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My thoughts

cognitive behavioral therapy for pain

6/5/2022

 
​Updated 09/23/2023
Our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can make pain worse or more manageable.
​​
We can change the chronic pain experience and retrain our overprotective pain systems by changing how we think, feel, and behave using a form of biopsychosocial treatment called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

CBT reprograms our minds and bodies to help us feel safe and confident in our ability to manage pain and do the things we enjoy — improving the body’s natural pain relief mechanisms, increasing function, and breaking the chronic pain cycle.

.CBT is based on the core principles that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors interact together with the pain; that we can become trapped in unhelpful thoughts, emotions, and behaviors; and that we can modify our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to make our experience more manageable. 

It's what changed my pain experience and my life by giving me tools to:
  • Accept the pain and live in the present.
  • Identify, challenge, and change unhelpful negative thoughts and behaviors.
  • Actively self-manage the pain.

Best yet, CBT is a do -it-yourself therapy. You can use it anytime. You don’t need help from anyone once you learn it. And there are no negative side effects.

I learned CBT while attending the prestigious 3-week interdisciplinary Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center.  

Find a CBT pain therapist
It can be hard to find psychologists trained in cognitive behavioral therapy for pain. Ask them about their approach to treatment. You might want to use the content from my pain truths to see if their practice beliefs matches the latest pain science. There are links to therapist search tools and pain rehabilitation programs below.

Learn more and do more
  • What is CBT?  (McGovern Medical School)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (4:29)
  • ​A Magical Cure for Pain? No – it’s just Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 
  • Managing Chronic Pain: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Approach​ 
  • Reframing unhelpful thoughts
  • How To Use CBT Thought Records To Change The Way You Feel
  • How to recognize and tame your cognitive distortions​
  • 15 Cognitive Distortions To Blame for Negative Thinking
  • Cognitive Restructuring Worksheet
  • Replacement Thought Examples
  • The Pain Management Workbook
  • American Association of Pain Psychology​ - offers a search feature to connect with a pain psychologist
  • Psychology Today - offers a search feature to connect with a psychologist (be sure to look for a provider familiar with chronic pain and CBT)
  • Find a pain rehabilitation program - links to programs around the globe. 
Picture
Image courtesy of McGovern Medical School

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  • Home
  • Free e-book
  • Support Group
  • $19 Pain Course
  • Pain Truths
  • Education
  • Pain Acceptance
  • Self-Management
  • Resources
  • Videos
  • Blog
  • For Providers
  • For Family
  • Think Positive
  • Tinnitus
  • About
  • Connect
  • Disclaimer