Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts longer than three months. It can be mild or painful, episodic or constant, uncomfortable or completely disabling. In chronic pain, pain signals remain active in the nervous system for months or even years. Many people in pain have lost their jobs, friends, and family relationships because of their illness. Many have been forced to give up the activities they love.
It can be caused by various chronic diseases (eg, arthritis, cancer, diabetes), injuries (eg, a herniated disc or torn ligament), as well as a large number of primary pain syndromes, such as neuropathic pain, chronic headache, fibromyalgia. Both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are used for treatment. Often, resistance (addiction) develops to conventional drugs.
The emotional component of chronic pain also aggravates the pain. Anxiety, stress, depression, anger, and fatigue interact in complex ways with chronic pain and can lead to a subjective experience of pain intolerance. Chronic pain of any origin leads to increased irritability, anxiety, emotional instability, decreased control over emotions and behavior in general. Working capacity suffers, interest in life and the ability to enjoy it are lost, sleep is disturbed, a vicious circle is formed: "pain stimulus - psycho-emotional disorders - behavioral and motivational disorders, social, family and personal maladjustment - pain".
In addition, psychological factors can also be the root cause of pain. Often pain is found in patients with demonstratively hypochondriacal disorders and in many cases is the only manifestation of psychological distress. Individuals unable to recognize the presence of psychological conflict express their emotional experiences as pain or other bodily symptoms and are classified as having a somatoform (i.e., psychosomatic) disorder. For example, already existing depression, as a rule, sooner or later leads to the occurrence of a pain syndrome - the so-called "depression-pain" syndrome. Pain often accompanies post-traumatic stress disorder.
Therefore, effective treatment of pain syndromes requires addressing both the physical and psychological aspects of the pain state. That is why psychotherapy must necessarily be included in the treatment of pain syndromes.
A good non-drug treatment is transcranial electrical brain stimulation (TES). It is widely used to relieve pain of various origins due to its analgesic effect, and also has a positive effect on the processes of reparation and an increase in the psychophysiological status of a person, reduces anxiety and depression.
A promising method for the treatment of pain and associated psycho-emotional imbalance is infusion treatment with ketamine. Combining psychotherapy with ketamine infusions, transcranial electrical stimulation, rehabilitation of the brain "Neurohelp", body-oriented therapy and art therapy, a significant improvement in the health of patients can be achieved.
The most common pain syndromes we treat are:
Causes of psychosomatic illnesses