Our understanding of pain continues to evolve. We now recognize that there are different types of pain. For one, there is structural pain, which is what we typically think of when we injure ourselves and cause tissue damage in the body. However, there is also non-structural pain, which occurs when the brain mistakenly interprets normal, safe signals as threatening, even when there is no ongoing tissue damage causing the pain. This is often referred to as neuroplastic pain. Many chronic pain...

Sit there. Don’t do anything. What happens? Does your mind start to wander—toward the future, or back into the past? Do memories pop up? Do you start imagining what others might be thinking about you? If so, that’s several connected regions of your brain working together to form what’s called the Default Mode Network. The Default Mode Network is a relatively new discovery, and scientists are still mapping out all the brain areas involved and what each part does. Current understanding suggests...

The vagus nerve is gaining more and more attention in psychotherapy. This long, wandering nerve plays a critical role in how our body responds to stress and regulates emotions. It’s often called the major mind-body highway . The vagus nerve is one of the longest in the body, extending from the brainstem down to the abdomen. It helps carry the visceral sensations we feel in our body and is a key part of the parasympathetic nervous system , the system responsible for turning off “fight or...