Dr James Alexander, PhD- Psychologist

I highly recommend his book- it should have appeal to pretty much everyone. Professionals will be particularly interested in the rich overview he provides for working with chronic pain and everyone who suffers from chronic pain will benefit from the self help exercises and the two pain questionnaires hes included... You need to get this very authoritative and insightful book. Dr David Van Nyes- Shrink Rap Radio

The Hidden Psychology of Pain is a comprehensive psychological book which heralds a new paradigm shift in the way we can look at chronic pain. This book challenges the readers to change their beliefs and understanding about chronic pain as we explore the psychological basis of pain. The author presents a theory that chronic pain is psychologically based in the unconscious mind. Fortunately readers are also given the psychologically based solutions to eliminate chronic pain, or radically reduce it. This book is hugely relevant today in a world where we find many suffers with chronic pain, depression, poor sleep, anxiety and stress related disorders that are not being adequately treated by current therapeutic practices. The Hidden Psychology of Pain gives psychologists, medical practitioners and the suffering patients a new pathway to treat chronic pain. Dr Karel Hromek, President of ACNEM Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine.

A Doctor is a teacher. Dr James Alexander is a gifted, erudite teacher and healer who straddles several disciplines to explain why the medical model, a bio-chemical-mechanical model, does not elucidate chronic pain. Nor do anatomy, pathology or radiology explain its origins or mechanisms. The Hidden Psychology of Pain provides take home messages, insights and gems. It also has essential insights for psychologists, pain therapists, and those who want to heal and be healed. It is not just a self-help book. It is an education. Understanding one's pain can make a substantial difference. Dr Yolande Lucire. PhD MBBS DPM FRANZCP Forensic Psychiatrist. Author of 'Constructing RSI'

The Hidden Psychology of Pain is an engaging and information-rich exposition on how to heal chronic pain. Dr James Alexander skillfully weaves together his own healing journey from chronic pain, and the history of Western philosophy and medicine. He shows how the latter relate to cultural assumptions about pain, and explores the meaning and unconscious purpose of pain, that, as sufferers know, often exists independent of a defined physical cause. Dr James examines chronic pain myths and various healing modalities, some of which may be new to readers. As an ex-sufferer of decades-long chronic pain, I highly recommend this book to any who wish to take responsibility for their own health. I know from personal experience that the information presented provides an invaluable opportunity for healing and wholeness. Catherine former sufferer of chronic pain

I honestly dont know how to thank you enough for putting me on to these ideas. After seven months of pain, and two months of disability, in only four weeks I am back to normal. Im riding my bike again, studying full time at uni, essentially doing everything I used to do, and also more. As terrible as the pain was, getting over it psychologically has also given me the opportunity to address a number of other areas in my life which I was neglecting. Through the EMDR therapy, I have been able to look at a number of childhood events which I hadnt properly dealt with, and essentially reprogram my brain into adult mode. All of this has given me a dizzying sense of control over my own life which I now realize I had been lacking. So, thank you, thank you, thank you. All of this has really given me a new start at my life. 'Rebecca' former sufferer of chronic pain

As Dr James Alexander stresses throughout his book, The Hidden Psychology of Pain, providing solid information is what the pain sufferer needs first. He has succeeded at this goal brilliantly. By first introducing the Hidden Psychology of Pain as having purpose, he normalizes what all humans do: having pain distract us from unconscious emotional dilemmas. He then offers many approaches that can help people work toward eradicating chronic pain and dealing with emotional issues that if suppressed, maintain the pain. There are many self help techniques, as well as solid information about psychotherapy, oft en needed to deal with serious, underlying trauma. This book is a comprehensive guide to the understanding of the central role of emotion in the development and maintenance of pain. Carol Forgash, LCSW, BCD. EMDR Institute Consultant & Facilitator, & Author

This is a very good book. I wish it had been one of the text books when I trained to be a physiotherapist in the 1980s. It should be a required text for present students studying to be doctors or allied health workers. I feel that the true nature of what is going on for the majority of chronic pain sufferers is not being understood by most doctors and allied health workers. This failure of understanding results in ongoing frustration for the sufferers and the earnest people trying to assist them. I feel that my 25 year career as a physiotherapist, with a special interest in back and neck problems, would have been much more rewarding if those chronic pain patients were directed towards the knowledge available in The Hidden Psychology of Pain. This could have prevented some of them being labelled malingers, becoming depressed, or continuing with manual treatment and/or medication, sometimes for many, many years without resolution of their chronic pain. Terry Paige B. Applied Science (Physiotherapy)

In The Hidden Psychology of Pain, Dr James Alexander guides us through the labyrinth of previously-hidden information with clarity, expertise and profound knowledge on the subject of chronic pain. The subject is so relevant to current issues, as we move from a place of educated guess work to an actual understanding of the true origins of chronic pain. Dr Alexander has produced a book of crucial information for all health professionals. As I read each chapter, I was nodding my head in agreement. I have been working with chronic pain and trauma for many years, and I know the premise of The Hidden Psychology of Pain to be absolutely true. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Deirdre Middlehurst. Clinical Psychologist

I believe that the information in The Hidden Psychology of Pain is vital to unlocking the mystery of chronic illness and the pain-body, as well as helping us evolve emotionally as a culture. Healing = Hearing. Dr Jacqueline Boustany General Practitioner. MBBS, Dip. Peads. MPH.

Most of us know someone whose life is limited by chronic pain. The Hidden Psychology of Pain clearly describes why we have this form of pain, and how we can free ourselves of it. This book provides an evidence-based argument from pain research into why the techniques described can work so effectively. The scope of the book is not limited to physical pain, but it also provides useful information and instruction about the psychological pain of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and chronic depression. The book is easy to read and would be of benefit to professionals as well as to their clients and patients. I have personally tried the techniques to manage arthritic back pain and have found that they work. (Author of Procrastinate Now!, and Teaching Creative Writing to Reluctant Writers.) Rowena Harding Smith. MA , M Ed, BA (Psych). Author/Memory expert/Clinician/Educator