Psychotherapy in Pain Management: New Perspectives and Treatment Approaches Based on a Brain Model

Within the current opiate crisis, this book provides a timely, comprehensive guide for psychological treatment with chronic pain patients. It is written for academic and practicing psychological professionals, in addition to graduate students, neuroscientists, and neuropsychologists. It provides an explanation of neurophysiological pain processing based the Dimensional Systems Model (DSM), a theory of higher cortical functions. Novel views on the roles of the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and cingulate cortex are presented here, while the applied Clinical Biopsychological Model (CBM) is used to explain psychological treatment with chronic pain patients. Three new areas of treatment focus are discussed in this book, including specific approaches to deal with influential negative emotional memories, interpersonal relationship stressors, and loss-related depression, all of which have been shown to influence chronic pain disorders. Detailed information on how to do assessment, conceptualization, and treatment is also provided. In total, the book offers a unique viewpoint unavailable in any other source.