Illness & Chronic Pain Treatment
Has chronic pain or illness left you feeling helpless, overwhelmed or confused?
- Are you struggling to understand and cope with chronic or life-threatening illness and pain?
- Are you frightened by your condition and how it will impact your future?
- Do you feel shame or self-blame around your pain or illness, especially if you believe that you somehow caused your condition or that you are paying for past behavior?
Maybe you feel a sense of guilt over not exercising enough, eating too much sugar or using too many drugs in your twenties. Or perhaps you’ve suffered an accident or been diagnosed with a chronic condition or a disease that wasn’t your fault, but you still blame yourself for not being able to recover as completely or quickly as you had hoped. Maybe you tried to push your body too hard during physical therapy and experienced a set-back in your recovery. Or you might feel you are in too much pain to complete your physical therapy exercises. Chronic pain, illness or a life-threatening condition can create a sense that your life is out of your control. Do you wish you were able to talk about and engage in your story completely and truthfully, work through difficult emotions and learn to cope with your discomfort?
Questions? Contact me
Countless individuals, couples and families are affected by chronic pain and illness
Almost everyone faces chronic pain, illness or a life-threatening condition at some point in their lives. And if you aren’t personally struggling, chances are you have a family member or friend who is. According to WebMD, in addition to physical symptoms, up to 50 percent of individuals suffering from chronic pain or illness also struggle with depression. Personal, professional and intimate relationships can also become distant or strained, leaving you feeling isolated at a time when you most need support. While everyone’s experience with chronic pain or illness carries its own unique challenges, it is important to remember that you are not alone. There are tens of thousands of people also dealing with a similar condition every day.
The good news is that while you are facing unique circumstances and symptoms, you also carry unique strengths. With chronic illness and/or chronic pain treatment, you can learn to better manage your condition, cope with or reduce difficult symptoms and find the relief you are seeking.
Chronic illness and chronic pain treatment can help you regain control of your life
As Founder of Soul Wisdom Therapy and with 30 years of experience in working with people with chronic pain and illness, I will help you you access the deep wisdom and healing potential you already possess within yourself. I can help guide you to a new, more positive sense of identity and a new relationship with your illness and pain. You will learn how to dis-identify from troubling thoughts and emotions, develop coping skills and establish a new sense of self-worth and inner peacefulness as you incorporate your pain or illness into your life.
What to expect
I will provide you with a safe place to identify, explore and address the root causes of your stress as well as explore how your life has changed as a result of your chronic pain or condition. By learning to be more compassionate with yourself, you can nurture the emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of yourself and begin to see your chronic pain or illness from a broader lens. While you may not be able to escape your condition, it is possible to experience joy and happiness once you understand and accept it.
I can also help you cope with and reduce physical and emotional symptoms and discomfort. Using mindfulness and various other techniques, I will help you stop thinking about “what-if” scenarios and understand what underlies your pain and suffering. Often you will find that your pain or symptoms don’t adhere to the rigid boundaries you had imagined, and taking a closer look can dissipate, rather than focus, your pain and suffering. I may also recommend guided imagery or hypnotherapy to help you reduce the physical or psychological pain you are dealing with and help you to gain new perspective on your situation. I can teach you tools, such as self-hypnosis, to reduce pain symptoms. With support and guidance, you will begin to see that your pain/illness doesn’t have to control everything you think about and do.
I will tailor your therapy to best address and support your individual challenges and goals, providing you with tools to manage your pain or illness in the moment, as well as help you work through deeper issues of loneliness, mortality or loss of function resulting from your condition. In addition to helping you respond to emotional pain and self-blame, you can learn how to talk about your chronic pain or chronic/life-threatening illness with family members and loved ones in a healthy, honest manner. Either in the beginning or further on in your chronic pain treatment, you may decide to bring in your partner or family members to help get the support you need. This can also serve as a source of strength and comfort for your loved one who may be having a hard time coping or who feels he or she isn’t communicating well.
For over 30 years, I have worked with a variety of conditions and individuals, including veterans and military personnel. Whatever is causing your suffering – physical pain, anxiety about your symptoms, feeling overwhelmed by changes you are going through – I can help you gain greater perspective and hope.
But you may still have questions about counseling for chronic pain treatment…
I don’t want to have to focus on something where I feel so much shame, self-blame and anxiety.
It’s not uncommon to feel hesitant about engaging in life threatening/chronic illness or chronic pain treatment, especially if you’re feeling guilt, shame and self-blame over your physical condition. And, while you can’t avoid your chronic pain or illness, you can come out of the therapy process having developed coping skills, psychological flexibility and a greater perspective on your challenges.
Chronic pain/illness brings up a lot of fear about future scenarios I can’t control. Why would I want to talk about something I can’t change?
It is okay to share your fears about the future, but there’s no way to know how things will unfold in a day, much less in the next few years. It can be helpful to do some planning with your therapist around the possible or perhaps likely progression of your condition, but our goal is to focus with you on what is true right now. When you focus on who you are in the present instead of the fears you carry about the future, you can reduce your suffering and feel more peace and happiness.
Why would I see a therapist about a physical issue like chronic pain treatment or a chronic/life-threatening illness?
There are always psychological aspects to physical pain and suffering. I use a mind-body approach to help you cope with and work through physical and emotional symptoms, which can reduce pain and improve your medical prognosis. The benefits of chronic pain treatment are similar to those gained from attending support groups that deal with psychological aspects of physical conditions and can include increased happiness and quality of life.
You can manage your condition with increased ease! I will show you how.
If you are ready to address the physical and emotional symptoms around chronic pain or chronic/life-threatening illness, or for answers to any remaining questions about chronic pain treatment, we invite you to schedule a free 15 to 20-minute phone consultation at 916-389-2800.
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