Behavioral Pain Management
A safe and confidential space to explore the challenges and opportunities that arise in relationships.
Are you suffering from chronic or persistent pain?
Have you been to doctor after doctor with little pain relief?
Are you hoping to find ways to manage your pain or headaches without resorting to medications? Are you afraid of relying too heavily on medication to manage your pain?
Do you feel alone and misunderstood by your family in regards to finding the right treatment for your chronic pain?
Have you stopped doing what you enjoy because your pain has led to feelings of depression or isolation?
Living with chronic pain can be challenging. It’s vital to obtain the appropriate medical diagnosis and treatment from your medical doctor. If the underlying medical condition which led to the pain cannot be cured, it may still be possible for your suffering to be diminished.
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you might want to consider a behavioral pain management consultation and treatment plan.
I can teach you behavioral strategies to help you manage your chronic pain and help you get your life back.
I can also work with you and your medical doctor or other provider to collaborate on a treatment plan, if necessary.
Behavioral Pain Management Can Incorporate the Following Skills and Modalities:
Education about chronic pain syndrome and reducing disability secondary to pain.
Behavioral pacing skills to increase or moderate activity levels without increasing pain.
CBT and sleep maintenance skills to improve sleep quality.
Relaxation and meditation skills for calming the nervous system and reducing stress and muscle tension.
Intentional happiness and mindfulness skills to optimize well being.
Communication strategies to increase intimacy, reduce conflict, and decrease isolation.
When necessary, CBT and exposure interventions can be useful to decrease pain catastrophizing and/or associated depression.
Biofeedback/neurofeedback services to increase parasympathetic dominance.
What Is Biofeedback?
Biofeedback is information, or feedback, about an individual’s biological functions made visible by technology. The goal of biofeedback training is to provide individuals with detailed information about what is going on inside the body and brain.
By watching a computer give continuous measurements of one’s physiology, a person can experiment with different activities, thoughts, moods, and sensations while getting immediate feedback on the effects and changes in the body.
Biofeedback training involves the use of reliable instruments that measure and respond to very slight changes in the body. The equipment highlights and showcases this feedback for the individual and therapist, who then use it to achieve more desirable physical and emotional states.
Biofeedback equipment is capable of demonstrating very small changes in temperature, heart rate variability, or subtle alterations in muscle tension that cannot be felt with normal perception.
With guidance, and with data from the biofeedback equipment, one can learn to alter their heart rate, respiration, brain waves, muscle tension, or increase skin temperature. These skills help individuals to control and understand their physiology, thereby improving general performance and management of medical or emotional conditions.
Biofeedback is appropriate for children and adults, and several decades of research have demonstrated its efficacy in improving various health conditions, managing headaches and pain, and helping individuals cope with stress or anxiety. And, it’s fun! Especially for youngsters. Some biofeedback programs look like videogames, powered by your own body in its ideal state.
