Chronic pain patients can spend years bouncing between doctor-to-doctor, never learning what's wrong with them, and never being offered an effective treatment. ...
-
-
Show this thread
-
yet, cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective treatment in many cases, it's low risk, and it can potentially help people not only manage their pain, but their habits of mind that make the pain grow worse ...
Show this thread -
I read a lot of research, and talked to many doctors and patients about this. Psychological therapy for chronic pain is a worthy option. ...
Show this thread -
It's not perfect. But considering how costly and ineffective surgery can be, and how addicting and ineffective opioids can be, psychotherapy shouldn't be a last resort option for managing pain.
Show this thread -
And here's an important lesson I learned. It’s not that their pain is “in their heads.” The truth is much more nuanced: All pain can have both physical and psychological components. But the psychological component is often dismissed or never acknowledged.
Show this thread -
. “We have to get over this concept that either the pain is real or it’s all in my head and I’m making it up," one neuroscientist told me. It’s both.
Show this thread -
Anyway. I discuss all of that in this story, as well as dive into the fascinating science of how we feel pain, and why. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/17/17276452/chronic-pain-treatment-psychology-cbt-mindfulness-evidence … I hope you find this article useful!
Show this thread -
And a thanks to
@JZarracina for the great illustrations !Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Too many incompetent doctors that go the route of I can't find anything so it's in your head. If they dug deeper they would find the cause, which in my case was lyme disease. 20 doctors couldn't figure it out.
-
I definitely think it was a gross oversight not to mention this. So many conditions are psychologized by doctors who have simply failed to make a diagnosis. The thing you just found out is the standard of care for patients with my disease in the UK, much to their torment.
-
Yes, the problem with this take is that many conditions causing cognitive symptoms (esp those that disproportionately affect women) are treated as psychological by default, as a way to dismiss and stigmatize conditions they don’t understand, rather than dig deeper.
-
i understand this crit. Getting a right diagnosis is obviously important, and no body wants their pain dismissed or overlooked. My point here was that psychological treatments and perspectives *do* take pain seriously, and are not dismissive.
-
I understand your point too, but what I (and I think Jen) are saying is that if you bring up one side of the coin (that CBT can help for *some* chronic pain patients), in all responsibility you have to point out the other side of the coin too -
-
That psychologizing chronic pain patients by default does harm too when it’s used as a way to dismiss and ignore our problems.
-
will think on this, and look to address this concern more clearly in this piece or a future one. I think the language here is also tough for doctors to get right. Psych is an option, but they should insinuate as a dismissal. Thanks for the thoughtful comments.
-
Thank you for listening. I really appreciate it.
- 1 more reply
New conversation -
-
-
Great read, although I can't help but gripe about how Dr John Sarno's pioneering and ground-breaking work in the field of psychogenic pain is basically a footnote in your article...
-
my colleague Julia Belluz has written about him here. I believe I linked to this story (I mostly wanted to focus on the most current research)https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/10/2/16338094/dr-john-sarno-healing-back-pain …
-
Fair enough! Thanks for sharing that link. I'm a huge Dr Sarno fan. It's enraging that he never got enough credit for his work or respect from the medical community for his extended work on chronic pain.
-
that article is not wildly respectful of Dr Sarno either- http://rumur.com/stuck-in-a-science-framing/ … - When I wrote this someone shared Rupert Sheldrake's book with me so I wrote this. http://rumur.com/the-difference-between-health-care-and-climate-science/ … -
-
Agreed. Calling Dr Sarno a "guru" belittles his research and achievements. She also should have corrected the doctors who wrongly stated that Sarno proposed a "one-size-fits-all," narrow-minded solution to back pain.
-
The problem is one of systems- for those in the materialist mindset any idea that involves the complexity of emotions is quickly rejected as woo. While there is certainly woo out there Sarno’s general ideas are being proven to be solid
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.