The Practical Pain Management Handbook

Book excerpt: The successful management of chronic pain remains an elusive goal. As more complex diagnostic and intervention procedures become available, patients and clinicians alike have ever-greater expectations of banishing the problem of pain altogether. Unfortunately this hope is rarely fulfilled and the frustration experienced by everyone affected by chronic pain has remained more or less the same over the last two or three decades. Based on over 40 years' of experience and research The Practical Pain Management Handbook is a unique resource specifically designed for therapists involved in running Pain Management Programmes (PMPs). This engaging and effective handbook includes: intensive inpatient and extended outpatient programmes all of which are at least 25 hours in length; interactive materials designed to be used to form the basis of group discussion. Where there is a question in the text the suggested answer material is provided; assignments and tasks that can be used as homework or group session exercises; both standard Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) technologies as both have been found to be valuable in PMPs. The handbook is organised into sections to fit a useful logical sequence but can be adapted to suit your preference.