 |
 |
Judith Have you seen the book 'Pain as human experience' edited by Mary-Jo Delveccio Good et al (U of Cal Press, ISBN 0 520 07512 9)? I've dipped into it and would recommend it. There's also another good one by David Morris which I can't find, but both books take a narrative approach. trish Trisha Greenhalgh Professor of Primary Health Care University College London 4th Floor, Holborn Union Building Highgate Hill London N19 3UA Phone 00 44 20 7288 3246 Fax 00 44 20 7281 8004 [log in to unmask] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/openlearning/ -----Original Message----- From: Researching and evaluating the use of narrative in health and related fields [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Judith Norman Sent: 27 October 2001 10:49 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Intro Hello, Most of you seem to be miles ahead of me in insight and command of language. Perhaps that's why I'm an anaesthetist (but there you are, at least I do know one big word!). I run a NHS Pain Clinic and since it is becoming more and more obvious that you can't cure pain by deadening nerves (except with cancer), 95% of my time in the clinic is spent grappling with people's narratives and trying to help them work out ways of understanding what the pain means in each case, and ways of coping with it and learning to enjoy life despite pain. I wish more GPs were like Nigel but mostly they expect that I will "fix" the patient in one session. My big steps forward were reading about Motivation Enhancement in "Psychological Approaches to Pain" by Gatchell and Turk, and joining the BSMDH (Br Soc of Med and Dental Hypnosis). John Launer's workshop (at the Cambridge meeting) on six hints beginning with C were the best "nuggets" I brought away and am busy trying to incorporate those into my practice. When I've had psychologists sitting in with me in the clinic they all are amazed at how many patients I see who they think would benefit from cognitive behavioural input. What I'd like to learn is how to help the patient bridge the gap between a presentation with only physical symptoms on the agenda to an understanding that psychological factors are relevant without implying that "the pain's all in your head". Then I could refer them to said psychologists and get stuck into reducing my 10 month waiting list. Judith