Pain
Pain is simultaneously a sensation and an emotion, and is by far the leading reason people seek health care. While most acute pain resolves successfully over time, treatment of chronic pain is more complicated, since these patients have a substantially compromised quality of life. A wide range of psychological interventions have been used successfully to help people deal with pain, including biofeedback, relaxation, hypnosis, cognitive and behavioral coping skills. In combination with physical and drug treatment, psychological intervention has proven effective for pain sufferers across the age span.
Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology
What You Can Do
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Pain, Pain, Go Away
Psychological approaches help people cope with chronic pain.
Getting Help
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How to find help through seeing a psychologist
This brief question-and-answer guide provides some basic information to help individuals take advantage of outpatient (non-hospital) psychotherapy.
News
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How meditation, placebos and virtual reality help power 'mind over body'
January 26, 2016, NPR
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The connection between sleep and pain
January 2, 2016, Huffington Post
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Easing Pain
November 2015, Monitor on Psychology