Chronic pain and chronic disease rob us of our energy, our lives, and our futures; that is, if we use all our energy trying to manage our pain or our disease.  We often put our lives, our goals on hold "until the pain (or illness) gets better."

I practice a therapy specifically for such conditions.  The therapy is not about the condition or the symptoms, its about living.  And serious clients often find that the symptoms also get much better, certainly their lives get better.

I don't wish to criticize the medical profession, but they don't seem to understand that patients and their families need more than medical procedures and medications.  A prognosis for a patient and the patient's quality of life are also dependent on the patient's and the family's emotions.

This is not to say that the symptoms are all in the persons head.  This is certainly not the case.  But our anguish about the symptoms divert us from our goals.  The purpose of therapy is to help the client find the emotional reserves needed to again manage his or her life instead of just the physical symptoms of the chronic pain or illness.