[MUSIC] Ryan Laughlin is frozen in fear with his heart beating like a jungle drum. He peers up the circular marble staircase in a panic. He hugs the center support with his back as he maneuvers up the slippery and worn stone steps to escape the unknown assailant chasing him. His fear of heights increases the anxiety with each step. He hears the footsteps close behind him, and he can almost feel the assailant's breath on his legs. But when he looks behind, he only sees flashes of the dark figure chasing him up the stairs. The steps are tilted and awkward with only a few narrow windows to let light in from the outside. The claustrophobic staircase causes a panic, as if the walls are closing in on him. He feels a nauseating unsteadiness as the building is leaning to one side, ready to fall like a tree cut off at its base. He cannot go back down the stairs for fear of being caught, and he does not want to go up because his growing fear with each step. He keeps his back to the inside post and moves on, he takes a quick look out the window and realize that he is nowhere near the top. His head spins. He noticed his shoelaces are untied, damn it, he backs off and leans against the center of the circular staircase grasping for breath. He ties the laces in a hurry to avoid tripping. He hears the pursuer continuing after him, faster and faster. His mouth is dry. His heart pounds. He is sweating profusely. The steps never seem to end. Finally, in a wild, fear-stricken panic, he leaps up the last few steps and finds himself at the top of the staircase on an open balcony looking over the rooftops of an old medieval town. The balcony is unstable and waves back and forth from the wind. He gasped for breath that never comes. He looks back and sees a pursuer arriving at the top of the stairs. He is blinded by the bright sunlight streaming through the opposite side of the balcony. And he cannot make out who it is. The pursuer is coming closer and reaches out to grab him. He runs towards the edge of the balcony. But again, steps on his shoelaces and trips. Damn these things. The tower sways in the direction he stumbles. The force of gravity knocks him over the cast iron railing as he desperately tries to grab it. Only to find that the sweat of his hands makes the railing slippery. He becomes dizzy with fear as he dangles from the railing high above the ground. Desperately trying to pull himself up. He slowly loses his grip on the railing. He screams at the top of his lungs as he falls in slow motion toward the stone surface below. He looks up to see the pursuer looking at him. The expression on the pursuer's face is one of horror. It's his late wife, Sophia. She is reaching out over the balcony to save him, but he is in free fall. Nobody can save him now. >> So, Jim, this section we just saw is pretty dark. Tell us what's going on. >> Well, within the story, Ryan Laughlin, as I mentioned, has had a lot of difficult times recently with his wife passing away and his complex life >> Yeah. >> And he's trying to compensate by exercising all the time. >> Mm-hm. >> He's involved in triathlons, and biking, and things like that. So, within this particular excerpt, that we just read. >> Mm-hm. >> He wakes up. He has a nightmare and wakes up from the nightmare. And it's a nightmare about running up a tower. And being chased by somebody who he doesn't know about. And he eventually ends up at the top of the tower and is frightened. >> Okay. And so, are you making that comparison that we all, those with chronic pain, all of us have our personal demons or what will? >> Well, I think that's kind of the- >> What do you make of this? >> The theme of this part is the fact that, particularly with patients with chronic pain, we have a lot of risk factors. And one of the biggest risk factors for chronic pain is post-traumatic stress disorder. And Ryan Laughlin is a good example of somebody's who's gone through PTSD. >> Okay. >> He was traumatized by his wife passing away so young. And PTSD and many other stressors, depression, anxiety are all risk factors for chronic pain. And so, this particular part is kind of to reflect the fact that we all have our personal demons. >> Okay. >> We need to recognize them and move through them. >> Okay, and will that be your discussion question for this section? >> Yes, the discussion question is really about, identify your own personal demons, and how can you change them? >> Okay. And then what will our module be about? >> Well, the module is focused on the personal impact of chronic pain. So, as I mentioned. And these factor or risk factors can contribute to chronic pain. But chronic pain can also have a dramatic impact on our lives causing disability, depression, anxiety, social conflict and many other problems that we need to work through.