Emotions and self-regulation in chronic pain

I posted about the reciprocal effect of emotions on goal content and today I want to look a little further into this.
A profound statement in the paper by Hamilton, Karoly & Kitzman is this: ‘If emotional well-being influences the selection and the valuation of a particular goal, then it is likely that the relationship between [...]

‘What do I do when I’ve had enough’: The Effect of Emotions on Self-regulation & Chronic Pain

As soon as read the first paragraph of the paper I’ve used as the basis for this post, I knew I was onto something that resonated with my original occupational therapy values. It says this:
‘Living with chronic pain is a balancing act. People with chronic pain are required to make daily decisions [...]

Self regulation – what it is and what to do

So, if self regulation is about exerting control over thoughts, feelings, actions and physiology, how does it work?
When I skipped through some Google references last night (o font of all knowledge!) I found a good number of sites referring to self regulation and children – but not nearly as many relating to adults, or the [...]

I’m so tired of coping: Self regulation, executive functions and chronic pain

Changes take energy – that’s nothing new, I know, but perhaps something as clinicians we might forget when we work with people who have chronic pain. I was thinking about this as I’ve had a week away from regular blogging so I could focus on writing and some self care.  Things are busy and [...]

Goal setting — again!

This post is most definitely an opinion piece, because once again I’m struggling with the practicalities of goal setting with people experiencing chronic pain. There is no doubt at all that goal setting is an integral part of pain management – it’s designed to focus the input, make sure the underlying reasons for using [...]

Goals, goals, goals

Today I had the challenge of working with a new group of participants in the Pain Management Programme. They’re with us for three weeks, and at the beginning of this time I say to them that if their lives are no different six months from then, it’s not worthwhile attending. Usually they’ll all nod happily [...]

How do you decide when to stop doing something?

There are plenty of times when it’s easy to give up on doing something – just ask me to do the vacuum cleaning or do a workout at the gym! On the other hand, there are plenty of times when someone close to me sighs and asks ‘How long are you going to be?’ [...]

Seeing people progress

A quick post this morning before I search for some Friday funnies!
I saw a few patients this week after having had just over a fortnight off work – and you know how sometimes working in pain management can seem unrewarding, progress can be incredibly slow, one step forward, two sideways… Well here are some progress [...]

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want

A theme in almost any reading about health is that treatment should be patient-focused, typically goal-directed and have some sort of measureable impact. Over the past few weeks I’ve been reading about the process of goal setting and motivation, finding that there can be quite some differences between what a therapist sees as a [...]

Goal intentions or implementation intentions: which one works?

I thought it worth spending a little time considering goals because so many of us work to help people generate goals – but how many are completed? I’m sure I could lay money on the table that most of us have failed to persist with a goal when we’ve set one, and it’s no [...]