The answer to the question of good chronic pain management is actually very simple; but it is not easy by any means. 

Today, chronic pain is one of the most critical healthcare issues in the world. In the United States alone, more than 100 million people suffer with some type of chronic pain—affecting 1 in 5 Americans.  Chronic pain takes its toll on personal lives, healthcare resources, and the economy—more than $100 billion in medical expenses and more than $70 billion each year in lost productivity, unsafe working conditions and increased absenteeism.

While the vast majority of people with chronic pain may safely use pain medication, what may not be evident is that as many as 12 million people taking prescription drugs also suffer from coexisting abuse or addiction problems.  Often this problem only comes to the public’s awareness when a nationally recognized personality is “caught” in the pain/addiction trap.  But individually, many people all throughout the United States know at least one person within their circle that has had or is having problems with their prescription drug use for pain management.

In my work I have seen recovering people relapse and some who died as a result of a chronic pain condition that was neglected or ineffectively treated.  As someone who has their own personal experience of living with chronic pain, I was determined to develop a treatment system to address this challenge.  Recent research validates my premise that effective chronic pain management takes a multidisciplinary teamwork approach—especially if there are coexisting disorders including addiction.

The Addiction-Free Pain Management® (APM) System was developed to address the specific biopsychosocial needs of this under-served population. Historically, addictive disorders and pain disorders have been treated as separate issues. However, to effectively implement an APM™ approach, the addictive disorder, other coexisting psychological disorders and the chronic pain must be concurrently addressed.

The APM™ System requires looking at the whole person, which means treatment plans for the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual domains. We need to work with patients—not on them. The whole person also includes that person’s family and significant others. This can best be accomplished by using a truly integrated multidisciplinary treatment team that teaches the patient how to be the Captain of their healthcare team.

To learn more about the benefits of a multidisciplinary treatment approach you can read my article The Need for Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Treatment 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 Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To look for my upcoming trainings please go to our Calendar page.

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