"Why am I seeing you? I'm not crazy, I'm just overstressed. My pain is real!"
I often hear these words during the initial phone conversation with clients who have been referred by their doctors. I am quick to assure these clients that they are not crazy or imagining their pain, but are in fact very lucky to have a physician that recognizes the many facets of chronic stress/pain disorders.
Today medical research recognizes that in the past, something was missing in the treatment of chronic pain/chronic stress disorders , namely a holistic appreciation of everyday functioning.
How can anyone with a significant degree of chronic pain/stress only be affected physically? Pain makes you feel tired, mentally confused, irritable and often depressed. It affects you mentally and emotionally as well as physically.
If a family member changes, relaxed and easy-going, to irritable and worried, how many weeks will pass before family relationships begin to change?
A pain/stress psychologist can help with these problems by using psychology - based treatment approaches, which reverses some of the negative symptomology and improves a greater sense of self-control, reduces depression and anxiety while improving memory, concentration and self-esteem.
As a psychologist who specializes in pain/stress disorders, I offer several types of treatment:
