The Mind Locker Method: A Lived-Experience Model of Chronic Pain Self-Regulation and Resilience

Abstract

This article introduces the Mind Locker Method, a lived-experience-based psychological method for sustaining resilience in individuals living with chronic pain, including trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Developed over a decade through lived experience with TN, the method integrates analytic autoethnography as methodology with clinical training and trauma-informed regulation strategies. The method consists of five structured pillars: self-awareness and body literacy, mental anchoring and redirection, breath and movement calibration, emotional containment, and adaptation through pain. These strategies are designed for real-time use during physical and emotional crises to preserve clarity, function, and autonomy. Unlike many traditional models that emphasize distraction or suppression, the Mind Locker Method engages pain directly as analytic material, offering a distinct neuroplastic and identity-preserving framework. To the best of current knowledge, this may be the first named psychological model for chronic pain authored by a Black woman psychologist with lived experience of TN. As such, it stands as both a practical toolkit and a feminist–epistemic intervention, reclaiming the authority of women of color to name theories in psychology.

Keywords

Mind Locker Method trigeminal neuralgia chronic pain psychological resilience analytic autoethnography women of color

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