Cole Frances - Overcoming Chronic Pain: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques

Frances Cole is a GP and Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. In 1996 she developed a primary care-run pain rehabilitation programme and continues to develop her interest in chronic pain management.

Helen Macdonald is a Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapist and university lecturer specializing in pain management. She has obtained a Masters degree in Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy, with a dissertation examining the effectiveness of assisted self-help for chronic pain. She was recognized as a Chartered Health Psychologist in 2004.

Catherine Carus is a registered Physiotherapist and university lecturer currently teaching at the University of Bradford, she specializes in the assessment and management of musculoskeletal conditions.

Hazel Howden-Leach is a Consultant Academic Developer, working in the UK and Africa. Her expertize lies in designing health-related educational materials and programmes.

The aim of the Overcoming series is to enable people with a range of common problems and disorders to take control of their own recovery program. Each title, with its specially tailored programs, is devised by a practising clinician using the latest techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy techniques which have been shown to be highly effective in changing the way patients think about themselves and their difficulties. The series was initiated in 1993 by Peter Cooper, Professor of Psychology at Reading University and Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge in the UK, whose original volume on overcoming bulimia nervosa and binge-eating continues to help many people in the UK, the USA, Australia and Europe.

Other titles in the series include:

OVERCOMING ANGER AND IRRITABILITY

OVERCOMING ANOREXIA NERVOSA

OVERCOMING ANXIETY

OVERCOMING BODY IMAGE PROBLEMS

OVERCOMING BULIMIA NERVOSA AND BINGE-EATING

OVERCOMING CHILDHOOD TRAUMA

OVERCOMING CHRONIC FATIGUE

OVERCOMING COMPULSIVE GAMBLING

OVERCOMING DEPERSONALIZATON AND FEELINGS OF UNREALITY

OVERCOMING DEPRESSION

OVERCOMING GRIEF

OVERCOMING HEALTH ANXIETY

OVERCOMING LOW SELF-ESTEEM

OVERCOMING MOOD SWINGS

OVERCOMING OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

OVERCOMING PANIC AND AGRAPHOBIA

OVERCOMING PARANOID AND SUSPICIOUS THOUGHTS

OVERCOMING PROBLEM DRINKING

OVERCOMING RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS

OVERCOMING SEXUAL PROBLEMS

OVERCOMING SOCIAL ANXIETY AND SHYNESS

OVERCOMING STRESS

OVERCOMING TRAUMATIC STRESS

OVERCOMING WEIGHT PROBLEMS

OVERCOMING WORRY

OVERCOMING YOUR CHILDS FEARS AND WORRIES

OVERCOMING YOUR CHILDS SHYNESS AND SOCIAL ANXIETY

OVERCOMING YOUR SMOKING HABIT

All titles in the series are available by mail order.
Please see the order form at the back of this book.
www.overcoming.co.uk

ROBINSON
London

Constable & Robinson Ltd
5556 Russell Square
London WC1B 4HP
www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2005, 2010

This edition published in 2010

Copyright 2005, 2010

The right of Frances Cole, Helen Macdonald, Catherine Carus and Hazel Howden-Leach to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library

Important Note
This book is not intended as a substitute for medical advice or treatment. Any person with a condition requiring medical attention should consult a qualified medical practitioner or suitable therapist.

ISBN: 978-1-84119-970-2
eISBN: 978-1-47210-573-8

Typeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon
Printed and bound in the EU

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Many individuals and teams have given us invaluable advice, feedback and support during the preparation of this book, for which we are deeply grateful. We would specifically like to thank Chris Williams, Christine Padesky, Karina Lovell, Glenda Wallace and Paul Gilbert for allowing us to use their materials, models and prior experience.

We would not have been able to prepare this without the input of:

The Mexborough Montagu Hospital Pain Management Team, Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Trust, South Yorkshire.

The Pain Rehabilitation Programme, Pain Clinic and Clinical Psychology Departments at Bradford NHS Teaching Hospitals Trust, Bradford.

Gill Fletcher, Tracy Sanderson and Anne Hesselden, Bradford and Huddersfield physiotherapy colleagues for being most supportive.

Patients and staff in primary care in Bradford and Huddersfield GP practices.

Pete Moore, Expert Patient Programme Trainer for advice and support.

Academic encouragement, clinical supervision and constructive comments from Anni Telford and the staff at the University of Derby Unit for Psychotherapeutic Practice and Research, Tom Ricketts, Penny Stevens, and Judith Hooper, Director of Public Health, North Kirklees PCT who helped in the final stages and colleagues from the Division of Rehabilitation Studies, University of Bradford.

It would not have been possible to complete this without the personal support and tolerance of family and friends; and we would like to thank Doug, Joe, Kiefer, Max and Logan.

Feedback from Shirley Douglas, Sharon Stephenson, Mavis Aitchison, Margaret Hornsby, Peter Norcliffe, Kate Cole and Cate Clark at different stages of the book was so helpful.

Most of all, we are grateful to the pain survivors who used the original workbook materials as they were developed over the last five years. They shared their experiences and gave us feed-back that enabled this book to be brought to its current form.

Frances Cole
Helen Macdonald
Catherine Carus
January 2005

People usually try to avoid pain. Sufferers of chronic pain cannot avoid their pain. Fortunately, Overcoming Chronic Pain teaches skills that turn pain sufferers into pain managers. By tuning into pain rather than trying to avoid it, sufferers learn to understand personal pain patterns. Understanding pain is the first step towards pain relief. This welcome relief comes about when readers learn a variety of pain management skills taught here in simple, straightforward steps.

This book combines the collective knowledge and wisdom of three pain specialists Frances Cole (a GP who is also a Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapist), Helen Macdonald (a Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapist and mental health nurse) and Catherine Carus (a Physiotherapist) working as a team with a Learning Technology Adviser, Hazel Howden-Leach. Drawing on feedback from hundreds of pain patients, the authors show readers how to chart a personalized pain model and choose skills to help manage the worst aspects of pain. Over time, readers who practise these skills can become more relaxed, physically fitter, and develop better problem-solving strategies. In addition, chapters teach how to reduce depression, anxiety, anger and the sleep difficulties that often accompany pain.