Promoting Mind-Body Approaches to Pain Self-Management

CBT addresses how a patient's thoughts, feelings, and behavior are interwoven. A patient may think, “If I move, I'll hurt more” (thoughts), which leads to anxiety (feelings) and avoidance of movement and deconditioning (behavior). This train of thought subsequently progresses to “No one cares. No one can fix me” (thoughts), anger and fear (feelings), and muscle tension and irritability (behavior). The objectives of CBT are to move a patient from being overwhelmed with pain to feeling it is manageable; from a passive to an active role in care; and to reduce symptoms while increasing function and quality of life.

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