.

About the author:

John Burton, Ed.D. LPC holds a Doctorate in Counseling from Vanderbilt University. He is Certified as
Master Practitioner of NLP. Dr. Burton maintains a private practice in Greenville, S.C. and teaches
graduate school on a part time basis. This November Crown House published a book he co-authored
with Bob Bodenhamer, D. Min. entitled, Hypnotic Language, Its Structure and Use.

2001 John Burton - All rights reserved.