Chronic pain can lead to various problems, such as difficulty sleeping and fatigue. They can also significantly limit physical performance. From partnership and family to work and household to hobbies and leisure time, all areas of life can be affected.
The pain often affects the mind as well. Chronic pain can trigger fear – for example of movement or that the symptoms are getting worse and are increasingly determining life. Some people then withdraw or lose hope of improvement. When worry takes over, it’s easy to create a vicious circle of anxiety, depression, pain, trouble sleeping, and exhaustion and increasing discomfort.
Because chronic pain has various causes and affects many areas of life, a combination of different treatments often makes sense. This is where the so-called multimodal pain therapy comes in.
What is multimodal pain therapy?
Specialists from various disciplines such as pain medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy and psychotherapy closely together. The treatment combines exercise, training, relaxation techniques and treatment with medication. In roundtables or one-on-one sessions, psychotherapists convey psychological strategies that help to cope with chronic pain and to deal with stress at work or in the family.
Multimodal pain therapy is mainly offered by pain clinics, psychosomatic departments in hospitals and orthopedic, psychosomatic or rheumatologic rehabilitation centers. It can be in a clinic (inpatient) or partly in the clinic, partly outpatient (partly stationary) take place. It lasts at least seven days, usually 2 to 4 weeks.
The goal of therapy is the help for self-help – i.e. getting to know exercises and methods that can later be used independently.
Multimodal pain therapy is primarily an option when other treatments have not helped sufficiently or when the quality of life or performance in everyday life are severely impaired. It can be prescribed by a resident doctor, for example in a general practitioner, orthopedic or pain medicine practice. On average, you get a treatment place after three months.
What is cognitive behavioral therapy and when is it suitable?
Many people with fibromyalgia shy away from psychotherapy because they believe it can only treat mental illnesses. However, this is a misunderstanding. So be with the cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), for example, treats tinnitus, sleep disorders and various chronic pain disorders.
How you experience chronic pain or other ailments is very dependent on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. As a result, some people find pain on a stressful day at work, for example, much more distressing than on a weekend when they go on a trip with good friends.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is about identifying unfavorable thought patterns and behaviors that are making the pain worse. In a second step, an attempt is made to change them – for example by examining the assumptions behind the often automatically occurring thoughts. In addition, various techniques are taught that can help in dealing with pain, for example relaxation techniques, methods for coping with stress, mindfulness training or imaginary journeys (imagination exercises).
CBT can be particularly helpful for people who live with constant worry and fear of pain and who unintentionally intensify their symptoms as a result. This also applies if, in addition to fibromyalgia, an anxiety disorder or depression has developed.
