What Psychological Therapies Can Help Chronic Pain Patients?
Imagine having constant pain for more than 3 months Do you think it would affect your mood? Do you think psychological therapy could help you?
Malaga psychologist Ana Claudia Alda, from the Málaga PsicoAbreu Psychologists office, tells us about how Psychology can help people who suffer from chronic pain.
Chronic pain is pain that lasts more than 3 months and is associated with a chronic disease (osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, etc.). This type of pain is a stressful experience for the person who suffers from it, therefore, the person suffers changes on a psychological level:
Effects at social and work level
The person also suffers changes in the family, social and work areas In a situation such as chronic pain, it is expected that the social and family life of the person who suffers from it will be modified: decreased activities, feeling of incomprehension by others, etc.
Likewise, it is common for the person to have to stop working or reduce work hours. The person feels that they are no longer useful, that they are not as valid as before and, furthermore, these changes influence the economic sphere. All of this becomes stressors that increase the person’s emotional discomfort and pain.
What role does psychotherapy have?
The approach to this medical problem is carried out from the biopsychosocial model This model establishes that not only must we pay attention to medical or biological variables, but other variables such as psychological and social variables also play a great role in the modulation of pain. Thus, it is established that the best way to work in these cases is with a multidisciplinary intervention, including Psychology.
As psychologist Ana Claudia Alda has previously commented, chronic pain causes changes at a psychological level (emotional, cognitive and behavioral) that can maintain or increase pain. The role of psychotherapy is to help the person adapt to this new situation through effective coping strategies such as active coping or acceptance.
What psychological interventions are used in chronic pain?
The psychological intervention that has classically been used in chronic pain to achieve the person’s adaptation has been Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
However, in recent years another approach has appeared that is beginning to have evidence in this area, it is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
1. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
From this perspective, Works on understanding how dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs affect emotions and to the behaviors that appear in the face of pain.
They seek to change or modify maladaptive beliefs and thoughts and train the person in adaptive behaviors in coping with pain through the use of techniques such as: cognitive restructuring, relaxation, behavioral exposure, training in communication skills and problem solving.
2. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
This type of approach focuses on the acceptance of pain to change behavioral avoidance patterns The therapist exposes the person to acceptance as a form of active coping, which allows involvement in life goals outside the area of pain.
In this way, we would enter the field of commitment. The goal is for the person to have a meaningful, committed life, even though pain, negative thoughts and unpleasant emotions are present. The use of metaphors is frequent to facilitate understanding of what is happening.
In addition, behavioral and relaxation techniques are used, such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, to improve communication skills, problem-solving training, and progressive relaxation.
