Chronic Pain Therapy in Edmonton
Chronic Pain Therapy
Struggling with Chronic Pain, an ilness that impacts your functioning, these are highly correlated with how a person experiences their mental health. How a person feels in their bodies can have a large impact on mood and can interfere with the ability to feeling well. Chronic pain is a multi faceted mental health concern that deserves appropriate assessment and treatment. Chronic pain can make people feel unwell and as though they are living an unfulfilling life. One of my many goals in therapy is to support individuals who are living with Chronic pain is to understand the impact, what could be contributing to the level of impact the pain is having on the individual struggling. At Heights Psychological my hope is to support individuals to make choices that are consistent with their values and to stop allowing chronic pain to cloud their experiences.
Understanding Chronic Pain through a Bio Psycho Social Lens
The Three Pillars of the Biopsychosocial Model
Biological Factors
Nervous system processing: Central sensitization, peripheral nerve changes, and how the brain processes pain signals via neuroimaging.
Physical health: Genetics, systemic inflammation, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and general physical conditioning.
Pathology: Tissue healing status, structural changes, or nerve mechanisms that persist long after an initial injury has healed.
Psychological Factors
Cognitions & Beliefs: Pain catastrophizing (expecting the worst), low self-efficacy (feeling unable to cope), and unhelpful health beliefs.
Behaviours: Fear-avoidance (stopping movement or activities out of fear of pain), which paradoxically leads to increased pain sensitivity.
Emotional State: Co-occurring anxiety, depression, emotional distress, and past trauma history.
Social Factors
Interpersonal Dynamics: Family responses, level of stress, experience with identity, overprotection, domestic relationships, or caretaking roles.
Environmental & Economic Context: Work stress, financial strain, access to healthcare, social support systems, or living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.
Our Process
Book a free consult if you have any questions or concerns. Together, we determine if this is a potential fit.
Have initial session whereby we complete an intake and plan for any relevant assessment. You’re part of the process. We keep communication open and decisions shared no surprises.
Every individuals needs are unique therefore we tailor your treatment together. Therapy takes time and commitment. We strive at Heights Psychological to optimize your resources.
Specialized Depression Counselling in Edmonton
Living with Chronic Pain can be so difficult and feel limiting. Chronic pain is treatable with therapy and can remit. Your brain makes the decision if the pain is an emergency or just more information that is being sent from the body. Therapy can help individuals work through their response to the pain and encourage some mental health strategies along with some behavioural changes that can support more wellness. A key element to working with chronic pain is accepting the mood disruption can be a normal experience and learning to engage in your life despite the cloud. Chronic pain can often be associated with depression which has a way of placing a filter on thoughts and in therapy we can explore how thoughts may be impacting the chronic pain can be, and we are here to help you recover, using evidence based treatments like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Narrative therapy to treat Depression.