March 19, 2026

When the Work Isn't Working: 5 Reasons You May Still Be Stuck

45 minutes

Episode Title: When the Work Isn't Working

Season 2, Episode 1

Welcome to Season 2 of the Pain Reprocessing Therapy Podcast. Daniel Lyman, LCSW — founding member of the Pain Psychology Center and Executive Director of the Mind Body Therapy Center — takes over as host this season, bringing a deep clinical background in neuroplastic symptoms and chronic pain recovery.

For the first episode, Daniel sits down with Gabrielle Jacobs, LCSW, Associate Director of the Mind Body Therapy Center, to tackle one of the most frustrating experiences in recovery: doing everything right and still feeling stuck.

In this episode, Daniel and Gabrielle discuss:

Why understanding PRT and healing through PRT are two different things

The concept of experiential safety — and why waiting to feel safe before acting keeps people stuck

How relationships (with people, work, environments, and patterns) directly impact the nervous system's ability to heal

Living with intensity: why the same personality traits that make people great at life can quietly work against recovery

The difference between eliminating symptoms and changing the patterns that sustain them

Identity fusion — when pain becomes part of how someone understands themselves, and how to gently begin to loosen that grip

Secondary gain: what the symptom might be providing, and how to give yourself that thing without needing the pain to get it

Key concepts mentioned:

Experiential safety and graded exposure

The fear-avoidance model

Somatic tracking

All-or-nothing thinking in recovery

Secondary gain

Neuroplastic symptoms

Identity and recovery

About the hosts:

Daniel Lyman, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and founding member of the Pain Psychology Center, where Pain Reprocessing Therapy was originally developed. He is the Executive Director of the Mind Body Therapy Center, a therapy and coaching practice serving clients worldwide dealing with chronic somatic symptoms.

Gabrielle Jacobs, LCSW, is the Associate Director of the Mind Body Therapy Center and a clinician specializing in neuroplastic symptoms and chronic pain. She has been deeply involved in the clinical world of Pain Reprocessing Therapy for many years.

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Resources and Additional Links

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By Daniella Deutsch, John Gasienica

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