Chronic Pain Management in the Unifying Experiential Psychotherapy (U.E.P.) Framework: Principles and a Working Protocol
Journal Title: Journal of Experiential Psychotherapy - Year 2015, Vol 18, Issue 1
Abstract
Introduction: Pain affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is a primary complaint resulting in physician visits. The roles of cognitive, emotional, social and behavioral factors in the development and treatment of chronic pain have been acknowledged long ago. Psychological treatments to chronic pain have been shown to be successful, with effect sizes generally in the medium to high range and, more recently neuroscientific evidence has confirmed these findings by providing basic knowledge on the neural correlates of psychological modulation of pain experience. Objectives: As medical interventions frequently cannot resolve chronic pain completely, the need for psychological management approaches to chronic pain is increasing. Yet, two shortcomings remain pervasive: (1) many professionals and patients remain reluctant in using them, (2) these approaches remain with no good reason confined to only a few psychotherapy schools. The following article aims to provide a conceptual background on the bases of experiential pain management. Methods: Techniques, principles and guidelines portraying to the U.E.P. philosophy that stem out from the conceptual background will be presented in the second part of the article in which an experiential psychotherapy protocol for pain management will be outlined. Results: The techniques discussed here have proven to be effective in clinical settings on a variety of pain conditions. Conclusions: Due to the increasing involvement of psychologists and psychotherapists in the assessment and treatment of disease-related pain, such as pain secondary to cancer, arthritis or fibromyalgia, applicative methodologies and guidelines need to be provided in order to aid practitioners in their endeavor. Unfortunately, highly personalized (patient centered) approaches such as the experiential ones are harder to disseminate and their efficacy is difficult to quantify in naturalistic settings.
Authors and Affiliations
Claudiu C. Papasteri, Ioana M. Neagoe
Keywords
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