Integration of Body-Mind Interventions for Patients with Chronic Pain
Integration of Body-Mind Interventions for Patients with Chronic Pain
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Issue Date
1999
Authors
Dean, Diana Morgan
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Abstract
Western physicians, as well as chronic pain patients, have been frustrated for years because of the inability to "cure" many types of chronic pain despite millions of dollars spent on research, equipment, and pharmaceutical interventions. As psychologists and physicians work together in treatment teams in medical centers worldwide, they are beginning to realize the importance of viewing life's traumas not as physical or mental but as integral components of interdependent dynamics. Physical pain may be a somatic expression of another dis-ease, or at least exacerbated by social and psychological conditions. By treating the patient in a biopsychosocial context and communicating in the patient's chosen somatic language, healing may occur. In many instances, the chronic pain patient is stuck in the revolving door of medical treatment, increasing the possibility of physician-induced iatrogenic pain, which may result from surgical procedures, escalating medications, or inadequate overall pain management. As managed care seeks to reduce the cost of medical treatment, it faces the possibility that treating the mind is a valid and efficacious adjunctive intervention in treating the body. The treatment of pain as solely a physical phenomenon is grounded in Western philosophy. This dissertation reviews traditions other than the European model to look at a holistic view of pain as a physical and emotional experience. The questions of how and why mind and body became separated and where the mind-body split originated are addressed. A protocol was developed and implemented for an eight-week pilot psychotherapy group for chronic pain patients. Assessment tools of the Beck Depression Inventory, the Pain Patient Profile, the Symptom Check List-90R and a visual analog were utilized to assess somatic changes for the participants. However, the n was too small to produce statistically significant data. Key to this protocol is the idea that because the person perceives distress in the body, providing a means for the person to communicate with the body through specific movement interventions might prove beneficial. The protocol includes somatic techniques based on simple aikido movements to develop a kinesthetic learning process whereby group members could learn to develop a conscious, cooperative relationship with their pain to allow them to regain a sense of control in their lives.