Pain Therapy Relaxation instead of pain medicines

Psychological management of pain in chronic pain

14/11/2014

Many Germans suffer from chronic pain, which severely affects their daily lives. A direct physical cause of the pain can often not be determined. Therefore, "chronic pain is explained today on the basis of a bio-psycho-social model," report the experts of the Department of Pain Medicine at the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil in Bochum.

A good complement to the treatment with painkillers is therefore in chronic pain psychotherapeutic pain management, reports the news agency "dpa", citing the head psychologist of the Department of Pain Medicine at the University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Kathrin Bernardy. For the maintenance and chronicity of pain disorders, according to the University Hospital "in addition to physical, social and psychological factors play a crucial role." Psychotherapeutic measures and special relaxation techniques here can contribute to a significant relief of the symptoms.

Pain diary helps to recognize psychological risk factors
As part of the so-called multimodal pain therapy, the psychological pain management consists of several interlocking elements, reports Bernardy to the news agency "dpa". First, patients are talked about triggers or enhancers for pain, such as stress and tension. Thereafter, the therapist and patient attempt to jointly determine appropriate coping strategies and test their application. Movement may be as helpful as relaxation techniques, reports Bernardy. Also a combination of the different methods is possible. To determine which psychological risk factors are associated with the onset of pain, patients are asked to create a pain diary "documenting their day-to-day activities related to pain intensity," Kathrin Bernardy continues. This is how the triggers for increased pain are identified.

Actively and consciously intervene in the pain process
For example, Bergmannsheil University Hospital mentions as possible psychological factors influencing chronic pain "everyday or occupational stress, job endangerment, physical or mental overwork situations, extreme performance or stamina behavior, but also excessive respite behavior." Here, the mental state of the affected person can be used immediately lead to an increase in pain. With the help of the pain psychotherapy the patients should be better able to deal with the pain and its consequences. Those affected can then actively and consciously intervene in the pain, reports the University Hospital Bergmannsheil. In addition, "psychological treatment methods would help to make life more bearable with persistent pain." Because chronic pain often results in additional psychological problems.

Learning relaxation techniques for pain reduction
With psychological treatment methods, the pain processing and the psychosocial consequences of the pain can be positively influenced according to the experts. Important contents and procedures of the psychological pain therapy are for example the "mediation of information about the development and maintenance of pain" and the "learning of relaxation methods for pain reduction and to positively influence the control consciousness." The latter include, for example, progressive muscle relaxation, hypnosis or autogenic training , But also movement is according to statement of Kathrin Bernardy opposite the "dpa" an important factor, because then the attention is steered away from the pain to other things. In general, the mediation of internal and external distraction techniques can be helpful here.

Effectiveness of pain psychotherapy proven many times
According to Bernardy, multimodal pain therapy is suitable for the treatment of various forms of chronic pain. Both in headache and back pain and almost all other pain illnesses the therapy can be used. However, their package of measures is individually adapted to the needs of the patients in order to take into account the respective underlying disease, the accompanying psychological symptoms and the individual coping strategy of the patients. The treatment can be outpatient, semi-stationary and inpatient in different clinics and pain centers. "Even psychotherapists with additional training for pain psychotherapists offer them," cites the "dpa" the psychologist. According to the University Hospital Bergmannsheil, the effectiveness of this method has been proven by numerous scientific studies. Pain psychotherapy enables a significant improvement in many areas. Thus, "in the pain symptoms, the personal impairment, the mood and activity and the recovery of quality of life impressive achievements can be achieved." (Fp)