Chronic Pain Therapy Services in Houston, TX
Are you ready to get your life back?
Do you experience pain that won’t go away?
Is pain keeping you up at night and affecting your day to day functioning?
Does going to the doctor often leave you more frustrated?
Does chronic pain leave you feeling out of control, anxious or depressed?
Do you feel alone in your pain?
Medicine alone has not been enough to make the pain go away
You may benefit from therapy focused on your chronic pain. Chronic pain can vary from person to person. You may have pain in your back, neck, hands, knees or hips. You may have pain from fibromyalgia, migraines, autoimmune disease or arthritis. The people in your life may want to help you but they just don’t understand what you are going through.
The medical model that doctors use treats the pain but often does not focus on the holistic approach to treating pain which involves the brain. Therapy can help you focus in on what might be causing the pain that just won’t go away and teach you practical skills that you can use even at home after therapy is completed!
chronic pain therapy can help change your brain’s approach to pain
When you stub your toe on a table leg your nerves send pain signals to your brain. This is an example of acute pain that goes away quickly. With chronic pain our brains “pain gates” never or hardly ever get a chance to close. It is important to remember that pain is not a threat. Often with chronic pain we forget this fact and the pain itself becomes a threat to the nervous system. Our approach to treating chronic pain is working on closing pain gates and changing your brain’s approach to pain itself.
chronic pain conditions are common
When you consider how many chronic pain conditions people struggle with; endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and POTS to name just a few. The NIH states that “A study from the National Institutes of Health shows that new cases of chronic pain occur more often among U.S. adults than new cases of several other common conditions, including diabetes, depression, and high blood pressure.”
Chronic pain Counseling in Houston can help you manage and lessen your chronic pain!
Clients often seek out mental health treatment for depression but don’t consider getting mental health treatment for chronic pain when the good news is that there is help available. Counselors at Wilson Counseling are available to help you walk through managing your chronic pain and getting back to living!
What is chronic pain therapy and how does it work?
Chronic pain is a complex issue and so it makes sense that even in therapy it would be treated as such. Therapy seeks to work collaboratively with your treatment team and teach you new skills to go along side any existing treatments from doctors or physical therapy. Chronic pain therapy in Houston seeks to teach you to move the “energy” of pain stuck in your body and your mind rather than treat the pain itself which is the job of your medical team. Let’s explore an example of how a chronic pain focused therapy session would go.
During your first session your therapist will assess your levels of pain, how long they have been a problem for you, and what you’d like to get out of our time together. Following that, your therapist will teach you needed skills such as imaging a chimney spout on top of your head and giving permission for the pain stored in your body to move up and out of that chimney. While you do this imaging you also will experience drum beats back and forth in your ears or vibration pulses in your hands. This stimulus helps facilitate your brain opening up new channels to change how you view your pain. This is similar to how your brain processes ideas and events from your day during REM sleep as you dream. In future sessions your therapist will target specific pain utilizing the pain protocol.
What type of therapy is best for chronic pain managment?
The therapists at Wilson Counseling Center possess advanced training to be able to provide such a treatment to focus in on chronic pain including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Alongside over five years of experience in working with individuals with a wide range of issues using skills like EMDR. The most wonderful news is that if you commit to working on and practicing the new skills taught to manage your pain you can experience rapid and lasting changes to your pain levels and need to rely less on medication or other medical interventions just utilizing your brains own power to rewire itself. There is hope!
If you feel too overwhelmed to reach out for help, we understand you
Does going to chronic pain therapy mean I am crazy or weak?
There can be a lot of stigma reaching out for help. This is even more true for those suffering from chronic pain because we are all socialized to go to doctors for physical pain not realizing that mental health often plays a role. While this stigma can be overwhelming, a good therapist like the therapist’s at Wilson Counseling will welcome you wherever you are at and seek to break down those stigmas. You may have also experienced an accident or other experiences that were traumatic and therapy can help with the physical and emotions that come from PTSD.
How can talking to a therapist help me with physical pain?
Often people have misconceptions about therapy that you are just coming there to talk, but this could not be further from the truth! Especially when it comes to the treatment of chronic pain. Therapy focused on chronic pain has some talking but more focus on the skills needed to manage and even at times improve symptoms.
Is chronic pain therapy in Houston expensive?
Finally, the cost can be a concern for prospective clients. While the cost is a valid concern in chronic pain focused therapy you can often expect to have significant relief from your pain symptoms with practicing coping skills at home in as little as four sessions making the cost significantly less both in time and money commitment than other medical focused models like doctor’s visits and physical therapy.
How long does chronic pain thearpy in Texas typically take?
The good news is that many clients start to see some relief in symptoms after just a few sessions. EMDR for chronic pain has been effective in reducing the level of pain for many of our clients. In addition, in therapy, you will learn some new coping skills to help you manage the pain.
What therapy skills will help me manage my chronic pain?
Some of the skills you will learn in therapy include:
Relaxation - Your mind and body are intrinsically connected. When you are anxious, your pain is likely to feel worse. And when you are in pain, you are likely to be more anxious. It’s a vicious cycle. In chronic pain therapy, our Houston therapists will teach you techniques that will help you relax and decrease your muscle tension. This includes things like deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation.
Distraction - Sometimes you just need a good distraction so you are not sitting around focused on the pain. It’s tough to distract yourself when your body is in pain, but we will discuss what tecniques can work best to take your mind off the pain.
Sleep- If you are not sleeping well, you body is less resilient. In fact, lack of sleep will often lead to feeling an increase in pain. In therapy, we will work on sleep hygiene that can help you sleep better and feel better.
Time Managment- If you have a good day, it’s easy to push yourself. Often this results in more pain and flare ups. We will work on how to have balance and manage your time in a way that does not lead to more pain.
To get the best chronic pain Therapy in Houston, TX, contact us
You can let your body and mind heal!
Schedule an appointment or have a free 15-minute phone consultation about how counseling can help you create a healthy, meaningful, empowered life.
Chronic pain therapy can be done virtually over a video counseling session.
In addition to Chronic Pain Therapy, we have other mental health services in our Houston, TX counseling office. Our caring therapists also offer: Online Counseling, Anxiety Therapy, Eating Disorder Counseling, Family Therapy, Couples Counseling, School and College Counseling, Child Therapy, Trauma Therapy, PTSD Treatment, Parenting Counseling, Infertility Counseling, Teen Counseling, Career Counseling, LPC Supervision, LGBTQ+ Counseling.
If you’re ready to get started, please contact Wilson Counseling today. Together we can help you heal from your trauma.
