Tool-Kit Revisited

?Many who seek help for mental disorders will request 'tools' on their entry data sheet in order to reach their objective (typically recovery), though some will content themselves being equipped to more efficiently handle their daily demands and challenges.

?Hence the popularity of the term tools, also widely used by therapists and physicians alike, as these are essentially memorable and usable 'bite-sized' psychological or physiological aids to overcome urgencies in symptoms that complicate or obstruct daily living. Clearly, when something is less than functional, it requires fixing, and tools enable and facilitate work. ?

?From the patients’ perspective, tools may be initially seen or later viewed as a fix or a solution to their condition, while important and helpful cognitive and behavioral changes are really where the focus should be, especially when treating chronic pain. Despite often being highly effective, tools may well win the battle, but not the campaign.

Tools alone can never hope to remove the cause of any illness, which is mandatory when at all possible, and in chronic pain, this involves the reversal of the maladaptive neuroplastic changes that have already been forged.

?The trajectories or pathways of recovery are: moderation (nothing in excess), a recovery- focus, increasing functionality, improving quality of life, and the adoption of healthful and adaptive behavioral and cognitive activity. While recovery pathways and tools are not at all an either/or situation, this is where the focus has to be

?Self-efficacy is a major factor in securing superior health outcomes. Trajectories of recovery require self-efficacy, but so do most of the tools. There are, however other important dynamics. Essential tools are repeatedly used to manage symptoms and pain spikes that are difficult to control and while being a godsend, are effectively a rescue intervention. On the other hand, recovery trajectories, that become a daily way of life, are a plausible solution that can rapidly become instinctual and habitual, and the focus here is way more tightly associated with recovery rather than management of symptom severity and urgency.

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#chronicpaintreatment #selfefficacy #trajectoriesofrecovery

www.trevorcampbellmd.com

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