USING YOUR MIND TO GET RELIEF

HERE'S A RUNDOWN OF THE MOST popular approaches that you can use to mentally derail your body's "pain train." As anyone who has tried them can testify, the difference can be remarkable.

Relaxation training.

Simple breathing exercises and other de-tensers teach you to relax mentally and physically. Reducing stress and muscle tension ease pain all by themselves. An audiotape, "Pain Relief & Breath Relaxation," is available from the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA) for $10. Call 916-632-0922 or go to:
www.theacpa.org on the Internet.

Changing how you handle chronic pain.

Some of approaches (known as cognitive-behavioral techniques) help you react better mentally to pain. They range from using distractions (to divert you from what hurls) to reducing catastrophic thinking ("I can cope with this" instead of "I can't bear it") to self-hypnosis and visualization (to alter your perception of pain). Other techniques, help you adjust daily routines and pace activities so that you can increase what you're able to do, and decrease discomfort.

Biofeedback training.

This technique teaches you how to mentally control many "involuntary" body activities, such as muscle spasms, high blood pressure and pain. To learn what works for you, a trainer hooks you up to body monitors that beep or flash when you're having a positive effect.

Getting support.

Patient support groups or individual counseling can teach you skills for coping not only with chronic pain but with the sadness, anger, vulnerability and loneliness it provokes. The ACPA lists more than 800 support groups and also sells inexpensive workbooks to use at home.

What's best?

"No one technique is most useful," says Dennis C. Turk, PhD, author of Psychological Approaches to Pain Management. "Rather it's the realization that you can start to control your pain and the decision to do it that are important. Then pick a technique that suits you."

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