Our pain psychologists use only evidence-based interventions to help people learn how to manage their chronic pain most effectively.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is based on the theory that our emotional and behavioral reactions to situations are strongly influenced by how we perceive and think about those situations. Treatment with CBT involves working with patients to understand how their particular thought patterns can contribute to depression, anxiety, and the stress of chronic pain. Patients then learn how to change those thought patterns to alleviate the emotional distress that often accompanies chronic pain. Research has shown that CBT for treating depression can work as well as medications but without the risk of relapse after discontinuation. In studies of people with chronic pain, research has shown that CBT can result in improved mood, improved functional status, and decreased pain.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an approach to treating people with chronic pain that involves two basic but interrelated processes. The first process involves helping people learn how to accept the aspects of their pain that they cannot change. The second process involves helping people commit to living according to their values to give greater meaning to their lives, even when they are living with chronic pain. Research has shown that ACT for treating chronic pain can result in greater acceptance of pain, higher levels of physical functioning, lower levels of depression and anxiety, and improved quality of life.
Chronic Pain Self-Management involves using a combination of methods that have all been shown to be effective in helping people learn how to manage their chronic pain more effectively. The most commonly used methods include CBT, ACT, relaxation training, stress management, and activity pacing.
Group Therapy for Chronic Pain. In addition to individual sessions, we also offer a group pain management program. The Missouri Baptist Medical Center group program is called PRISM, which stands for Pain Rehabilitation through Improved Self-Management. The PRISM program meets weekly and allows small groups of people (typically 5-10) with chronic pain to meet and learn more effective ways to manage their pain. The program lasts 10 weeks, and each weekly meeting lasts 90 minutes. The sessions are led primarily by the pain psychologist, although additional sessions are led by a yoga therapist and a mindfulness meditation trainer. Session topics include theories of chronic pain, relaxation strategies, stress management, activity pacing, CBT, and ACT. Participants also benefit from group discussions that allow them to learn from others who truly understand the complex experience of chronic pain.
Clinical Hypnosis* Clinical hypnosis involves a set of skills that help to bring about a natural, altered state of consciousness called “trance.” During therapeutic trance experiences the conscious, critical mind is usually relaxed and relatively inactive, while the subconscious mind can access resources, skills, and abilities that are otherwise unavailable to the conscious mind. During trance, openness to suggestibility can be enhanced, senses heightened, mental absorption increased, and imagination activated in a controlled way that promotes insight and activation of solution-focused skills.
Hypnosis is only effective with a willing and voluntary participant. Hypnosis, therefore, involves a collaborative relationship between a therapist and client and cannot be used against someone’s will. Hypnosis does not involve a sleep or unconscious state and generally involves a state of relaxation. When in a trance, individuals are usually aware of their surroundings and the sound of the clinician’s voice, and they can remember more or less what was said during the session.
During trance, individuals sometimes experience time distortion, alterations in feeling states including analgesia, physical heaviness and/or lightness, and heightened or diminished sensations involving multiple senses. Most clinical hypnosis professionals believe that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. Therefore, trance states are generally controlled by the person in trance, who can terminate the trance at any time.
* Clinical Hypnosis is only available with in-person visits at this time.