Tag: chronic pain

Categories
Pain Relief

How Pain Psychology Can Help You Today | Delray Beach, FL

As a licensed board-certified clinical psychologist, I have a deep understanding of pain and pain management. I myself have had to work through my own chronic pain symptoms, and I am passionate about helping my patients through theirs. Since 1991, I have provided patients with the counseling, psychotherapy, clinical hypnosis and hypnotherapy services they needed to tame their persistent physical and emotional pain. If you are suffering from chronic pain, I can help you cope more effectively and learn how to manage your chronic pain and associated emotional stress with less strain.

When we are continually fighting with persistent pain, it drains us and can take away from the experience of truly living. As I am a Ph.D. psychologist and not an MD, I utilize methods to enable you to cope with your symptoms more effectively and comfortably without the influence of drugs. These methods include education, talk therapy, guidance counseling, problem solving therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation therapy, energy healing, and clinical hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

When we work together in a Pain Management Psychotherapy(PMP) session or in a Pain Control Hypnosis (PCH) session, here is what you can expect. A typical session will last 50 minutes, and extended sessions will last 90 minutes. Our first visit is an initial consultation wherein I will evaluate your pain, your goals and objectives, your needs, and your prior experiences with attempting to manage your pain. This will provide me with the information necessary to formulate an individualized treatment plan.

The areas I commonly address with patients include but are not limited to the following:

  • Safe and effective non-drug methods to manage pain, such as hypnosis.
  • Exploring any depression or anxiety you may be experiencing that heightens your pain.
  • Introducing and teaching pain management strategies.
  • Teaching effective relaxation, meditation, and self-hypnosis skills.
  • Education about the safe and proper use of pain medication
  • Exploring and treating any anger, shame, and feelings of isolation and/or alienation.
  • Improving your interpersonal relationships,
  • Teaching effective means of dealing with family tension.
  • Addressing any substance abuse issues which you may be having.
  • Resolving emotional issues that may be exacerbating your persistent pain.

If you have been unable to find an effective way to deal with your ongoing pain, and you have had appropriate medical workups, and treatment, then Pain Management Psychotherapy and Pain Control Hypnosis may provide the solutions you need.

If you would like to learn more about this practice or would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us online or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

Dr. Eimer is a licensed board-certified clinical psychologist and certified hypnotherapist who proudly serves patients in West Palm Beach, Wellington, Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and surrounding areas.

Categories
PTSD

PTSD and Its Link to Chronic Pain | Boca Raton, FL

One might not consider that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain can be directly correlated with one another. Yet, according to Psychiatric Times, “Many individuals with chronic pain suffer from PTSD due to the incidents that caused trauma-related distress, but chronic pain is also commonly found in individuals with PTSD as their primary disorder. Hence, a better understanding of this comorbidity may be important for the treatment of both disorders.”

According to the studies examined in the full Psychiatric Times article above, there are three potential explanations as to why the two may not only coexist but negatively enhance one another. Here is a breakdown of these potential explanations, and how hypnotherapy can work to alleviate both PTSD and chronic pain for individuals who experience one or both of these life-altering conditions.

One study found “that underlying predisposing factors or traits cause the development of both PTSD and chronic pain. In particular, anxiety sensitivity may amplify the intensity of the initial emotional response to a traumatic event, thereby increasing the risk of developing either condition.” This is referred to as shared vulnerabilities and is one of the potential reasons why PTSD and chronic pain may coexist for someone.

An individual’s sensitivity to pain can also be traced to PTSD as traumatic events may heighten or decrease one’s sensitivity to pain. According to the research, PTSD from combat-related incidents increases a person’s pain threshold, meaning these individuals develop a greater tolerance to sensations of pain. Yet, for those whose PTSD is not combat-related, disassociation can actually increase someone’s bias towards the sensation of pain resulting in a lower threshold for withstanding pain.

The third link, mutual maintenance, refers to the seven means by which PTSD and chronic pain work to negatively enhance one another. Essentially, the researchers uncovered seven different ways an individual may begin to experience “heightened expectations, overestimations, and selective and negative interpretations of both pain-evoking and fear-evoking stimuli… evoking fear and PTSD intrusion and hyperarousal… physical deconditioning, inactivity, disability… limited capacity to employ adaptive coping strategies.”

How Hypnotherapy Can Help

This is a lot for any individual to manage; either disorder is likely to shake one’s ability to move through life, and both may leave someone feeling hopeless. Thankfully, strategically formulated hypnotherapy can address and resolve the underlying conflicts that keep a person from functioning well and getting the most out of life. 

As a licensed clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and hypnotherapist, I can work with you to formulate an individualized program to address your pain and teach you how to tame it. I can help you to safely access your memories, examine and reprocess them, and better understand your feelings about the trauma you carry. 

Together, we can begin to reduce the negative impressions fixed in your subconscious by your traumatic experience and help you gain control over and reduce your pain. Relief is possible, and if you have tried other interventions without success, hypnotherapy may be the solution you have been looking for.

For 30 years, I have helped thousands of patients who struggle with PTSD and chronic pain overcome their symptoms and begin to live a life free of the symptoms they experience. If you would like to learn more about my practice or would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us online or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves patients in Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, Lake Worth, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, and surrounding areas.

Categories
Pain Relief

Pain Control Hypnosis: A Guide | Boca Raton, FL

Hypnosis is an evidenced-based treatment tool for pain control. Unfortunately, it is underused because few clinical health practitioners know how to use it fluently. Pain relief can be a topic we tiptoe; with so many treatment options, many people find themselves at the beginning, or in the thick of, discovering relief solutions. If you are interested in pursuing hypnosis as a potential solution for your persistent or chronic pain, we have developed a guide to this option.

Background

For over 200 years, the practice of hypnosis for pain management has improved the lives of many people suffering from persistent or chronic pain. There are many ways to treat pain, but each comes with its own warning label, leaving individuals to explore their options. We typically consider the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Ibuprofen and Aspirin, but these can cause serious bleeding disorders and stomach damage. Opioids can be addictive and cause respiratory failure.

Medications are meant to suppress pain symptoms, rather than alleviate the underlying cause. The benefits are weighed against the potential side effects, resulting in a solution that will get you through the day, rather than living beyond your pain. One of the benefits of using hypnosis to control pain is that there is no risk of negative side effects.

How does it work?

There are a number of wonderful benefits to using hypnosis for pain control. It is a natural means of gaining pain relief with lasting results. Utilizing hypnosis will help you distract yourself from pain, channel it elsewhere, relieve suffering, and improve your body’s performance ultimately improving the quality of your life.

At home self-hypnosis

Pharmaceutical drugs, while effective at what they do, are an external agent. This means they are ingested or injected to modify biochemical and physiological processes. They may, for instance, block the receptors in your brain from receiving the pain signals. Self-hypnosis, or meditation, is an internal means of connecting with the unconscious or subconscious mind. These areas of our mind control our autonomic nervous system, which allows our basic life functions to operate and keep us alive.

Self-hypnosis meditation is an inner method of self-communication, it is safe; the unconscious mind will simply not accept suggestions that are consciously or subconsciously deemed harmful or unacceptable to you. It also means you can perform this method of pain relief at home as needed.

Please Note: Pain Control Hypnosis is NOT a substitute for appropriate medical evaluation, treatment, and care. Clinical Hypnosis can serve as a powerful supplement or complementary method to your ongoing medical care.

For 30 years, I have helped thousands of patients who suffered from persistent pain syndromes get pain relief and lead more fulfilling lives. If you would like to learn more about this practice or would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us online or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves patients in and around Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and surrounding areas.