Knowledge is power. Understanding your illness or injury, your responses to your situation, and the treatments you may receive are a very important part of your recovery. We don’t just treat illness and injury, we provide ongoing patient education as well. We also know it’s very common to find inaccurate information on the internet.
Below are links to brief information about some of the questions we’re often asked, the situations we often work with, and some of the treatments we might offer as part of an individualized treatment plan.
This basic information is provided as a public educational service by this website, and is in no way intended or offered as full information regarding the subject addressed herein. For more information, please contact us at (707) 546-7661 or by sending an email to info@northbaymedpsych.com.
Pre-surgical Preparation and Planning
Pre-surgical Evaluations
Sleep, Rest and Relaxation
Pain Management
The Connection Between Pain and Depression
Adapting to Chronic Illness or Injury
Special Concerns of Injured Workers
Special Concerns for Family or Friends
Hypnosis
Pre-surgical Preparation and Planning
Each patient’s surgery experience is quite unique. Preparing for surgery in advance allows the surgery patient to become an active part of their surgical team, joining in decisions regarding their hospital stay and home recovery, while having an advance recovery plan in place eases the stress of recovery itself. Patients who actively participate in surgical preparation and planning are known to feel more comfortable with the overall surgical experience, recover more quickly, and often experience much less post-surgical discomfort and stress. A Medical Psychologist acts as a patient advocate, assisting in communications between the patient and the surgical team as well as helping the patient plan for their recovery.
Many surgeons request a pre-surgical psychological evaluation before performing a specific surgery, such as bariatric surgery and certain types of elective surgeries. Many insurance carriers require pre-surgical evaluations before they will cover certain surgeries as well. Any pre-surgical evaluation will require being interviewed by a trained professional, perhaps meeting more than once, and may also include standardized psychological tests. A report will be sent to the surgeon and/or the insurance carrier with a recommendation as to whether or not the surgery should proceed. A Medical Psychologist is best able to understand each patient’s unique situation while conducting a Pre-surgical Evaluation, and to then assist the patient through both surgery and recovery.
Injury or illness disturbs the body’s normal biorhythms. Normal sleep schedules are often disrupted either by insomnia (difficulty sleeping) or hypersomnia (sleeping for long periods). Rest and relaxation during daytime hours can be difficult to achieve due to frequent medical appointments, normal family schedules and activities, or frustration and worry over recovery. Sleep, rest, and relaxation are crucial to the recovery process, so it’s very important to help patients find ways to meet these basic needs. There are numerous highly successful tools and techniques available for this purpose, which are best applied following a professional assessment to determine each patient’s individual situation.
There are two kinds of pain management: Chemical and non-chemical. Chemical pain management involves the prescription and use of pain medications and/or treatments (e.g., nerve blocks). Non-chemical pain management is the use of techniques and strategies that can help lower pain with or without the use of pain medication. Non-chemical pain management techniques include strategies such as Time Management, Pacing, self-hypnosis, and simple lifestyle adjustments to better accommodate each patient’s specific illness or injury and individual needs.
The Connection between Pain and Depression
Pain and depression go hand-in-hand. When you’re depressed, it hurts. When you hurt, you can’t help but feel sad. Sadness and depression are normal emotional responses to pain, especially ongoing pain. Numerous research studies have documented this as fact, demonstrating that the use of prescription antidepressant medication by chronic pain patients often provides measurable pain relief. Counseling regarding feelings of loss, sadness, and depression have also been proven to be an important part of any pain management program. It’s very important to discuss your emotional reactions to pain created by illness or injury with your physician so he or she can help plan the best treatment for your individual needs.
Adapting to Chronic Illness or Injury
Chronic illness and injury generally require ongoing management, and ongoing management often requires patients to make changes in the way they’re accustomed to living their lives. While all changes are hard, some changes are fairly straightforward while others may be more difficult to accomplish. What’s most important to remember in adapting to any chronic illness or injury is that each patient’s situation is unique, and requires solutions based upon their specific needs. Working with a trained counselor who can assess each patient’s unique situation, offer suggestions for individual solutions, and provide educational and emotional support for necessary lifestyle adjustments, is an important part of adapting to chronic illness or injury.
Special Concerns of Injured Workers
Patients with job-related injuries have special concerns: Will I be able to return to work? When will I be able to return to work? Finances may pose a problem as well: While Worker’s Compensation and other disability insurances cover most injured workers, coverage may be time-limited and result in lowered income. Dealing with all the paperwork, independent medical examinations, and waiting times for pre-approval of treatments can become overwhelming. Further, the Injured Worker has not only lost their normal daily activity but their daily social contact with co-workers as well; and often find themselves home alone during the day as their spouse and/or personal friends are at work. Employers may not be supportive, especially in situations requiring a change in job duties or lengthy recovery times, creating additional worries regarding future employment. These special concerns, and their impact on an Injured Worker’s recovery, should be fully addressed as part of any recovery plan.
Special Concerns for Family and Friends
Simply put, if a member of your family or one of your friends has a medical problem, then you have a medical problem as well. If your spouse or partner is adjusting their lifestyle to accommodate illness or injury, chronic or acute, then your lifestyle must similarly change to support and accommodate those changes. If a friend is injured, then the activities you normally enjoy must change to adjust to whatever their physical limitations may be. It’s very important to give your family member or friend permission to talk openly about their situation, including their feelings and what kind of physical/emotional support they may need. It’s also important to educate yourself regarding their specific illness or injury. Moreover, it’s very important you have a secure support network yourself, especially if you are also a caregiver. A trained counselor can be of great assistance providing the support and education you need to best help your family member or friend.
Forget everything you’ve seen in old movies where a hypnotist swings a watch and sends someone out to commit a crime: That’s Hollywood trying to scare you. Forget everything you’ve seen where a stage full of people suddenly start clucking like chickens: That’s Stage Hypnosis, a form of entertainment, which requires cooperative people to help trick the audience into believing what they’re seeing is real – just as stage magicians trick the audience in much the same way. Clinical hypnosis is quite different: It’s a way of assisting patients make connections between their body and mind. All clinical hypnosis is self-hypnosis, where patients learn how to go into a state of deep relaxation that can help speed recovery, reduce pain, mitigate stress, and much more. Contrary to popular belief, clinical hypnosis does not involve “giving up control”; in fact, clinical hypnosis is a way of taking greater control by using the untapped energy of the unconscious mind to reach individual recovery goals.