Many people with chronic pain frequently become depressed due to living with under-treated or mistreated pain symptoms. This process starts when thinking and emotions become problematic. By problematic I mean that the thinking process becomes irrational or dysfunctional and they start to mismanage their feelings; they often have urges to indulge in self-defeating impulsive or compulsive behaviors to cope with depression surrounding their chronic pain. This in turn affects all the relationships in their lives.

There are several types of clinical depression that involve disturbances in mood, concentration, self-confidence, sleep, appetite, activity and behavior as well as disruptions in friendships, family, work and/or school. A clinical depression is different than the experiences of sadness, disappointment and grief that are familiar to everyone. Because of this it can be difficult to determine when professional help is necessary.

Symptoms of Depression

The following section contains a depression checklist that includes many of the symptoms typical for clinical depression. Please note, however, that only some of these symptoms are necessary for a diagnosis of depression. It is best to go over the results of this checklist with a qualified healthcare provider who can help determine if you are suffering from clinical depression versus feeling blue or a little down and out.

1. A significantly depressed mood or general absence of mood: A person may be feeling overly negative and down or at other times emotionally cut off.
2. Inability to experience pleasure or feel interest in daily life: Things that used to excite or interest a person now holds no attraction at all. Sometimes it hardly seems worth getting up.
3. Inexplicable crying spells, sadness and/or irritability: They may cry for no reason or having a temper tantrum and lash out without any provocation.
4. Insomnia (difficulty sleeping) or hypersomnia (oversleeping) nearly every day: They either can’t get to sleep or stay asleep and/or spend most of their time sleeping to the point of missing important events in life.
5. A substantial change in appetite, eating patterns or weight: They have no appetite and nothing sounds good so they just don’t eat, or in an effort to feel better they discover that eating certain types of foods are soothing. They either lose or gain a significant amount of weight.
6. Fatigue or energy loss: They always feel tired or don’t seem to have enough energy to accomplish even simple tasks of daily living.
7. Diminished ability to concentrate: Paying attention is very difficult.  They may read the same page over and over or forget the plot of a movie they are watching.
8. Difficulty making decisions: They can’t seem to decide what to do even in simplest areas that used to be easy. They tend to procrastinate or put off having to decide one way or another.
9. Feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness: At times they feel like life is always going to be unbearable or that they don’t deserve to be happy or successful.
10. Inappropriate feelings of guilt or self-criticism: They put themselves down for little things and feel bad about things that might not even be their fault.
11. A lack of sexual desire: They have lost an interest and passion for being a sexual being. It either seems like too much of a hassle or they just don’t care anymore.
12. Suicidal thoughts, feelings or behaviors: They have thoughts like “maybe I’d be better off dead,” or “I feel that life isn’t worth living.” They may start thinking about ways they could commit suicide and even develop a plan.

If you want to read more about depression and chronic pain management you can find my article The Role of Clinical Depression in Chronic Pain Management that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

If you want to learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System please check out our website at www.addiction-free.com.  To learn more about how to develop an effective chronic pain management plan please go to our Publications page and check out my book The Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide. To look for my upcoming trainings please go to our Calendar page.

To read our latest Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please click here. To sign up for Chronic Pain Solutions, please click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

People with chronic pain and coexisting disorders including addiction have different requirements than the traditional client with only an addictive disorder.  Many programs are beginning to better address these clients in residential and outpatient treatment formats, but unfortunately continuing care treatment is still lacking for clients with pain management needs. 

To help deal with this gap in the continuum of care for this population, we have developed Addiction-Free Pain Management® (APM) Continuing Care Coaching services.  This service is offered through a conference call format to provide clients with the most flexibility as they return to their families and community.

The goal of APM™ Continuing Care Coaching is to support people with chronic pain conditions who are leaving residential or outpatient treatment to continue the improvements they have made in treatment, and increase their quality of life by implementing a strategic set of pain management and relapse prevention protocols found in the APM™ Continuing Care Coaching Program developed by Dr. Stephen F. Grinstead.

We also offer APM™ Relapse Prevention Coaching for people who cannot or do not want to enroll in a treatment program but could benefit from coaching.  To learn more about APM™ Coaching go to the Coaching Page on our website and complete the Coaching Questionnaire to see if coaching is right for you.

Five Point Philosophy of
Addiction-Free Pain Management® Coaching

1. We believe that your report of pain is valid. Our approach to assisting you is driven by this basic assumption.
2. We treat you with dignity, acknowledging your perception of pain and accepting your cultural, spiritual, and psychological values as your reality. 
3. Our primary goal is to assist you in addressing your pain, based upon your stated goal for pain relief and helping you avoid relapse or ineffective pain management. 
4. Addressing both your pain and addiction becomes a delicate balance. We will therefore work with you to find your personal balance point.
5. Our role is that of advocate to assist you in achieving your recovery goal while helping you obtain relief of your chronic pain.

If you want to learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System please check out our website at www.addiction-free.com. to learn more about how to develop effective chronic pain management please go to our Publications page and check out my book The Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide. To look for my upcoming trainings please go to our Calendar page. If you want to read more about pain and suffering you can find my article Pain Versus Suffering that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

To read our latest Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please click here. To sign up for Chronic Pain Solutions, please click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

This morning I did a consultation and treatment planning session for a therapist friend of mine whose patient has been on prescription opiates for over ten years.  My friend became very concerned for this person a couple of weeks ago when she drove herself to a therapy appointment while significantly over-medicated.  This patient didn’t ask to have a problem but over ten years of using only medication for her chronic pain management in addition to using her meds for emotional and stress management reasons has finally caught up with her.

According to researched published in Pain Physician Journal (2006), 90 percent of people in the US receiving treatment for pain management are prescribed opiate medication.  Of that number 9 percent to 41 percent had opiate abuse/addiction problems.  We also know that at least 80 billion dollars is spent for pain relief in the United States each year—a significant amount of that is for prescription medications.  What is harder to quantify is the emotional cost to family systems when one or more members suffer with a chronic pain condition.

Unfortunately, this prescription drug problem only comes to the public’s awareness when a nationally recognized personality is “caught” in the pain/addiction trap. So how do intelligent, high functioning people fall into this prescription drug trap and how can it be avoided?  The leading cause for many people falling into the prescription drug trap is an under-treated or a mismanaged chronic pain condition—I believe this was the case for my friend’s patient.  To learn more please go to my article Avoiding the Prescription Drug Trap that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

If you want to learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System please check out our website at www.addiction-free.com. to learn more about how to develop effective chronic pain management please go to our Publications page and check out my book The Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide. To look for my upcoming trainings please go to our Calendar page.

To read our latest Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please click here. To sign up for Chronic Pain Solutions, please click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.