Is My Pain Coming From My Brain? Dr. Howard Schubiner

Is My Pain Coming From My Brain? Dr. Howard Schubiner

What drives someone to seek a life without relentless pain? This conversation between Dr. Aimie and Dr. Howard Schubiner takes on chronic pain and modern "mystery" syndromes from a fresh, brain-centred angle that’s aimed at people living with trauma, anxiety, depression and long-term physical symptoms that never quite make sense on a scan. You’ll hear Dr. Schubiner describe pain as a danger signal created by the brain: "Not all injury cause pain. Not all pain is due to injury.

It's our job to sort it out." He explains predictive processing in simple terms – how the brain decides what you see, feel and perceive as threat – and why emotional danger can light up the same brain regions as physical injury. The chat moves into childhood experiences, with vivid examples of how chaotic homes, abuse, being made responsible for a parent’s emotions, or being disbelieved after trauma can train the brain to expect danger everywhere.

That expectation can later show up as back pain, headaches, stomach issues, pelvic pain, fatigue, OCD and anxiety, even when medical tests look normal. The episode also widens the lens to social danger: racism, poverty, lack of a safety net, online bullying, political polarisation and injustice. Dr. Schubiner links higher rates of chronic pain in marginalised groups, younger people and women with the way the brain constantly scans: "Am I safe?

Am I safe enough?" For those with diagnoses like fibromyalgia, migraine, IBS, POTS, long Covid or chronic fatigue, the idea of "neuroplastic conditions" is central. Symptoms are described as real, brain-generated and potentially reversible, without framing people as broken or doomed. Rheumatoid arthritis is used as a nuanced example of how structural disease and brain-driven pain can overlap.

By the end, the focus shifts to asking better questions of your own nervous system and your providers, and preparing for part two’s practical look at what happens when long-buried emotions finally surface. If your pain has "no full explanation", could this perspective spark a different kind of conversation with yourself?