Pain Management

Role of psychology in pain management

When you are in pain, it is natural to feel angry, sad, hopeless, and/or depressed. Pain can alter your personality, disrupt your sleep, and interfere with your work and relationships. Psychological treatment can be considered for any recurrent pain issue in collaboration with other pain management treatments recommended by your healthcare team.  Benefits of therapy include, but are not limited to, increased self-management of pain, improved pain-coping resources, reduced pain-related disability, and reduced emotional distress.

The most common psychological treatments are:

Talk therapy: We will take history of your symptoms, identify positive qualities that will help with recovery, and work towards acceptance.

Relaxation Training: Learning how to control your response to chronic pain and release tension and anxiety, that often exaggerate a painful physical condition, will aid in alleviating symptoms.

Behavioral Techniques: Keeping a pain journal or resuming normal life activities will lead to better recovery

Cognitive Techniques: Visual imagery is used to reduce pains interference with work, sleep, and family time.  Managing emotional distress can transform pain can reduce suffering

Stress management :  Stress is an unavoidable part of life however allowing it to overwhelm us is avoidable.  Understanding the relationship between stress and physical sensations can be achieved by focusing on the importance of your thoughts and how you view your stressors. Stress can make symptoms worse but with stress management clients can still experience stress, but keep it from intensifying their pain and from letting it ruin their lives.