Helpful Tips for Effective Chronic Pain Management

Written By: Dr. Stephen F. Grinstead, LMFT, ACRPS, CADC-II Date: June 25th, 2009. Topic: Member Blogs.

When I was about 12 years old I injured myself playing sand lot football with my friends. I was rushed to the Emergency room and got shot up with Demerol. It sure stopped the pain. Then I was sent home with opiate pain medication that should have lasted 30 days if I took it as directed. First of all my parents should have held and dispensed this type of medication but they didn’t see why they should—total denial perhaps. Secondly, I ran out in about two weeks and used another type of denial—rationalization—to convince myself and my parents that the pain was worse and I really needed it. I continued this pattern off and on for the next fifteen years or so before I finally came out of denial and sought help.

At times denial was really a blessing for me because it not only helped with painful injuries and a chronic pain condition but it also allowed me to escape from some painful reality of an abusive school system and my father’s alcoholism. The problem was that as my tolerance built up so did my side effects or negative consequences.

For people living with chronic pain denial management is crucial for several reasons. One reason is sometimes people get into a problem with their medication management and just don’t see it. Another is sabotaging an effective pain management program by getting into automatic and unconscious self-defeating behaviors.

There are times when this defense mechanism called denial can help. Unfortunately, it can sometimes lead us to avoid looking at and dealing with a situation that is causing life-damaging consequences. There is also another interesting point about denial. If you are told “you’re in denial” you are now in a no-win position. If you are in denial you don’t know it, and if you’re not in denial you can’t prove it to the satisfaction of your accuser.

To learn more about chronic pain management and denial please check out my article From Denial to Effective Pain Management that you can download for free on our Article page. You can also check out my article Managing Pain Medication in Recovery.

To check out my upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people in chronic pain or are living with chronic pain and have any resistance or denial and want to learn how to develop a plan for helping to identify and manage denial please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Denial Management Counseling for Effective Pain Management Workbook. To purchase this book please Click Here.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please Click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please Click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

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