Chronic Pain

Pain affects the way we feel, both physically and mentally, and living with chronic pain has been shown to make mental health worse.

Understanding Chronic Pain

Chronic Pain RWC

Chronic pain is a condition by which someone experiences long-term physical pain. Chronic pain can affect anyone at any age. The condition may exist on its own, or it may be a symptom or part of another diagnosis, such as arthritis, diabetes, irritable bowel disease or fibromyalgia.

Pain may affect a person’s daily life, making them less mobile. It may stop them from sleeping or sleeping well, and it may require them to take painkillers regularly.

Chronic pain is also difficult to live with because it has no clear treatment, cure or prognosis.

The charity Action On Pain estimates that as many as one in seven people are living with chronic pain in the UK.

Chronic Pain and Mental Health

Chronic pain is stressful to live with, and it also increases risk factors for poor mental health, such as loneliness and isolation. Chronic pain reduces the quality of life and can also feel unpredictable, making it harder to get through everyday life and plan for the future. The lack of certainty around how chronic pain may progress or how to treat it creates an even deeper sense of uncertainty for someone living with it.

Chronic pain is associated with common mental health problems, namely depression and anxiety (around seven in 10 people with severe pain worry about their mood). But experts advise that some people may avoid seeking help for depression and anxiety symptoms because they see them as a ‘natural consequence’ of chronic pain and its impact on their lives. This means that the symptoms persist and may get worse as the person attempts to live without treating them. Clinicians may also fall prey to this point of view.

According to Mind, chronic pain increases the likelihood of experiencing anger, which is exacerbated when people are let down, neglected or treated unfairly because of the condition.

Mental health treatments for people with chronic pain won’t resolve the pain, but they may make it easier for people to live with the diagnosis and live enjoyable, meaningful lives while coping with chronic pain.

Treatment for Chronic Pain

The NHS encourages people with chronic pain to continue to exercise and work while adding physical therapy and medication to manage symptoms.

Some people find that meditation can help with chronic pain. The NHS event offers an online meditation course to teach people with chronic pain new skills for coping with the condition.

How Therapy Can Support You With Chronic Pain

Online Therapy For People with Chronic Pain

For people with chronic pain, online therapy can remove some of the barriers to accessing mental health support. Chronic pain is exhausting and can either decrease mobility or get worse after activity (or both). Online therapy means that people with chronic pain can see a therapist online without having to leave home if need be.

This improves continuity during therapy and helps increase the likelihood that someone with chronic pain can attend the greatest number of appointments. It may also increase flexibility in the event that it’s impossible to attend an appointment, such as during a flare-up.

Therapists can deliver a number of different therapeutic approaches online, including:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) For Chronic Pain

By teaching you about how the mind works and the skills and exercises we can use to process negative thoughts and feelings, CBT therapists can help you cope with living with chronic pain.

There’s a good evidence basis for offering CBT support to people living with chronic pain and painful chronic conditions, including CBT therapy for fibromyalgia. CBT has been shown to have an effect on reducing pain, distress, pain interference with activities, and disability. It’s also a good treatment because it doesn’t come with the risks associated with medication or surgery for chronic pain.

CBT can be delivered online and in person, making it a flexible therapeutic approach for people with chronic conditions.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Chronic Pain

Like CBT, ACT helps you learn strategies to embrace difficulties such as pain and commit to actions that will support you. According to ACT’s core principles, difficulties are an unavoidable part of life and efforts to avoid them lead to suffering. ACT is particularly well-suited to people living with difficult symptoms and diagnoses such as chronic pain.

Please get in touch with us to learn more about therapy when you have chronic pain or schedule an appointment for a free initial consultation.