Chronic Pain Therapists in 20038
My practice is devoted to providing psychotherapy for older adolescents and adults from diverse walks of life. I treat clients who suffer from anxiety, depression, unresolved trauma, loss, grief, and other sources of seemingly unmanageable distress. I also help clients navigate specific life transitions -- for example, to a new school, job, relationship, or parenthood. Finally, I welcome clients who are experiencing relatively diffuse, general discontent and searching for greater fulfillment with respect to their health, relationships, education, job career, or creative endeavors.
My practice is devoted to providing psychotherapy for older adolescents and adults from diverse walks of life. I treat clients who suffer from anxiety, depression, unresolved trauma, loss, grief, and other sources of seemingly unmanageable distress. I also help clients navigate specific life transitions -- for example, to a new school, job, relationship, or parenthood. Finally, I welcome clients who are experiencing relatively diffuse, general discontent and searching for greater fulfillment with respect to their health, relationships, education, job career, or creative endeavors.
Are you a young professional, college student, or millennial struggling with the pressures of everyday life while also battling intrusive thoughts, obsessions and compulsions, or past traumas? Do you lay in bed thinking about all the choices you made today or worrying about other people’s opinions? Or maybe you're trying juggle excelling in your career, maintaining friendships, attending countless social events, and navigating the complexities of dating apps. Wouldn't it be amazing to finally have the energy to accomplish your goals and stop feeling stuck all the time? It doesn't have to be this hard. With therapy, I can help you.
Are you a young professional, college student, or millennial struggling with the pressures of everyday life while also battling intrusive thoughts, obsessions and compulsions, or past traumas? Do you lay in bed thinking about all the choices you made today or worrying about other people’s opinions? Or maybe you're trying juggle excelling in your career, maintaining friendships, attending countless social events, and navigating the complexities of dating apps. Wouldn't it be amazing to finally have the energy to accomplish your goals and stop feeling stuck all the time? It doesn't have to be this hard. With therapy, I can help you.
Michele R Garfield
Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC
Verified Verified
1 Endorsed
Washington, DC 20038 (Online Only)
Not accepting new clients
Choosing to enter therapy can be a difficult decision, but finding and connecting with the right therapist will play a significant role in the healing process. I believe this healing is achieved through an authentic and collaborative therapist-client relationship and by providing a supportive and nonjudgmental environment in which clients feel safe to explore difficult issues. There are myriad reasons people enter therapy: for problems that have a direct correlation to a cause or for problems that are imprecise, but impact their quality of life.
Choosing to enter therapy can be a difficult decision, but finding and connecting with the right therapist will play a significant role in the healing process. I believe this healing is achieved through an authentic and collaborative therapist-client relationship and by providing a supportive and nonjudgmental environment in which clients feel safe to explore difficult issues. There are myriad reasons people enter therapy: for problems that have a direct correlation to a cause or for problems that are imprecise, but impact their quality of life.
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Chronic Pain Therapists
How does chronic pain therapy work?
Engaging with a psychotherapist to help treat chronic pain does not mean that one’s pain is all in their head. Therapy for chronic-pain patients has been shown to benefit both the mind and the body, targeting physical symptoms and increasing daily functioning. In other words, for many, addressing their emotional health through therapy affects their physical health. A therapist can help a client challenge unhelpful thoughts about pain and develop new ways to respond to it, such as distraction or calming breathing techniques. Studies have found that therapy can be as effective as surgery for certain cases of chronic pain and many doctors recommend trying psychotherapy in advance of considering invasive surgery.
What are the most effective treatment options for chronic pain?
Stress, anxiety, depression, catastrophizing, ruminating, lack of activity, and social withdrawal all make chronic pain worse. Addressing these issues, research shows, can help people gain control over their pain symptoms. Therapeutic approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback, and mindfulness-based stress reduction, along with greater pain-management education, have been found to help people reduce fear and disability.
Are there new treatments for chronic pain?
Many cases of chronic pain, particularly those involving back pain, remain medically unexplained. But there is evidence that changes in the brain or nervous system are caused by previous physical ailments such as tissue damage; in such cases, the brain may continue to send out pain signals despite the physical cause having healed. To aid patients under these circumstances, a recently developed treatment known as pain reprocessing therapy (PRT) is designed to help the brain “unlearn” this response. A PRT practitioner helps individuals to reduce the “threat value” of their ongoing pain signals until they can reappraise them as less threatening and fear-inducing. They also help an individual to develop new emotional regulation skills.
How long does therapy for chronic pain take?
There is no set timeline for recovery from chronic pain, especially as there may be a range of physical and psychological causes for any individual’s discomfort, but most patients should expect to see a therapist for a number of weeks or months, typically spanning at least 12 sessions. Studies of pain reprocessing therapy found that many individuals’ experience of pain lessened in eight sessions over four weeks.