Managing Pain by retraining Your BrainManaging Pain by retraining Your Brain
Bear Psychology Podcast
This conversation looks at chronic pain in teens through pain reprocessing therapy, explaining how the brain can drive ongoing pain and sharing practical tools from a teen-focused workbook. It also highlights the crucial role of parents and the potential for change even when pain has lasted for years.
1:01:57•29 Oct 2026
Retraining the Brain: Teen Chronic Pain and a New Way to Feel Better
Episode Overview
- Chronic pain can be real and intense even when medical tests show no structural damage; the brain and nervous system may be maintaining the pain.
- Looking for inconsistencies in pain (changes with mood, activity, or context) helps rule in neuroplastic pain and opens the door to psychological treatment.
- Somatic tracking and noticing pleasant sensations teach the brain that the body is safe, gradually reducing the danger signal that presents as pain.
- Parents play a crucial role; their fear and over-protection can reinforce fragility, while calm support and collaboration with treatment can aid progress.
- Teens’ brains are highly changeable, so pairing sensations with safety rather than fear can build new neural pathways and support long-term improvement.
“All pain is produced in the brain. The pain is 100% real… but sometimes the brain is misinterpreting what’s going on.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation on Bear Psychology looks at another huge piece of the puzzle: chronic pain, and how much of it can be shaped by the brain rather than broken bones or damaged tissue. Psychologist Dr Anna Baranowski chats with licensed clinical social worker Paulina Sobel and clinical psychologist Penina Silverberg, co-authors of *The Pain Reprocessing Therapy Workbook for Teens*.
They talk about "neuroplastic" pain, where "all pain is produced in the brain" and can persist even when "the body is structurally sound and has recovered". You’ll hear how pain can behave inconsistently—changing location, intensity, or easing on holiday—which they use as clues that the nervous system, not injury, is driving the symptoms. Paulina explains nociplastic/neuroplastic pain and how the brain’s danger alarm can misfire, much like anxiety.
Penina links this closely to teen anxiety and stresses that kids can learn new patterns quickly: their brains are like a "field of grass" where repeated fear-pain pairings carve a deeper path, and therapy aims to build a new, safer route. The workbook, while designed for teens, is described as simple and engaging for adults too, packed with exercises like somatic tracking and noticing pleasant sensations.
Somatic tracking is likened to pulling back a shower curtain to check what’s really there, helping someone see their body is safe and lower the alarm. There’s also a strong section on parent involvement, because a parent’s fear can quietly reinforce a teen’s sense of fragility. Real-life stories—from the construction worker who felt intense pain from an untouched nail, to the friend in tears at the thought of back pain—highlight how belief and context shape pain.
If you or someone you care about feels stuck in ongoing pain with no clear medical explanation, this episode offers a different lens, some practical tools, and a reminder that change is possible. What if your pain story isn’t finished yet?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.