Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Pain Management
Think, believe and feel better with cognitive behavioral therapy.
By Gina Greene
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of therapy that is about changing your attitude and taking a different perspective on your condition and your life is widely used in psychology. Now, therapists are using it as a pain management tool. By changing your perspective, you have the power to live happily, says Rick Barrera, PhD, director of neurobehavioral services at Mediplex Hospital in New Bedford, Mass.
Everyone can benefit from CBT, but it’s especially good for people with arthritis who focus on their pain so much that there’s no longer “thinking” room left for pleasant thoughts or other things they enjoy. He says “negative thoughts can bring down your entire life. It can bring down a whole family.”
CBT practitioners use a collection of specific techniques to lead patients to positive thinking that will then lead to positive beliefs and changes.
Once you have learned CBT techniques, it requires only minutes to find a more positive or productive response to challenges – physical or otherwise.
