Psychological Methods Used to Address Issues:
Chronic Pain Management

Dr. Staab teaches pain coping skills to help individuals manage their disability, reduce the perception of physical pain, and decrease pain medication thereby increasing their activity level to normalize their life. People learn to confront and eliminate their anger, fear, or depressive reaction toward their physical injury.

Therapies Dr. Staab uses such as cognitive psychotherapy helps a person replace passivity with self-determination by recognizing the important role emotions play in influencing the perception of physical pain. Eye Movement Desensitization, an information processing approach, helps an individual recognize resources within themselves which are available to manipulate the sensation of physical pain.

A person with chronic pain learns to move pain from the center of attention in their life to the sidelines where it can be managed. A person learns that acceptance of a disability does not have to mean defeat because one’s identity does not have to be tied to what one does but what one is in life. The person becomes aware that he/she is a valuable person who can meet the challenges of managing a disability, among all the other responsibilities in life.