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Blogroll
- Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
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- Healing: taking the road less travelled
- How to cope with pain
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Gratitude when you’re in pain? You’ve got to be kidding!
Or – introducing the “parent of all virtues” (Wood, Joseph & Linley, 2007). For some time now I’ve been exploring the contribution of positive psychology on wellbeing in people with chronic pain. Positive psychology is the ” scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive”. (Seligman, ND). It strikes … Read more
What to do when a patient is “inconsistent”
I’m a practical person, despite occasional flights of fancy dreaming of a health service that really integrates a biopsychosocial approach for pain management, sigh… Anyway, my intention with this short series of posts about “faking” and “inconsistency” is to: point out that pain is personal and subjective and because of this, we can’t know what … Read more
“Faking” pain – and inconsistency in presentation
There is a common belief amongst some people involved in pain and pain management that a person with chronic pain should be consistent in their presentation. That is, be consistent in various settings, and consistent across various measures. This assumes that if inconsistencies are present there must be something going on to cause suspicion about … Read more
The vexed question of determining whether pain is “real”
Every now and then the old chestnut of whether it’s possible to determine if a person’s pain is “real” arises. Usually it’s in the form of an insurer, or maybe an employer, who wants to know if the pain this person is describing can possibly be as bad as the person says because “they don’t … Read more
When patients think their problem is mysterious
This post is sparked off by a Facebook discussion where someone (you know who you are!) asked what to do when patients hold entrenched beliefs about the uniqueness or mysteriousness of their situation. They might say things like “I don’t think anyone know what to do with me”, or “I think because my situation is … Read more
OT Only Area – Password Access
For those who would like to gain access to the OT Only area of this blog, please click here, go to the contact area towards the bottom of the page, give your name, email address and confirm that you’re an occupational therapist, and I’ll send you the password.
Protected: Why I can no longer think of myself as an occupational therapist
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Empathy, distress and mindfulness
One of the main thrusts of the paper by Hadjistavropoulos, Craig, Duck, Cano, Goubert, Jackson, et al., is that pain communication can serve several functions – it can be an action where a message is sent or received; it can be an interaction where the message is sent, received and interpreted; or it can be … Read more
Seeing is believing?
I am slowly wending my way through a long, complex and incredibly important article by a group of researchers and clinicians writing about the social element of pain. The basic premise of this paper is that while pain is a private experience, we are social creatures. As social creatures, we communicate about things that are … Read more
Which comes first: Doing or knowing?
Received wisdom in cognitive behavioural therapy says that to change behaviour, a person must first change his or her thinking. This has created a tension between those clinicians who emphasise the cognitive aspects of pain management – and those who focus on helping people with pain do more. Should we educate and target cognitions, particularly … Read more
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Adiemus on Flickr
More Photos Updated: January 2011
