Complementary therapies

Complementary Therapies
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Complementary Therapies
Pain presents a challenge to many people. It affects their bodily functions and contributes to substantial psychological, physical, financial, and occupational costs (Sturgeon, 2014). Medical intervention does not often help resolve pain. Hence, there is a need to implement management approaches that include psychological intervention. Psychotherapy helps to improve the emotional, physical, occupational, and social functioning of the individual. However, psychological therapies differ in terms of duration, scope, and goals. These therapies can be grouped into cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, and operant-behavioral therapy (Sturgeon, 2014).
Operant behavioral therapy is an approach that encourages individuals to avoid behaviors that cause pain, thereby leading them to maintain good physical and emotional health (Sturgeon, 2014). The avoidance of pain leads to deconditioning, depression, and pain chronicity. Therefore, operant therapy utilizes punishment and reinforcement contingencies to reduce behaviors that lead to pain and foster better behaviors, including activity pacing, time-contingent medication, and graded patterns of activity (Sturgeon, 2014). The element I would assign to this therapy is the earth. The earth is grounding and calming. It regulates one's muscles, bones, and tissues. It also plays a critical role in eliminating inflammations and infections (TINT, 2020). I think that operant behavioral therapy and the element earth are related because they both seek to divert the individual from activity that harms the body and into more calming and pain-relieving actions.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT suggests coping skills that help one manage pain and improve their psychological functioning. These skills include structured relaxation, assertive communication, behavioral pacing and activation, and scheduling of pleasurable events (Sturgeon, 2014). These activities are intended to prevent pain exacerbation. One of the CBT activities is homework assignments. A cognitive-behavioral therapist assigns homework to the patient, which they are supposed to complete between sessions. The assignments start easy and become more challenging as therapy continues. Patients track specific behaviors, thoughts, and actions that exacerbate their pain and what they think might contribute to this. By doing so, they become more aware of what they need to do to control the pain (Songer, 2005).
Another activity is relaxation (Songer, 2005). Relaxation training is a component of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Deep breathing, muscle relaxation, autogenic training, and stretch-based relaxation are relaxation techniques that can be learned. These techniques are practiced at home until they are mastered. Developing mastery over these techniques enables patients...