Meri Levy, LMFT, PMH-C

05/05/2026

Are you a therapist whose clients have chronic pain or unexplained physical symptoms that don't respond to medical treatment?

Research shows that most chronic pain and many other chronic conditions are neuroplastic. These include fibromyalgia, migraines, IBS, POTS Long COVID, and dozens more that affect about one in three adults. They are caused not by injury or disease, but by changes in the brain's neural pathways. They represent a non-verbal expression of psychosocial issues which new psychotherapeutic techniques can relieve.

The Association for the Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms (ATNS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating practitioners and the public about these conditions and their treatment. Research trial outcomes are dramatically improved compared to CBT and other older approaches.

I'm thrilled to share that ATNS has launched a Psychotherapist Special Interest Group (SIG), a community for licensed mental health professionals to discuss complex cases, deepen clinical knowledge, and connect with colleagues doing this work. It's free with ATNS membership. You can join the ATNS for only $13/mo ($7.50/mo if newly licensed).

If you've ever wondered whether your client's chronic symptoms might have a mind-body component, and how to help them heal, this might be exactly the community you've been looking for.

https://symptomatic.me/sig-psychotherapist

05/05/2026

A doctor once told me I might be developing MS.

She was trying to help. She wanted me to get a referral. But those words sent my already-suffering nervous system into a terror spiral that lasted months, and almost certainly made my symptoms worse.

That's the nocebo effect. And it's just one of the ways the medical system, with the best of intentions, can actually deepen chronic pain.

In my latest post, I'm breaking down:

✨ How to identify neuroplastic pain proactively — not just by ruling everything else out

✨ Why the relationship with your provider isn't just "nice to have" — it's clinically active

✨ Why women especially deserve better from the medical system (and what the research actually says)

✨ What to ask before agreeing to any treatment or procedure

If you're a parent who's been told "everything looks fine" and you're still hurting, this one's for you.

https://open.substack.com/pub/bodywiseparent/p/when-the-doctor-says-everything-looks

04/28/2026

Some kids are harder to parent. And the feelings that come with that, the resentment, the grief, the relief when you get a break, are the feelings nobody talks about.

They're also the suppressed emotions that can fuel chronic pain and symptoms when we don't let ourselves experience them. New post on parenting neurodivergent kids, temperament mismatch, and why self-compassion might be the most therapeutic thing you can do.

https://bodywiseparent.substack.com/p/the-message-of-chronic-pain-for-parents

04/21/2026

Telling people with chronic pain and anxiety to "slow down and do less" might actually be making things worse.

Not because rest doesn't matter. It does.

But "protect your nervous system from stress" sends a deeper message: your body can't handle being activated. Stress is dangerous. Calm is the goal. That message is fear. Dressed up as healing.

Stress is a part of a life with meaning and purpose. You don't have to earn healing by doing less. You get to do it from inside your actual life.

Check out my next edition of Body Wise Parent at https://open.substack.com/pub/bodywiseparent/p/your-nervous-system-doesnt-need-you

04/15/2026

For decades, Dr. John Sarno was dismissed by the medical establishment, even as thousands of patients recovered from chronic pain using his methods. Now, peer-reviewed research is vindicating what those patients already knew. In my latest post, I break down the clinical trial evidence behind Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy, two psychological treatments that are producing results the pain world has never seen before.

The nervous system can learn pain. It can also unlearn it.



https://open.substack.com/pub/bodywiseparent/p/what-the-research-finally-proves?r=31a6fp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

04/08/2026

Most "abnormal" findings on MRI are just as common in people who don't experience chronic pain. The bulging disc. The arthritis. The "wear and tear." Often incidental, not the cause of pain.

What does predict ongoing pain or symptoms? The stories we believe about what causes them. The story about the MRI findings, yes — but also the story that typing is bad for your wrists. That gluten triggers your symptoms. That sitting on a couch will wreck your back. That running destroys your knees. Once your nervous system learns to treat something as a threat, the belief itself becomes the problem.

This week in Body Wise Parent I'm exploring the neuroscience of conditioned pain responses: how the brain learns to produce pain, what the nocebo effect is, and what it takes to retrain a nervous system that's stuck in protection mode.

https://open.substack.com/pub/bodywiseparent/p/pain-as-a-self-fulfilling-prophesy?r=31a6fp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

04/02/2026

What if chronic pain isn't a body problem?

Most chronic pain or symptoms are actually generated by the brain and nervous system as a danger signal, rather than due to damage in the body. And that's actually good news!

My new post is all about the therapeutic tool that's helping people with chronic pain finally get their lives back. https://open.substack.com/pub/bodywiseparent/p/you-can-unlearn-your-pain

04/02/2026

The Need Nobody Talks About in Chronic Pain Recovery

If you've struggled with chronic pain or symptoms, there may be a deeper need beneath the surface—one that, when finally met, may be the missing piece in your recovery I have been working with a client recently who recovered remarkably quickly from disabling pain and other symptoms. She hadn’t been able to work or care for herself for quite a while. She had moved home with a parent and needed help with even small tasks, such as taking a shower, pouring herself a glass of water, or opening doors. She was unable to use her phone because of debilitating pain in her hands....

If you’ve struggled with chronic pain or symptoms, there may be a deeper need beneath the surface—one that, when finally met, may be the missing piece in your recovery I have been working wit…

03/25/2026

Have you ever thought about something you should do, and then wondered where the should came from?

In my newest Substack post, I discuss how viewing our actions as obligations vs. choices drains us of energy and joy. It may also contribute to anxiety, depression or chronic pain. As a psychotherapist and parent of four kids, I encourage you to get curious whenever you’re “should-ing” on yourself.

Personal agency is dependent upon viewing more of our life through a lens of choice. https://bodywiseparent.substack.com/p/stop-should-ing-on-yourself?r=31a6fp

#

03/17/2026

Your kids don’t need you to be perfect at managing your emotions or theirs. They just need to see you try.

This post discusses how learning to name, allow, and express emotions helps us recover from chronic pain and other physical symptoms. I’m a therapist, and I still wasn’t great at this when my kids were young.

We’re all learning. Our kids are learning. We can learn it together.

https://bodywiseparent.substack.com/p/breaking-the-cycle-raising-emotionally

03/10/2026

Perpetual problem-solving isn't productivity. It's anxiety in disguise—and it's quietly telling your nervous system that you're not safe. My new Substack post is on how to break this habit, to calm your nervous system and support recovery from chronic pain and neuroplastic symptoms. https://open.substack.com/pub/bodywiseparent/p/the-problem-with-problem-solving