New Approach Helps People Feel Safe Even During Anxiety-Producing Pandemics
(CBS DETROIT) - In difficult times, people often find themselves overwhelmed, afraid, in pain and unsure what to do next. A creative, new experiential approach, The DOC Journey (Direct Your Own Care), created by author, surgeon and pain expert David Hanscom, M.D., is available to help people answer the question of what to do next.
Based on a series of popular workshops Dr. Hanscom has given that he says have led to significant pain relief and mood improvement, The DOC Journey app takes people on a guided tour to teach them concepts and tools that allow them to feel safe, Dr. Hanscom says. Such tools include music, deep breathing, meditation, and expressive writing.
Designed to entertain and educate, the approach also features videos that concisely address areas that are typically challenging. In addition, it explores the importance of awareness, hope, forgiveness and play to feeling better.
Anxiety is not an enemy, Dr. Hanscom points out, but is simply a survival mechanism that makes people gravitate toward rewards and avoid threats. When someone feels under threat, whether it's from losing a job in the pandemic or living in a city that's experiencing riots, small signaling proteins called cytokines stimulate an inflammatory response through the autonomic nervous system. Anxiety is the sensation felt as the result of a threat and is caused by inflammatory cells. But the good news is that this threat can be neutralized.
"The most important concept is that you cannot 'fix yourself,' observes Dr. Hanscom. "Your attention is on the problem and not the solution; the pain circuits in your brain are reinforced. This journey will create an experience that will lead you away from pain to the life you have always wanted."
There is an introductory special called "The Trailblazers." This includes a series of emails, webinars and videos for 90 days until the final version of the app is released in November. The DOC Journey app and the other benefits will be available for only $14.95 a month (or $99 for the entire year) for the first 1,500 people who sign up for it. Thereafter, The Journey will retail for $19.95 a month. To get the special rate, sign up here.
About Dr. David Hanscom
Dr. Hanscom has been an orthopedic complex spinal deformity surgeon for over 32 years and is the author of several books including, Back in Control, which reveals the latest developments in neuroscience research and his own personal history with pain. He left his surgical practice in 2019 to focus on teaching people how to break the grip of chronic mental and physical pain. He has helped hundreds of back pain sufferers by teaching them how to calm their central nervous system without the use of drugs or surgery. Dr. Hanscom has been featured by Dr. Oz, NPR, CBS, ABC, Fox, Men's Health, Psychology Today, and many others.
SOURCE David Hanscom
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