Our BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE services include detailed evaluation (including coordination with your medical treaters and specialists), of and Behavioral Medicine/CBT treatments for:
ANXIETY DISORDERS:
Panic Disorder (PD)
Agoraphobia
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Social Phobia, Social Avoidance Disorders, and Social Anxieties
Performance Anxiety
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Anxiety associated with Medical Condition(s)
Other phobias
DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS:
CBT treatments are often quite effective for those individuals who have not experienced a full remission with medication treatment, would prefer not to utilize medications (and can safely be seen on an outpatient basis without medication treatment), or who are concerned about potential relapse on reduction or completion of medication treatments.
BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE: PAIN MANAGEMENT & CHRONIC ILLNESS
Living with chronic pain, or other chronic illnesses, can be extremely stressful, with tremendous impact on the individual sufferer and their family's sense of well being, general health, financial stability, family and personal life, relationships with friends and community, as well as job situation.
Newton-Wellesley Eating Disorders & Behavioral Medicine offers several clinical services for individuals who suffer from chronic pain or other chronic illnesses, as well as for their families, upon referral by members of their medical team.
BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE CONSULTATION: Chronic Pain & Chronic Illness
As part of your behavioral medicine consultation for chronic pain and/or chronic illness, you will be asked to see one of Newton-Wellesley Eating Disorders & Behavioral Medicine's staff clinicians who specialize in this area.
Many biopsychosocial influences may impact the onset, course and response to various medical treatments of both chronic pain and many chronic illnesses. BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL influences include BIO-logical factors, like tissue damage, infection, physical therapy, or pain medication: PSYCHO-logical factors include stress, depression, attention control exercises or systematic relaxation training; SOCIAL factors might include pressure from friends or employers to maintain prior level of activity without pacing or accommodation, or sufficient (but not excessive) support from family and community members to maintain enjoyable activities at whatever pace may realistically be achievable.
One model for understanding and describing the widely varied influences on the onset, course, response to treatment and outcome of chronic pain and chronic illness, is the GATE CONTROL MODEL. Originally developed to describe the varied influences on pain, this model is also quite useful in understanding the course and response to medical treatments of many chronic illnesses as well. The Gate Control Model suggests that many different factors can increase ("open the gate") or decrease ("close the gate") to the experience of pain.
First developed by Melzak at McGill University, the GATE CONTROL MODEL well describes the many and varied pain influences that we observe. For example, stress leads the body's endocrine system to pump out the hormone cortisol. Cortisol unfortunately, increases the sensitivity of nerve fibers that transmit pain signals. Thus, stress, by way of cortisol, opens the gate to the experience of greater physical pain. Another, example may be observed when we bump our elbow, or "funny bone." When we bump our "funny bone," nerve fibers conduct the pain signal to the brain. As we all have experienced, this can be very painful. A frequent response to this pain is to rub the elbow. When we rub our elbow, a parallel set of nerve fibers, that go to the same place as the pain fibers, rapidly sends a signal, which blocks the pain signal from the pain fibers, and "closes the gate."
We also know that appropriate, empathetic, but not enabling, social support can have a significant impact on both the response to treatment and course of chronic pain and chronic illness.
Thus, the BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE CONSULTATION is focused on evaluating the varied biopsychosocial factors that my influence chronic pain and/or chronic illness.
The Behavioral Medicine Consultation is very different from a traditional psychological evaluation. First, you will be meeting with a clinician who is a specialist in PAIN MANAGEMENT and CHRONIC ILLNESS.
Second, unlike traditional psychological evaluations which often focus a great deal on a patient's past, the major thrust of the consultation will be on your current pain or chronic illness and its consequences. Finally, this assessment is referred to as a biopsychosocial evaluation because chronic pain and chronic illness affects individuals biologically (e.g. tissue damage), psychologically (e.g. stress), as well as socially (e.g. being unable to engage in your usual work and social activities because of pain).
BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE INTERVENTIONS: Chronic Pain - Chronic Illness
Individual Behavioral Medicine Treatment focuses on:
- providing education about chronic illness or chronic pain
- developing active coping skills to deal with chronic pain
- teaching and coaching in cognitive-behavioral coping skills
- stress management training focused on the specific stressors associated with chronic pain and chronic illness
- learning multiple methods of relaxation training
- reducing the disability associated with these conditions
- enhancing social support by problem solving, communications skills training, assertiveness training as indicated, and work with family and friends (only with the patient's permission and participation)
BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE SERVICES ALSO INCLUDE:
HEALTH RISK REDUCTION for high risk, medically ill patients
WOMEN'S HEALTH with a focus on coping with complicated menopause, PMS and chronic pelvic pain
Behavioral Medicine Interventions for specific medical problems, in conjunction with, and close communication with your treating physicians, including Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.
|
