CPPS and Personality

[gifford]

My guess is that there is a coorelation of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome wth personality.
I would guess some of the coommon characteristics among most sufferers are.
1 Analytical thinkers
2. Perfectionist.
3. Well educated (likely with an advanced degree).
4 More loners than "people persons".

I would like to hear from some of you.

[webslave]

That describes me pretty well. You should add something about anxiety. That's the most widespread commonality that I've noticed.

[Dj Smitty]

yeah that's me too actually....I'm not really a loner, but I'm not Mr. Sociable either unless I zip it up on a night out...but that's why most people drink and do other things at parties. Anyway, I have a small, but close, group of friends. This has its pros and cons but I prefer it that way.

And I'm pretty anxious too, though not always...more recently because I'm at a crossroads in my life where I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing next, etc....it's quite common though.

[deron]

Wow!

And why is this so?

[CppsDad]

I think that fits me well too. I'm not a perfectionist, but the other things are a good match for me. Add to that the anxiety, and you've nailed me. I used to think my anxiety was a result of my CPPS, as it showed up after, but now I don't think that any longer.

Mike

[webslave]

Wow!

And why is this so?

It's been known for some time that people with this disorder have a set of psychological traits that predispose them to the problem. This forum has many references, read up.

[Astrotitan]

1 Analytical thinkers
2. Perfectionist.
3. Well educated (likely with an advanced degree).
Yep, the top three are some of my traits.
4 More loners than "people persons".
Not really but sometimes I prefer being alone.

Anxiety should be on this list. I am a big analytical thinker, waking up at night, at tims, finding it hard to go to sleep because my mind is racing at 100 miles per hour.


Tom

[Richie]

Anyone ever take these personality profile tests? I wonder how many INTJ's are here. Basically its the traits you describe and myself.


http://www.typelogic.com/intj.html

[conradin]

Should add anxiety, as I have it, and been diagnosed.

[Pelican]

In John Sarnos book he describes those personality traits exactly.
I think in many cases chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome is an eqivalent to his diagnosis of TMS. Anyone who hasnt read "Healing back pain" or "The Mind-body connection" should do so.
The only thing thats really hard about treatment is that you must be 100% certain that your pain has a psychological origin otherwise the pain will still work as a distraction from the feelings youre really hiding.

I am also a thinker, worrier and perfectionist in many ways. I've also struggled with anxiety and depression since my early teens.

[LightningTree]

The only thing thats really hard about treatment is that you must be 100% certain that your pain has a psychological origin otherwise the pain will still work as a distraction from the feelings youre really hiding.

I think one can work around this. I have. I don't believe that the condition is entirely psychological, yet I think that being in touch with my body, and the stress I cannot feel, has greatly helped me. The silver lining is that I might not die of stress induced illnesses when I am older!

Our emotions, eyes, and ears, are only three conduits to the mind-body axis. Another is our internal body state and posture. Over time, stretching and relaxation teach how to sense this neuromuscular body element. That is, we can 'back into' the mind-body axis and start to get some relief. That's my belief anyways.

Despite what our civilization dictates, sometimes, it is best for everyone to undergo the same discovery process as an original discoverer.

p.s. I also fit the personality profile. I did a Jung test and came out as INFJ.

[LightningTree]

I should add one more thing here because I think it is important:

Once you learn to bump into the mind-body axis, you can start to compensate for repressed feelings:

Dr. Wise talks about this in AHIP. He mentions, to paraphrase, that when you are stretching, and in particular, relaxing, emotions might come to the surface and you should let them.

Also, I have personally learned to find new body postures for stress. So, for example, when confronting an overly judgemental in-law, I have learned to breathe heavier (rapid breathing) as an outlet for the stress, rather than holding it in my pelvis. It helps a little bit to get my heart pumping and let the adrenaline flow.

One can also approach this from the other direction:

My wife is the kind of person who bottles up emotions and it makes her somewhat stressed. Not depressed, she isn't the type for that. But definitely unhappy. To help, I will often say what I think she is feeling to help her let it out. I get it wrong a lot. But when I get it right she reaches catharsis. She cries, but then feels much, much better.

I think we all need to do that. Cognitive therapy can help with that. Seriously, imagine if you could voice what was deep inside, get it out, hit catharsis, and feel much better.

[gifford]

I just read a book entitled "Healing for Damaged Emotions" by David A. Seamands



Anyone who is a self perfectionist should read this book. (My opinion). It tells that perfectionist leads to anxiety, self condemnation, guilt , anger, depression, etc (which can lead to physical symptoms as well). It discusses how self perfectionism started from a young age and took a long time to develop so it it takes a long time to deprogram ones thinking. No quick fixes. Professional help is sometimes needed. Although the book does not mention CPPS, if you replace the word "perfectionism" with "CPPS", it reads a lot like A HEADACHE IN THE PELVIS but goes into a more about how our thinking (perfectionism) must be dealt with first before much an change.. One additional recommendation in this book is "avoid being alone" (especially if depressed) - which introverts tend to do. Being an introvert also seems to be a common features of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome sufferers mentioned on this site. This book shed a new light on my problem for me and a great help to me -- second only to A HEADACHE IN THE PELVIS. (I have read dozens of books since suffering from this.) Although it was hard for me to read (because I saw myself so much in the book), I can't recommend it enough. It is also cheap on amazon.com. Read the reviews there . All highly recommend it. There is also a workbook to go along with the book. which I am going to order..
Gifford

[kenn101]

I do not fit your mold other than being more or a loner. I pretty much fit the ISTP personality. So why do I have the same symptons as the rest of you but not the same personality?

[kpbos]

I fit those characteristics as well, a thinking, worrying, perfectionist, not so much a loner, but seem to have become a bit more of a loner since my days of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome began. I also read a book called "Growing Up Firstborn" which describes how the firstborn sibling is predisposed to this kind of rigid, perfectionist personality. It fits me to a T as I am the oldest of 3. Interestingly enough, however, according to the book a firstborn is not simply the eldest child. For example, a boy with an older sister could be a firstborn because he is the oldest male sibling. Or a sibling that is at least 5 years younger than the closest sibling in age could also be a firstborn. And I think he referred to only children as ultimate firstborns, or something like that. I believe the author is Kevin Leman, "Growing Up Firstborn" if anyone is interested. It would be interesting to see how many chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome sufferers here could be classified as firstborns.