Are you getting stuck with how to treat clients who have chronic pain? Are your clients experiencing pain but the cause is unknown? It’s frustrating for you as a clinician, and painful and debilitating for your clients.
Join Dr. Stephanie Sarkis, psychotherapist, author, and international speaker, as she shows you concrete, research-based solutions using real-life examples of chronic pain relief in clients. She will show you how to create effective tailor-made treatments to decrease related stress, anxiety, depression, pain related ailments, and possible suicidal tendencies.
- Research-proven treatments include:
- Medication Mirror Therapy
- Biofeedback Mindfulness meditation
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Hypnotherapy
You will also learn acupressure techniques, discover how to create an effective guided imagery script, role play cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, and see examples of mirror therapy for chronic pain.
OUTLINE
Chronic Pain
- Phantom pain
- Auto-immune disorder pain
- Lupus
- Fibromyalgia
- Lyme Disease
- Accident-related pain
- Migraine pain
- Sequalae to medical treatment
Comorbid Issues with Chronic Pain
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Bipolar Disorder
- PTSD
- Sleep disorders
Treatment Strategies
Medication
- NSAIDS
- Antidepressants
- Anticonvulsants
- Muscle relaxants
- Opioids
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Shut off your pain receptors through self-talk
- Cognitive coping skills training
- Homework assignments
- Cognitive restructuring
- Therapy video session demonstration
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
- Increases control over physical sensations
- Reduces intense emotions
- Helps identify powerful emotions
- Exercises control over emotions
- Keeping a pain diary
- Mindfulness
- Teach diaphragmatic breathing in order to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system
- Diaphragmatic breathing exercise demonstration
Meditation
- Focusing on here and now
- Use STOP to teach mindfulness meditation
- Control emotions for a positive perception of others
- Guided mindfulness meditation exercise
Mirror Therapy
- Treat phantom limb pain
- Mirror therapy exercise
- Video of Mirror therapy
Biofeedback
- Helps connect mind with body
- Relaxation techniques to reduce pain-related physical reactions
- Video of biofeedback session
Hypnotherapy
- Increases the power of mind over body
- Translate pain into pressure and warmth
- Induce relaxing scene when pain occurs
- Affirmations to heal pain
- Create effective guided imagery
- Guided imagery script creation exercise
Touch-Based Treatments
- Acupuncture
- Acupressure
- Massage
- Demonstration of acupressure points
Decreasing Pain Techniques
- Visualizing technique
- Art Therapy
- Empty chair
- Detachment technique
OBJECTIVES
- Explain how CBT treats for chronic pain.
- Discover pain as a learned response.
- Effectively assess chronic pain sequalae in your clients.
- Evaluate your client’s hidden signs of chronic pain.
- Analyze the mind’s power over pain signals in the body.
- Create cognitive behavioral homework assignments for clients.
- Access resources on chronic pain for clients.
- Explore how pain relief impacts daily functioning.