When your body is aching, and you are struggling to carry out even the smallest of your chores, the last you want to hear is, “It’s all in your head.” The discomfort you are dealing with is very real, and you know it all too well because you feel it in your body.
There are various pain management techniques for chronic pain in New Jersey, from medications to surgery. One of them is CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT is a form of talking therapy that changes the way you think about your pain and how it affects your body.
CBT can significantly help you cope with your pain. However, you must receive treatment by consulting with an expert for lower back pain Livingston.
What is CBT?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is all about changing one’s way of thinking. This does not mean that the pain you are experiencing is in your head. Rather, it is a healthy way of coping.
CBT, relaxation therapy, biofeedback, and individual and group therapies have been shown to be effective in treating chronic pain.
CBT helps reduce the pain in a few ways. For starters, it changes how you view the pain. CT can change your thoughts and emotions about your pain and put discomfort in a better context. While the pain will still be there, you will soon realize that it interferes less with your life.
CBT can also change the way how pain affects your brain physically. When you are in pain, you are in a state of stress. Due to stress, your body’s pain control hormones, such as endorphins, are affected. CBT changes the way your brain reacts to this pain and, thus, enhances your body’s natural ability to alleviate pain.
CBT– accessibility and affordability
One of the reasons why many doctors recommend CBT for chronic pain is because of two reasons– it is accessible to everyone, and secondly, it is affordable. Thanks to technology, you no longer have to visit a therapist in their office. If you cannot find a good therapist in your area, you can book a session with one online to practice CBT.
Coming to affordability, CBT sessions with a mental health expert can range anywhere between $20 to $300 per session. There are some online platforms that offer monthly subscriptions for one price, which is way less than private one-on-one sessions.
Why is chronic pain so difficult to treat?
The most challenging part about treating chronic pain is determining its cause and finding the right course of treatment. With so many possibilities available, finding the right treatment can be as confusing for the specialist as it is for the patient.
Diagnostic tools, including physical examination, questionnaires, imaging, nerve conduction studies, and blood tests, can help identify the sources of pain. Both invasive and non-invasive procedures are used depending on the unique circumstances of the patient.
Additionally, the human body is very complex, and pain takes different forms in different people. Pain can both be a cause and a result of changes in functioning. This is known as the symptom cycle. It goes something like this:
Chronic pain first decreases your physical activity. The reduction of physical activity further results in negative emotions, then avoidance and distress. Finally, all of these feelings and emotions go back to intensify the chronic pain.
This means that how you experience the pain or look at the pain affects everything. Your perception of the pain is the difference between worsening and improving. Therefore, in this regard, the phrase “It is all in your head” can be given some importance!
Visit a pain management clinic!
If you are struggling to make it through the end of the day due to your lower back pain, you do not have to continue living this way. There are various treatment options available at your disposal. Visit a specialist’s clinic today!