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Chronic pain management is a serious health crisis facing the world today. Combine a person undergoing chonic pain management who is also exeriencing other co-existing disorders such as addiction to prescription pain medication, and the problem is reaching epidemic proportions. Every week on the news or in the media there are reports on the problematic use and/or abuse of prescription drugs used chronic pain management. The numbers of people impacted are staggering. For an overview of the current news and research, click here.
Unfortunately, the research numbers don't come close to capturing the cost of the human pain and suffering experienced by those individuals whose pain condition is either under-treated or mistreated. Throughout my career I have seen many people relapse and even die due to their chronic pain management problems and addiction, as well as other coexisting medical and psychological disorders. As someone who has lived with chronic pain for many years and has worked professionally with this population over the past 27 years, I was committed to develop a treatment solution to address it.
In 1996, building upon my clinical experience and research, I conceptualized the Addiction Pain Syndrome™. At this time I also began collaborating with Terence T. Gorski and the Gorski-CENAPS® Corporation to develop the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System.The APM™ Treatment System is based in part on the Gorski-CENAPS® Developmental model of recovery. It also includes the best practice standards reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) along with the leading chronic pain management research. See and hear a brief overview of the APM™ System here that also includes an overview of the Addiction Pain Syndrome™.
During the course of my training and consultation work with over fifteen thousand healthcare professionals and therapists at more than 170 training seminars in key cities across the United States and Canada, I have consistently heard how challenging it is for clinicians and treatment programs to help patients manage a chronic pain condition. One of the major factors for mismanaged chronic pain is the failure to recognize and address coexisting disorders. Click here for a chart of common disorders.
Clinicians are often confronted with situations that impact a positive treatment outcome, such as, how best to deal with a patient's denial around a substance use disorder associated with chronic pain management; how to determine if their patient is abusing or addicted to their prescription medication and how to educate them about it; understanding and dealing with the psychological problems that get in the way of effective chronic pain management; what to do when a patient only wants medication and won't consider other treatments; and how to best address a patient who seems to be “drug seeking.” With the APM™ System, Clinicians now have specific tools and evidence-based manualized treatment to support them and clients seeking their help.
On your left you'll see a picture of Mr. Gorski with an audio recording of what he has to say about the APM™ System and our work together. His expertise and committment to APM™ has been invaluable. You can also go to the Gorski-CENAPS® Website to learn more about Mr. Gorski and the Gorski-CENAPS® Corporation.
On our Publications Page you can see the books and modules I've developed in order to help both clinicians and their patients who live with complex chronic pain conditions to develop effective chronic pain management plans.
Please check out my book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System, in order to learn how to develop a plan for managing
chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders including addiction effectively. To purchase this book please Click Here.
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