Welcome to the continuing series Why You Should See a Pain Management Psychiatrist.  This week we’ll look at how supportive therapy can be useful to you.

Supportive therapy consists of helping people cope with a difficult situation through listening and support, problem-solving, and instilling hope.  Supportive therapy can be helpful in many ways to patients with pain.

1. Telling your story
Chronic pain is, for many, a life-changing situation.  Research by Viederman and others has shown that telling your story to someone who listens, cares and responds is important.  In addition to concrete help, exploring how a life-changing situation fits in with the rest of your life is beneficial.  “Life Narrative” work has been done with patients with cancer and is very positive.

As well, sometimes your friends and family give the message that they don’t want to continue hearing about pain and its consequences.  Having a place to talk about and make sense of your experiences is necessary, and can happen in supportive therapy.

2. Ongoing adjustment
With chronic pain, you don’t adjust to 1 situation and then go about your life.  Chronic pain usually requires on-going adjustment, as your condition changes.  As well, your life changes, and your pain will impact your life differently at different points.

For example, when you have little kids, not being able to do some activities with them can be discouraging and require creativity to work around.  In contrast, when your kids are older, they may require less physical interaction.  But then, perhaps, the financial stress of your not working may affect your family more.  Having a place to work through some of these issues is important.

3. Family support
As you know, your pain affects not just you but your family and friends.  Having your family get support during difficult times is useful, too.  In my practice, I often see not just the person with pain, but a spouse or family, too.  A good resource for families is: Surviving a Loved One’s Chronic Pain.

Readers, in what ways have you found supportive therapy helpful?

Other articles in this series:

1. Why comprehensive treatment works better
2. Benefits of a psychiatric evaluation
3. Treatment of psychiatric symptoms
4. Using psychiatric medications for pain
5. Learning psychological skills
6. Making positive behavioral changes
7. Making positive psychological changes
8. Benefits of supportive therapy
9. Benefits of a pain support group
10. New brain-based treatments

Cartoon from European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the Public Sector.