Treating Chronic Pain: The Healing Partnership

What occurs between the healer and the one who seeks healing is seldom addressed. This book takes a unique view of the processes that unfold between patient and therapist in an attempt to understand those factors that lead to the relief of pain, both physical and emotional. Treating Chronic Pain enhances the possibility of healing, particularly for those who are suffering from chronic conditions, through the concept of the partnership. Aleene M. Friedman, Ph.D., a gifted biofeedback therapist and pain treatment educator, points out that the development of a "healing through meeting" perspective between patient and therapist is the most basic element in the journey toward the alleviation of pain. The author's years of clinical experience and the solid theoretical framework of her remarkable approach, based on the seminal writings of dialogical existentialists Martin Buber and Maurice Friedman, extend the usual boundaries of chronic pain treatment and serve to enhance the possibility of a healing patient-therapist partnership. The book includes numerous case studies illustrating how such a healing partnership is incorporated into the patient treatment program. Candid comments from patients already embarked on their healing journey offer insight into the emotional sequelae of unsuccessful medical intervention, or other treatment modalities which have been unable to provide satisfactory relief. This groundbreaking book is an inspiring addition to the research and literature of pain management and biofeedback therapy. It offers an integration of chronic pain therapy with the dialogical stance of the healer who becomes a partner in the healing. Biofeedback therapists, clinical psychologists, behavioral and cognitive psychologists, social workers, nurses, and interested laypersons will find this work a remarkable testament to the merits of partnership healing.