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PREFACE

Pain Recovery: How to Find Balance and Reduce Suffering from Chronic Pain is a collaborative effort based on our multidisciplinary knowledge and professional experience treating clients with chronic pain and addiction in the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program at Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC).

While researching the outcome data and readmission assessments of our addiction treatment program, we found that chronic pain was a common denominator for a large percentage of clients who returned to treatment because of relapse. These clients were motivated for recovery and had successfully completed treatment, but ended up relapsing after seeking traditional pain management to deal with their chronic pain. Most of these clients reported relapsing with prescribed medication (alcohol was often involved as well). They were not able to take the prescribed medication without problems—their use of opioids in an attempt to eliminate their pain resulted in relapse. In other words, they were unable to reconcile their recovery with taking pain medications to treat their pain.

To meet the needs of these clients and others like them, the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program was created. After treating more than 100 clients with chronic pain, we realized that the concept of recovery was new to many of them. These clients believed the only issue that needed to be addressed was their physical pain.

The more we learned about pain, the more aware we became of the importance of treating all the factors that contribute to the total experience of pain.

From this body of clinical work evolved the concept of pain recovery— a multidimensional approach to treating chronic pain that addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of pain, as well as problematic use of medications and addiction.

We have consolidated these concepts, our experience, clients’ input, and the fundamentals of the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program into a workbook format that is accessible to anyone affected by chronic pain. The book is also designed to be a useful tool for clinicians who treat people with chronic pain. Our intention in writing this book is to offer an empowering, interactive guide that promotes the treatment of chronic pain in a holistic manner without mood-altering drugs.

Mel Pohl, MD, FASAM • Frank J. Szabo, Jr., LADCDaniel Shiode, Ph.D. • Robert Hunter, Ph.D.