Therapy for Pain

      Pain Management

      Pain is a very complicated problem. In the normal course of events it signals us to attend to problems that we can resolve, and the pain goes away. When the pain persists beyond its signal value, however, when its source is elusive or conventional treatments are ineffective and pain endures in an individual for weeks or months, it can be one of the most difficult and complex problems to live with and to treat. For the doctor, pain is primarily a symptom; it accompanies disease or injury, and the primary focus is generally not its removal but the treatment of the disease or injury causing the pain. For the patient, pain is often as primary a problem as any tissue damage from which it may arise.

      Pain Management and Hypnosis

      The psychological management of pain has been around for centuries. This is basically because our modern day drugs were not available. On the battlefield during the World Wars hypnosis for pain management was used after the drugs ran out. The years following each major war showed a resurgence of hypnosis research due to the positive effects evidenced on the battlefields. Today, even with drugs and surgery, it is apparent that purely physiological techniques are not a sufficient answer to pain problems.

      Sometimes we simply do not have adequate and appropriate medications available, or patients develop tolerance to medication, or neurosurgical procedures are not effective. When the patient’s pain becomes chronic there is considerable stress for the patient resulting in anxiety and depression. Often this anxiety and depression triggers a vicious circle, which actually increases the patient’s perception of pain. Pain involves the interpretation of the sensations as "painful” and an evaluation of the pain as creating “suffering.” Thus, physical discomfort may be altered-either aggravated or alleviated-by psychological (perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) factors. Therefore pain is a psychophysiological phenomenon. Unfortunately, many doctors will tell their patients that their pain is just in their head. Making them feel guilty, crazy and in pain.

      With pain patients, when everything that can be done and should be done, has been done, by the medical community, Dr. Tamalonis uses psychological tools for the management of pain. After a few individual sessions, Dr. Tamalonis sees most of her patients that experienced chronic or acute pain in a group setting. Being with other people experiencing pain they find out they're not alone, crazy, weak or bad. Dr. Tamalonis teaches the following psychological techniques in her group sessions: relaxation training, visualization, biofeedback, self-hypnosis and hypnosis, changing irrational thoughts and dealing with your emotions.