The Pain Psychology Service is part of the Department of Psychological Services based in the Queen’s Centre at Castle Hill Hospital. Some clinics are also run at the East Riding Community Hospital (ERCH) in Beverley. We work closely with the Pain Management Service and provide emotional and psychological support for people who are struggling with psychological difficulties linked to their experience of living with chronic persistent pain. Our aim is to support you to increase your understanding of chronic pain, reduce low mood and anxiety and improve your confidence in managing your pain in order for you improve your quality of life.

What is Chronic and Persistent Pain?

Chronic or persistent pain is defined as pain that lasts for an extended period, typically lasting for three months or more, and persists beyond the normal healing time for an injury or illness. Unlike acute pain, which serves as a warning signal for tissue damage, chronic pain persists even after the initial injury or illness has healed. It can result from various underlying causes, such as injury, chronic health conditions, nerve damage, or inflammation. Sometimes there is no clear cause for the onset of chronic pain.

Chronic pain can be debilitating and significantly impact a person's physical and emotional well-being. It may lead to functional limitations, reduced quality of life, and psychological distress. Treatment for chronic pain often involves a multidisciplinary approach, including medical interventions, physical therapy, psychological support, and lifestyle adjustments. This is aimed at managing and improving quality of life and overall functioning.

What is the aim of Pain Psychology?

At some point, we will all experience some form of physical or emotional pain in our lives. We are taught from a very young age that pain is something that we should try to get rid of or avoid.  However, it is not always possible to avoid pain and living with long-term pain can be very difficult. Many people often describe themselves as stuck in a cycle struggling and fighting with pain which can lead to more difficult feelings and emotional pain. The aim of Pain Psychology is to help you to understand the difficulties that pain can bring to your life and to develop strategies which help to manage your pain now and in the future so that you can continue to live a fulfilling life.

People can think that they have been referred to a clinical psychologist because their pain is imaginary or 'all in their head'. The main principle of Pain Psychology is that all pain is real and that psychological work may help to reduce the impact of that pain on the areas of your life. We understand that pain can affect life in many ways – and that life can also affect pain. The aim of psychological work is to understand and work with the interaction between pain and your emotions, thoughts and actions.

What types of difficulties do you work with the Pain Psychology Service?

Often we support patients when pain has a significant impact on emotional well-being and can contribute to difficulties such as:

• Low mood
• Worry
• Lack of confidence in increasing activity and setting goals
• Loss and adjustment difficulties
• Symptoms of psychological trauma
• Medication dependency
• Preparation and coping for medical procedures

What support is available from the Pain Psychology Service?

The clinical psychologists in the team can support you with psychoeducation skills to better understand your pain condition and a range of evidence-based psychological interventions, otherwise known as talking therapies. Clinical psychologists are trained to work from a number of different therapy models and can therefore use an integrated approach to talking therapy. This allows us to work flexibly so that we can draw on different approaches depending on what you need and what you want from therapy. We can agree this collaboratively and we work together to find the best way forward. A flexible and skilled application of these psychotherapies can often lead to new understandings and effective solutions in areas of your life where you may currently feel stuck. The main models of therapy utilised within the team are as follows:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  Changing the way we think and behave to have a positive impact on our feelings in the present moment.
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  Developing our potential for a rich, full and meaningful life through working with, not against, the difficulties we have.
• Compassion-focused Therapy (CFT)
  Working to learn to be compassionate towards ourselves and less critical of ourselves.
• Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR)
  Using the minds' natural ability to heal itself to relieve symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other difficulties such as anxiety, depression and phobias.

The clinical psychologists offer support through individual sessions and therapy groups as part of the group Pain Management Programme (gPMP). The team also work closely with Pain Consultants and Nurses within the Pain Management Team to offer specialist advice and support to individuals who may be considered for the Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) pathway. In addition, individual support can be provided to individuals who would like to reduce dependency on pain medication through tailored opiate reduction programmes.

We also signpost, and we may refer you to other sources of appropriate support e.g.:

• Employment
• Relationships
• Financial
• Legal
• Religious and spiritual
• Alcohol/drugs
• Complex mental health needs not related to pain condition

How can I access support from the Pain Psychology Service and what happens when we receive a referral?

If you feel that you would benefit from this service, please talk to a member of your care team (e.g. your consultant, clinical nurse specialist etc.) who can give you more information and make a referral if appropriate.

When you get referred to our service, you will receive a letter to confirm that you have been added to the Pain Psychology waiting list. Following this, a healthcare professional will get in touch over the telephone to arrange an appointment. The first appointment is called an assessment, and it's generally about getting to know you and asking you to share some details about your pain journey. During this assessment, the clinician and you can think about your needs and goals, whether therapy will be useful for you, or they might refer you to other services if they can better meet your needs.

If the Pain Psychology Service is the most appropriate service to meet your current needs, a plan will be made for some time-limited and pain-specific psychological therapy. Each appointment for psychological therapy usually lasts for up to one hour. How many appointments, and how often they are, will be agreed between you and your therapist to best meet your needs. We offer telephone, video and face-to-face appointments. The clinicians will do their best to offer appointments that are most convenient to you. However, certain therapies may work better in person and therefore you may be asked to come in for a face-to-face appointment.

Confidentiality

We may write to your other healthcare professionals, such as your clinical nurse specialist, consultant, and GP to keep them updated about your wellbeing.

Everything discussed is confidential. However, if you mention something that concerns your safety or safety of others, we will need to discuss that with the relevant professionals to keep you safe. If there is a risk of harm to you or others we would need to notify the relevant professionals but we would always try to talk to you first. For more information on this, please refer to our Privacy and Data Protection page. 

Contact Us

Pain Psychology Service
Queen’s Centre
Castle Hill Hospital
Castle Road
Cottingham
HU16 5JQ

Call us on 01482 461060 or 01482 461061