Are You Tired of Pain Controlling Your Life Instead of the Opposite?
- Have you lost hope because your doctor can’t find a way to help you manage your pain?
- Are you worried about the long-term effects of taking pain medications the rest of your life?
- Have you ever wanted to just give up on life because of your chronic pain?
- Do you feel like your pain is making your life unbearable?
- Have you been passed from specialist to specialist but still can’t find pain relief?
We all experience occasional pain. A problem occurs when our pain becomes more consistent and we can’t find a good solution.
Pain can have an extremely negative impact on our lives if not properly managed. It’s not uncommon for sufferers of chronic pain to develop negative thinking patterns and, eventually, depression.
In the worst cases, individuals can become so hopeless that they take their lives. As we’ll see, however, we don’t have to allow our pain-related suffering to spiral that far out of control. Counseling can help in your quest for lasting pain management.
Unresolved Pain is A Common Problem and Counseling Can Provide a Solution
Many individuals struggle with unresolved pain issues. So, please don’t feel like you’re the only one. Millions in the US alone suffer from pain every day and don’t know how to find relief.
Counseling can help in several key ways. First, as shared earlier, chronic pain sufferers commonly experience depression. The depression makes the pain feel worse and the pain also worsens the depression.
In these cases, the successful treatment of both your physical pain and depression are essential. If both aren’t properly dealt with, they’ll keep making each worse than before.
Although treating your depression may not make your pain magically disappear, you’ll find significant relief. The saying that “depression hurts” is very true. The body feels worse when you’re depressed and your feeling of pain is heightened.
Regardless of whether depression accompanies your pain, the behavioral treatment of chronic pain can still help.
The mental anguish that sometimes accompanies pain only adds to your misery. Your therapist can help you identify distorted thinking patterns and work with you to find better ways to think about your pain.
As your mental anguish diminishes, you’ll find your pain much more manageable. You’ll also notice a significant improvement in the overall quality of your life.
Comforts of Home Counseling utilizes evidence-based behavioral treatments for chronic pain which include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), hypnotherapy and mindfulness solutions. These treatments help you manage your pain and improve your life.
You also may be asked to keep a journal so you can chart your day-to-day pain. This can be a useful tool in determining what lends to you having a good or bad day in reference to your pain.
“My doctor doesn’t believe I have pain so he sent me to a ‘shrink’.”
We can see why you might come to that conclusion. We also respect the fact that you may feel more hopeless than ever in regards to a pain-relief solution.
The good news is that doctors don’t just “pass patients off” to mental health providers because they don’t believe them. Instead, they want to exhaust all options in helping you.
Sometimes physicians can find the source of your pain and sometimes they can’t. In either instance, a physician may struggle to know how else to help you for the time being.
In these situations, you may be referred to a mental health provider such as Comforts of Home Counseling.
The fact that you’re referred to us doesn’t mean your doctor thinks your pain is “just in your head.” If you came to such a conclusion, it’s understandable why you’d feel hurt.
Instead, counseling can be an integral part of your overall pain-management plan. As shared earlier, if you can learn to think differently about the pain you experience, your undesirable symptoms will certainly decrease.
“I’ll just take medication for my pain instead of going to counseling.”
We can all be thankful for modern pain medications. They’ve brought relief to an untold number of people.
That said, there are significant short and long-term side effects of pain medication use. Some side effects include:
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Confusion
- Anxiety
- Dysphoria
- Constipation
- Balance problems
- Virtually all opiate painkilling medications carry the risk of long-term addiction
There are many techniques that can be effective besides medication. It’s best not to look at pain medication and counseling as solutions that have to be “either-or.”
Many times, our clients are able to decrease their pain medication usage through counseling. Taking fewer medications and lower doses typically means our clients have more control over their lives and feel healthier. There are fewer medication side effects to contend with so that’s not too surprising.
Another important thing to mention is that pain medications don’t always bring your pain levels down to a range you feel good about. Pain medications, like any other form of treatment, have limits.
That’s why we encourage clients to incorporate a number of different management options at the same time. Other common methods to reduce pain include weight loss, physical therapy and massage. Sometimes, surgery is also considered an option.
Studies have shown that therapeutic interventions such as CBT, mindfulness and hypnotherapy are at least as effective as any other intervention used to manage pain.
The great news is that counseling isn’t riddled with the potential side effects so common with pain medications and surgery, either. Some of the goals for the behavioral treatment of chronic pain are:
- To reduce the negative impact of pain on daily life.
- Improve physical and emotional functioning.
- Increase effective coping skills for managing pain.
- Reduce pain intensity.
“Going to counseling for pain management means admitting I’m weak.”
Actually, the opposite is true. It takes a strong person to admit when they need help. Although there are some virtues related to the individualistic culture we live in, there have also been some downfalls.
One of the fallacies we too often believe as a culture is that asking for help equals weakness. This belief locks us in a prison of needless misery.
The truth is that we all need help from time to time. Admission of this fact doesn’t make us weak. It only reaffirms the fact that we’re human. We need each other. The “No man is an island” saying is spot on.
Counseling is a great way to break out of the self-imposed prison of trying to handle everything on your own. It’s a freeing experience to reach out for help and find relief.
Is your pain causing the quality of your life to plummet? Maybe you’re losing hope that you can keep fighting the pain battle.
You don’t need to give up on things getting better. Comforts of Home Counseling has helped many individuals take control of their pain. Our therapists can help you move from hurt to hope. You can schedule an appointment today and get one step closer to a happier life.