People undergoing chronic pain management who develop substance use disorders due to taking medication present a difficult challenge to healthcare providers.  Many of these professionals see little or no difference in treatment outcomes when these people are treated either in a pain clinic for their chronic pain management condition or at a addiction treatment program for their addictive disorders.  In either case the prognosis ranges from poor to fair at best.  However, it is possible to increase the probability of a more successful treatment outcome by creatively combining existing addiction and chronic pain management methods using a multidimensional—and sometimes non-traditional—approach. 

I believe that an important part of developing an effective pain management plan is obtaining an accurate understanding of what effective chronic pain management really means.  I believe that effective chronic pain management requires a three part approach: (1) A medication management plan—developing an effective medication management agreement; (2) A cognitive-behavioral treatment plan—addressing pain versus suffering by better managing thinking and feelings as well as changing any self-defeating behaviors and problematic social/family reactions; and (3) A nonpharmacological (non-medication) chronic pain management plan—developing safer ways to manage pain. 

That’s why I developed the Addiction-Free Pain Management® (APM) system.  The APM system is a treatment approach that uses a biopsychosocial model to integrate the most advanced chronic pain management methods developed at the nation’s leading pain clinics, with the most effective treatment methods for addictive disorders developed at the nation’s leading addiction treatment programs. The result is a unique integration of treatment methods that combine proper medication management with nonpharmacological techniques to insure both chronic pain management and addiction treatment. This leads to relief of pain while lowering or eliminating the risk of addiction or relapse for people in recovery.

For people who have an addictive disorder and suffer from chronic pain management problems there are significant obstacles to be addressed before positive treatment outcomes can be realized.  Unfortunately, there is a critical shortage of documented research and studies pertaining to this particular population.  As a result, many physicians prescribe addictive drugs to patients with chronic pain without taking necessary precautions. 

To learn more about effective chronic pain management—especially when other coexisting disorders are present—please check out my article The Need for Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Management, that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people undergoing chronic pain management and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders; including depression, addiction and other coexisting psychological disorders effectively; please consider my book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

To learn about my upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.

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