“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." -Helen Keller
Chronic Pain and Chronic Health Conditions
Most people who are suffering with chronic pain and chronic health conditions do not realize how specialized psychotherapy can benefit them. This is completely understandable because most often the doctors and medical providers whom they have been seeing, many times for years and years, also do not truly understand this as well. This is not to imply that they have not been treated appropriately, only that they have not been treated completely.
Through my 14 years of specialized focus and treatment of clients with chronic pain and chronic health conditions, I have come to understand chronic pain and chronic health conditions such as autoimmune disorders, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and other chronic health conditions that result in chronic pain as syndrome states. I have received specialized training and developed advanced skills to treat pain and health conditions in ways that produce very effective and sustaining results. I have learned how pain changes the brain and body in unfortunate ways, and the many contributing factors driving pain and health syndromes. Through this understanding, I assist clients to change how their body’s systems are functioning in the here and now, or in real time, to promote health and healing.
I’ve been trained in neuroscience based methods such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) for Chronic Pain, Integrated EMDR for Headaches and Migraines, and other strategies that disrupt the pain pathways that are constantly firing in the nervous system and to improve the body’s biochemical states to shift from those that are often the primary causes of the conditions to states that over time resolve the problems. This is typically what medication is trying to achieve with limited outcomes but serious side effects. I also train other practitioners in nervous system-driven practices and advanced EMDR protocols to treat chronic health and pain conditions and am accredited to do so through EMDRIA, the EMDR International Association.
When working with clients I reinforce that their pain is very real...and it is NOT psychological in nature or made up in one's head. People do not make up pain! But, pain is complicated. It is one aspect of one's nervous system, and the nervous system is comprised of many physiological functions beyond the experience of pain. For effective pain relief, one needs to understand how the nervous system is operating as a whole, and in doing so more and more opportunities for relief become available. The same is true for chronic health conditions.
I always start from a place of understanding. First, I need to understand the person’s pain issues regarding the medical cause or causes, or what is called the pain generator. Is it a structural issue? Is it a nerve issue? Is it an inflammatory issue? Through this understanding I can develop a great deal of information about what can be done. With health conditions, I want to know family history to understand possible genetic predisposition. But, I also want to understand life history, or how the nervous system has developed over the lifetime as genes most often need experiences to become expressed. And, it is through understanding how conditions have developed in conjunction with what is happening in the present that is maintaining the existence of the condition that provides the answers to how it may be disassembled through systemic changes in the body. These systemic changes are what my treatment facilitates. That is how healing occurs.
Helping clients develop an understanding of how much functional improvement he or she will be able to regain in order to develop accurate expectations regarding their recovery and their future is a primary intervention and focus of initial therapy sessions. Usually, this is much more than clients previously believed!
Facilitating understanding of the physiology of pain is also vital as it relates to the mind-body connection and how pain works in the body. And with this information, I teach clients to manage and navigate his or her unique nervous system states in order to cope with pain and decrease the intensity in very real and quite effective ways. Most often clients are amazed with what their bodies are capable of in regards to non-medicine pain relief.
It is also important to identify any coexisting conditions such as anxiety, depression, severe stress states, other trauma issues, and/or grief reactions, including how one’s life has changed and the losses he or she may have had in relation to their pain and/or health conditions. Having the understanding of the nervous system as it relates these is so very important, as is knowing how to effectively intervene for any or all of these conditions. These co-existing conditions increase pain states and health symptoms and pain states and health symptoms make these conditions worse. This is physical, not psychological. I help people understand this, and I help resolve these.
And the family...chronic pain and chronic health conditions so often impact the family and relationships in so many ways. Not only can this be addressed, but this can be alleviated with the right tools and strategies in order to re-establish rewarding family roles and relationships. And, doing so is critical to recover from the pain and health conditions! For many this sounds like a fantasy at first. But, as I tell my clients, experiencing is believing.
Through my 14 years of specialized focus and treatment of clients with chronic pain and chronic health conditions, I have come to understand chronic pain and chronic health conditions such as autoimmune disorders, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and other chronic health conditions that result in chronic pain as syndrome states. I have received specialized training and developed advanced skills to treat pain and health conditions in ways that produce very effective and sustaining results. I have learned how pain changes the brain and body in unfortunate ways, and the many contributing factors driving pain and health syndromes. Through this understanding, I assist clients to change how their body’s systems are functioning in the here and now, or in real time, to promote health and healing.
I’ve been trained in neuroscience based methods such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) for Chronic Pain, Integrated EMDR for Headaches and Migraines, and other strategies that disrupt the pain pathways that are constantly firing in the nervous system and to improve the body’s biochemical states to shift from those that are often the primary causes of the conditions to states that over time resolve the problems. This is typically what medication is trying to achieve with limited outcomes but serious side effects. I also train other practitioners in nervous system-driven practices and advanced EMDR protocols to treat chronic health and pain conditions and am accredited to do so through EMDRIA, the EMDR International Association.
When working with clients I reinforce that their pain is very real...and it is NOT psychological in nature or made up in one's head. People do not make up pain! But, pain is complicated. It is one aspect of one's nervous system, and the nervous system is comprised of many physiological functions beyond the experience of pain. For effective pain relief, one needs to understand how the nervous system is operating as a whole, and in doing so more and more opportunities for relief become available. The same is true for chronic health conditions.
I always start from a place of understanding. First, I need to understand the person’s pain issues regarding the medical cause or causes, or what is called the pain generator. Is it a structural issue? Is it a nerve issue? Is it an inflammatory issue? Through this understanding I can develop a great deal of information about what can be done. With health conditions, I want to know family history to understand possible genetic predisposition. But, I also want to understand life history, or how the nervous system has developed over the lifetime as genes most often need experiences to become expressed. And, it is through understanding how conditions have developed in conjunction with what is happening in the present that is maintaining the existence of the condition that provides the answers to how it may be disassembled through systemic changes in the body. These systemic changes are what my treatment facilitates. That is how healing occurs.
Helping clients develop an understanding of how much functional improvement he or she will be able to regain in order to develop accurate expectations regarding their recovery and their future is a primary intervention and focus of initial therapy sessions. Usually, this is much more than clients previously believed!
Facilitating understanding of the physiology of pain is also vital as it relates to the mind-body connection and how pain works in the body. And with this information, I teach clients to manage and navigate his or her unique nervous system states in order to cope with pain and decrease the intensity in very real and quite effective ways. Most often clients are amazed with what their bodies are capable of in regards to non-medicine pain relief.
It is also important to identify any coexisting conditions such as anxiety, depression, severe stress states, other trauma issues, and/or grief reactions, including how one’s life has changed and the losses he or she may have had in relation to their pain and/or health conditions. Having the understanding of the nervous system as it relates these is so very important, as is knowing how to effectively intervene for any or all of these conditions. These co-existing conditions increase pain states and health symptoms and pain states and health symptoms make these conditions worse. This is physical, not psychological. I help people understand this, and I help resolve these.
And the family...chronic pain and chronic health conditions so often impact the family and relationships in so many ways. Not only can this be addressed, but this can be alleviated with the right tools and strategies in order to re-establish rewarding family roles and relationships. And, doing so is critical to recover from the pain and health conditions! For many this sounds like a fantasy at first. But, as I tell my clients, experiencing is believing.
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