Are you living with back pain, migraine or tension headaches? Maybe you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, static nerve pain or fibromyalgia. These chronic pains may be caused by your pain-prone-personality. There are five pain-prone personalities; each repressing emotions predisposing you to Autonomic Overload Syndrome (AOS). Your personality traits could be affecting your subconscious and causing you to handle your emotions dangerously.

As you learn about these personalities, remember that the main question to keep in mind is: How does my particular personality cause dangerous emotions - and therefore predispose me to AOS pain? Also, remember that your personality will stay with you for life, but you don't have to become a victim of pain - not if you're aware of the dangerous emotions often associated with your personality, and if you make a commitment to avoid repressing those emotions.

The following descriptions are excerpts from Dr. Brady's book. For a full description of each Pain-Prone personality type, along with stories and examples see chapter 5 from Pain Free for Life.

"I am really happy to be feeling normal again. It is such an incredible relief.... Many thanks."

S.C.

Are you a Perfectionist?

If you're a Perfectionist, you are conscientious, productive, and achievement-oriented. You are an extremely careful person. You want all your tasks and projects to complete to the final detail, without flaws. Everything needs to be done right, and you have a clear understanding of what that means.

Perfectionists are good organizers; they enjoy things being neat and tidy. They also like control, correctness, and orderliness. Perfectionists aren't perfect, but they'd like to be. They tend to be a driven person, highly motivated, and self-critical. When you are a Perfectionist, a task or job is usually an all-or-nothing affair. They don't like being wrong or corrected; it goes against their deep need to be right. A Perfectionist personality grows and thrives as they constantly try to prove to themselves and others that they're not inadequate or average.

Does this sound familiar?

I like to be Right … all the time if possible.
If I fail, I'll just try harder - I hate when I make mistakes.
I don't like to talk about my faults, my failures, or my inadequacies.
I live with constant pressure; most of which is self-imposed.
I get frustrated a lot with others when they don't do things right.

The Perfectionists Motto:

"I must be perfect and right… I refuse to be average."

Are you are People-Pleaser?

If you're a People-Pleaser, you are generally other-centered or other-directed. In other words, you tend to put others before yourself because it is the good and nice thing to do. To avoid conflict, you rarely tell other people what you really think of them. Although you may have strong opinions, you usually won't strongly disagree with anyone openly. On the whole, most people would describe you as a happy, sweet, and non-confrontational person.

People-Pleasers are nice and kind and sensitive people. They care deeply about what others think of them, and are always worrying if they may have angered or disappointed someone, or how someone else might feel about them. It is rare for a People-Pleaser to interrupt others or make abrupt and hasty decisions. People-Pleasers often neglect their own personal desires and needs while pasting a smile on his or her face.

Does this sound familiar?

I put others before myself, because it is the good thing to.
If I told people what I really think they might be upset.
I spend a lot of energy being nice all the time, and I swallow any anger or bad thoughts I have.
I think a lot about how others might not like me or be disappointed with me.
Sometimes I feel drained meeting the needs of others, but I would never let that be known.

People-Pleaser Motto:

"I will be happy, pleasant, and liked by everyone."

Are you a Legalist?

If you have the Legalist personality, you should know it is similar in some ways to the Perfectionist: The Perfectionist likes to do things right, but the Legalist likes to be right in almost every situation or topic of discussions. As a Legalist, when you make up your mind about something, you commit wholeheartedly to it and rarely change your mind. Just as you honor your commitments you expect other to honor theirs as well.

Legalists can be either conservative or liberal in their political or religious views, but a common trait is that they will argue their point of view as long and hard and passionately as anyone possibly can. Legalists are both responsible and sensible. They're strongly committed to keeping their word. For this reason, they often take time before making big commitments and promises. Legalists are careful and deliberate when approaching a potentially close relationship - they may evaluate a potential partner by making lists and checking things off like a report card.

Does this sound familiar?

I enjoy being right in almost every discussion or conversation.
People would be better-off if they behaved the right way - like me.
I have a hard time accepting gifts or complements.
I get irritated a lot when people make the wrong choices in life.
There are some things that are "off limits" to talk about with me.

Legalist's Motto:

"I enjoy being right in almost every discussion and conversation."

Are you a Stoic?

If you are a stoic you are uncomfortable with having or expressing strong emotions - anger, abounding joy, passionate love, or deep sorrow. Your feelings are not for the public. Crying in movies, in religious services, etc. is way out of bounds. You believe that strong emotions like fear, envy, passion, and love should be kept to oneself. When you do cry you feel weak and exposed. You tend to repress your emotions instead of letting them known.

A Stoics sense of strength comes from having emotions under control; the emotionless state feels powerful and stable. They probably don't intend to repress strong emotions; they've just reached the point where they don't feel many strong emotions. In order to maintain balance and feel comfortable, Stoics often deny that they experience strong emotions. Stoics might acknowledge feeling a little angry or guilty or even fearful, but their face doesn't show it because they allow themselves to experience only a small fraction of the emotion while subconsciously repressing almost all of it.

Does this sound familiar?

If I bottle up my emotion then people will know that I am under control and I will avoid all types problems.
I'm uncomfortable with strong emotion- I've always been this way.
I'm not trying to hide my emotions I just don't feel as strongly as others do.
I am so disciplined that most people around me can't even tell when I am angry.
I believe a stiff upper lip is always preferable to a teary eye.

Stoic's motto:

"If I can just put a cap on my emotions, I will be perceived as strong."

Are you Fear-Prone?

If you have a Fear-Prone personality you almost always anticipate the worst will happen… or think you're weak and frail… or feel that life in general is stacked against you. You may mistrust most people for quite a while until you start to feel safer and more comfortable around them. Having a Fear-Prone personality, your mind always goes to the worst possibility of any situation and tends to feel that life is out of control.

Fear-Prone people can present very different faces - from the socially outgoing to the quiet and withdrawn. Outgoing Fear-Prone people actually avoid intimacy rather than people, and are fearful of what others think of them (in a way similar to the People-Pleaser personality). Withdrawn Fear-Prone people may use their shyness as a way to prevent others from becoming close, hurting them in the process. They may also feel and see rejection where it does not exist.

Does this sound familiar?

1. My mind always thinks of the "worst case scenario" in most situations.
I'm frequently afraid that I've got something wrong with my body - that no one can figure out.
A day does not pass without me feeling worried about something.
It takes a lot of energy to have so much anxiety and fear and keep my concerns under control.
People think I'm weird, but I just like to be very cautious so that nothing bad happens.

Fear-Prone personality motto:

"Thinking about the unknown makes me feel uptight."

Do you have a Combo Personality?

About two-thirds of Dr. Brady's AOS patients seem to identify with one of the above five major pain-prone personalities. The other third are a mixture of various pain-prone personalities - usually two of them. As a result, Dr. Brady often refer to them as Combo personalities.

In general, the more severe and pervasive your pains, the more likely it is that you have more than one set of pain personality traits. For this reason, Combo pain personalities typically suffer from the more complex chronic pain packages, such as fibromyalgia.
Is it harder to be cured of your AOS pain if you incorporate more than one pain personality type? Definitely not! If you do have a combination of pain-prone personality traits that are causing symptoms related to Autonomic Overload Syndrome, rest assured that the success rate for your Combo personality in the Pain Free for Life program is the same as that of those who have only one personality type.

Now What?

You should now be beginning to understand how your past experiences, present circumstances, and pain-prone personality all contribute to the mountain of strong repressed dangerous emotions that causes AOS.

In Pain Free for Life you will learn more about your pain-prone personality trait(s) and discover how to live Pain Free!