Counseling People Struggling with Chronic Pain

Data-based estimates find that approximately one in five Americans (i.e., over 60 million people) suffer from chronic pain every day or most days, causing limitations in daily functioning, reducing social activities, and impairing quality of life. In addition, this epidemic in pain costs the US hundreds of billions of dollars each year in lost wages and medical expenses. Anyone who offers counseling services will undoubtedly encounter many clients who struggle with pain, as pain is frequently associated with depression, anxiety, addiction, disability, and relational difficulties. Of particular interest to counselors is that in most cases, psychological and emotional factors are directly involved in maintaining or exacerbating the experience of chronic pain-- long after the initial cause of the pain has disappeared, and after all somatic tissue damage has healed.



This 90 minute presentation will succinctly describe a variety of mechanisms in which psychological, emotional and relational factors, as well as prior life circumstances and events can prolong the experience and perception of pain– well after any injury or tissue damage has healed. It will also describe and demonstrate a number of counseling and therapy techniques that can be used to eliminate this type of chronic pain and bring relief to clients. I’ll also play a few videos, and show a demonstration of a woman with chronic neck pain obtaining relief through a technique that was demonstrated effective through a longitudinal randomized controlled research trial (RCT).

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