Pain Management Therapy in Dallas, TX
Is Chronic Pain Interfering With Your Quality of Life?
Long-term physical pain can impact all areas of your life. It can affect your ability to do chores, your job, your finances, and your hobbies, your sleep, and your relationships. Furthermore, it can cause substantial stress. Not only do you have to deal with the discomfort you’re experiencing, but you also have to manage doctor appointments, treatments, and billing claims.
At times, it can be difficult to think about anything but the pain you’re in. Life can start to feel like it revolves around dealing with, avoiding, and treating the pain. It can also bring up existential concerns about meaning, purpose, and the future. Chronic pain can infiltrate so many parts of your life. Thus, it's associated with an increase in psychological symptoms. These include depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and suicidal thoughts.
Is The Pain “All in My Head?”
One of the biggest misconceptions about pain management therapy is that it suggests that the pain is “all in your head.” This is simply not true. In fact, pain management therapy is often used together with medical and alternative treatments. It is a part of a whole-body approach to coping with real physical pain. The whole-body approach examines how pain impacts your daily activities, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. For example, you may have seen this interaction play out if you have ever had a “tension headache”(physical pain) from being overly stressed (psychological distress). Or perhaps, you’re dealing with constant pain throughout your body, this keeps you from doing the things you love to do and in turn causes you to feel depressed. Basically, your stress can cause a physical reaction. Likewise, your physical symptoms can cause you to feel psychological distress.
What Kinds of Chronic Pain Disorders Can Benefit From Pain Management Therapy?
If you have ongoing pain that is impacting your quality of life, counseling could be a good option for you.
Common examples of chronic pain include:
Injuries with long or partial recoveries
Migraine and tension headaches
Back pain
Neck pain
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Gastrointestinal disorders
Fibromyalgia
What Does Pain Management Therapy Look Like?
Pain management therapy involves education and skill development to cope with and lessen the experience of the pain. Central to this is working towards building a meaningful and empowered life. With or without the pain. Your pain management therapist will focus on your personal goals and your unique situation. Treatment is quite comprehensive in its scope. Research-based methods are used to address pain relief (including relaxation training). Topics such as coping with “pain spikes” and “chasing the pain” are addressed. The mind-body connection is explored. You will collaborate with your pain management therapist to increase pleasant and meaningful activities using behavioral strategies (such as pacing).
Together, you will learn new ways of doing activities you might have stopped doing. And how to add new activities into your life that are less likely to aggravate the pain. Challenging negative/automatic thoughts (such as “I can’t do anything anymore”) using a cognitive-behavioral approach is also employed. Because sleep is often affected, “sleep hygiene” strategies are also discussed. Common psychological hang-ups associated with chronic pain, such as a fear of re-injury and a feeling of a loss of control are possible topics. Pain management therapy will also focus on improving communication with loved ones, doctors, and employers. Thus, so you can ask for what you need. Symptoms of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, trauma, or other mental health concerns may also be present. These can be addressed with CBT, ACT, DBT, and other research-based treatments.
Pain Management Therapy with Faith Integration
If you request it, our therapists are willing to use faith-based counseling as part of your pain-management therapy. However, if you do not wish to discuss your faith or religious background or feel that it is not relevant to your pain, then it will not be discussed in counseling. The choice is yours to make.
If you are religious and would like to integrate that into therapy, then our therapists would be happy to integrate that into your counseling sessions. This may take the form of talking about how faith is impacting the issue that brings you to therapy. Or, it may involve talking about how faith is being used as a coping skill. Faith can also help you cope with pain symptoms.
Begin Pain Management Therapy in Dallas, TX
If you are tired of pain affecting your life and the life of your loved ones, then contact us. Our pain management therapists can help you move forward. To start therapy in Dallas, TX, follow these steps:
Meet with one of our caring therapists that specializes in pain management
Start reducing your pain and learning ways to reduce the impact that pain has on your life
Other Counseling Services in Dallas, TX
Pain management therapy is not the only thing we offer at Sunrise Counseling. We provide a variety of services to clients from our Dallas TX-based therapy office and the surrounding areas. Other mental health services we provide at Sunrise Counseling include:
Social Difficulties
Attention Difficulties
Self-esteem issues
Body image
Parent training
LGBTQ+ Concerns
Grief and Loss
Career concerns
Adjustment difficulties due to various life changes
Depression
Teen Therapy