Illness / Pain Management
Health problems are stressful. It is easy to fall into a negative stress cycle while worrying about pain and illness. Our Clinic offers stress management related to health problems and we specialize in helping cancer patients navigate the stressors of treatment. Further, we have a multidisciplinary approach to pain and injuries and will work with your physician, physical therapist, and trainer to help you overcome injuries.
What is Illness and Pain Management?
Illness and Pain Management is a specialized service that helps people deal with the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that come with chronic pain. You will discuss your physical and emotional health with your therapist during therapy sessions. They will ask you about the specifics of your pain, including when and where it occurs and what factors might contribute to it. Additionally, your counsellor will likely ask you about any worries or stress you have, especially those related to your pain. With the help of your counsellor, you will develop new ways of thinking about your pain and finding solutions. You may learn to approach your pain differently and develop positive coping mechanisms.
How does Illness and Pain Management counselling work?
Chronic pain is a common condition that can be treated with different types of counselling. Individual and Group Psychotherapy are the most common approaches, involving mindfulness and somatic-based techniques. The goal of psychotherapy is to improve an individual's sense of well-being.
During therapy, your therapist may help you understand that individuals, not outside situations and events, create their own experiences, including pain. By changing your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in response to pain, you can change your awareness of pain and develop better coping skills, even if the actual level of pain remains the same.
Somatic and mindfulness therapy can also help relieve pain in several ways. It can change the way you view your pain, helping you change your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors related to pain, improve coping strategies, and put the discomfort in a better context. As a result, you may feel that the pain interferes less with your quality of life, allowing you to function better.
Therapy encourages reframing your interpretation of the pain so you feel less helpless and more in control of the situation. It fosters coping skills that can be applied to many situations in your everyday life, allowing you to use the tactics you learn for pain management to help you deal with other problems you may encounter in the future.
Who can Illness and Pain Management counselling benefit?
Chronic pain lasts more than six months or longer than the time it takes for tissue to heal. If you're experiencing this, then counselling could be beneficial for you. Our therapists in our La Jolla and Encinitas offices provide counselling for illness and pain management. We understand that chronic pain can prevent you from participating in recreational, vocational, and social activities that you used to enjoy regularly.
In counselling, you'll identify these losses, which can cause feelings of anger, resentment, and frustration that can further complicate and add to the physical experience of pain and illness. Your counsellor will use a values-based approach to work through the emotional aspects of living with a chronic condition, taking into account the profound impact it has on your experience and the challenges you face living with pain or illness.