Pain is more than just a physical concept. There are also significant mental and emotional aspects of chronic pain that need to be managed correctly if you’re going to treat the totality of the problem. One such way to address the mental and emotional strife that your chronic pain condition is causing is through what’s known as “talk therapy.”
There are a few different types of talk therapy techniques, but the most common technique used in a chronic pain setting is known as cognitive behavioral therapy. In cognitive behavioral therapy, a trained therapist works with a patient to explore some psychological adaptations to help them overcome some of the obstacles created by their chronic pain condition. Some of the mental conditions that CBT can help to address include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Insomnia
- PTSD
- Stress
All of these factors can intensify your physical chronic pain symptoms and make the condition harder to control if you aren’t also focused on managing these mental aspects.
How Talk Therapy Works
Many people are a little reluctant to jump right into a talk therapy technique when their chronic pain specialist recommends meeting with a psychologist. In fact, some people think that this recommendation means that their physician believes that the patient’s pain is all in their head and not actually real. This couldn’t be further from the truth. A referral to a psychologist doesn’t mean that we don’t believe your pain is real, it means that your pain is multi-faceted and you’ll get the greatest benefit by effectively managing the physical and mental aspects of the condition.
Cognitive behavior therapy gives the patient a chance to talk about a variety of aspects related to their chronic pain condition, and the process is very goal-orientated in nature. Oftentimes throughout a session, patients and providers will work to develop small attainable goals or productive lifestyle tweaks to help treat some of the different aspects of your chronic pain condition. For some patients these goals may be as simple as exercising more throughout the week, while for others a goal may be to stop and perform some breathing exercises when you notice that stress is building up. This process helps to change your mindset, and that can go a long way in overcoming pain.
For example, much of talk therapy focuses on reframing how you think about chronic pain. You may not be able to control all aspects of your chronic pain condition, but if you focus on managing the controllable aspects and find new ways to problem solve along the way, you can greatly offload some of the burden of chronic pain.
Talk therapy not only helps patients undercover some of the not-so-obvious ways that chronic pain is affecting their mental and emotional health, but it also helps them develop some helpful treatment strategies that a physical pain specialist may not be as versed in treating. Pain management is oftentimes involves a community approach in order to treat all sides of the issue, so don’t be afraid to lean on multiple specialists in order to help address your chronic pain problem
For more information about talk therapy or finding a trustworthy CBT specialist near you, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.