Re: Self help for the Chronic Pain Sufferer

[Guest guest]

Hi Joyce,

I could not agree more!!!!!!!! To all you said!!!

The use of the term support group and the like, is always difficult.

There will unfortunately always be a lot of people who don't even

give it a try, because they think it is a huge Whine and Pity Party,

rather than a good place to be with people who understand and where

you learn constructive ways of dealing with what you are going

through. It is my experience that such places to a large degree is a

place where you can learn constructive alternatives to whining. Where

you of course can vent, and get things off your chest, but also where

you can learn good ways of communicating with the ones around you, in

a way that certainly is not whining at all. There's a huge

difference, right?

Aase Marit

>Joyce said: <snipped>

> " use the term " recovery group " instead of " support group " to

>distinguish between programs which encourage growth and programs

>which encourage stagnation. "

>- I just started leading a chronic pain group here and calling ours

>a supposrt group and having anyone think the name means stagnation

>doesn't know that support groups don't always involve sitting around

>the table whining at each other. That is a sure fire recipe for

>toxicity but I think most supprt groups do what we do and offer a

>chance for venting, keep it to a time constraint then move on to

>something educational. You need a place to vent and sometimes a

>support group is it. WE try to do a piece of that then move on to

>something constructive and positive so people finish up on a high

>note. " recovery group " provides false hope to emotionally worn and

>vulnerable people. Anyone I know with chronic pain has had it for

>years and likely will have it for years because the cause is not

>going to change. You recover from surgery, you recover from breaking

>a wrist...

[Guest guest]

This is an interesting perspective. here is a bit of info about the author

Jean White:

http://www.vicpain.com/staff/staff_jw.htm

and thsi is the Pain CLinic she works for:

http://www.vicpain.com/index.htm

I didn't feel that the article was trying to say that chronic pain is a

temporary issue, but more that the attitide toward it is - so when you first

enter the realm of chronic pain after finally getting deserved recognition

and acknowledgement, you move to the management area of it and then onto the

coping - I think she was trying to suggest that the coping stage is the

'recovery' and wasn't eluding to the fact that the pain will ever go away.

Joyce, we you able to book your tickets to the conference now that the

issues have been cleaned up?

Jill