AT PAIN PSYCHOTHERAPY CANADA OUR THERAPISTS PROVIDE SEVERAL DIFFERENT TREATMENTS FOR MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS.

We know that when people experience chronic pain and symptoms, this often coincides with depression, anxiety, relationship, or trauma symptoms. At our clinic we support clients in healing these mental health concerns. Below we provide brief education on anxiety, depression, and trauma, and the different treatment approaches we offer at our clinic.

Anxiety occurs when people enter a fight or flight response. Anxiety is a survival mechanism our nervous system activates when it perceives a physical or social threat^1,2. Anxiety can exist in many forms including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, health anxiety, separation anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias³. Anxiety can become chronic when our nervous system becomes rigid and gets stuck in a dysregulated state². Unfortunately, chronic anxiety can trigger and perpetuate chronic pain and symptoms^1,4. At our clinic we support clients in reducing their fear and worry, attending to anxiety in their body with curiosity and safety, and learning to regulate their nervous system.

Throughout life many people experience traumatic events, such as childhood neglect or abuse, sexual violence, intimate partner violence, medical trauma, car accidents, or other threatening events. It’s not just about the event itself; it’s how the event impacts our nervous system⁵. After experiencing trauma, people may view their inner and outer worlds as more dangerous. Individuals may experience chronic nervous system dysregulation, which includes symptoms including intrusive thoughts/memories, nightmares, insomnia, dissociation, hypervigilance, low mood, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts³. To help our clients heal from trauma, we utilize the following approaches: Somatic Experiencing, Somatic Attachment, Accelerate Resolution Therapy (ART), EMDR, Radical Exposure Tapping, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy. Our goal is to support people in regulating their nervous system, making peace with difficult memories, completing somatic survival responses, and learning to feel safe in their body again.

To support clients in healing we provide several different mental health treatments including:

SOMATIC EXPERIENCING (SE)

Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented therapy focused on resolving the symptoms of trauma and chronic stress⁶. In this approach we understand trauma symptoms to be occurring due to a dysregulation of the nervous system. It involves using bottom-up processing where clients practice attending to internal sensations with the goal of regulating the nervous system⁶.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

EMDR is an evidence-based approach that utilizes bilateral stimulation (eye movement, auditory, tactile) to help process and transform distressing memories into an adaptive memory and reduce present symptoms⁷. It effective in treating anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and other stressful life experiences⁸.

Somatic Attachment Therapy

A somatic approach to attachment therapy that explores a “deeper understanding of the body’s relationship with developmental and relational wounding and healing”⁹. As a holistic, body-centred approach to attachment trauma the modality will offer your body centered skills and practices to help move you towards healing and connecting with yourself and others⁹.

ACCELERATED RESOLUTION THERAPY (ART)

ART is a unique approach proven to be effective in treating trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and phobias⁴. It utilizes rapid eye movements to support clients in reprograming how “distressing memories and images are stored in the brain so that they no longer trigger strong physical and emotional reactions”¹⁰.

RADICAL EXPOSURE TAPPING

A form of exposure therapy, Radical Exposure Tapping (RET) offers a guided protocol for therapists and their clients to identify and reduce the effects of disturbing memories and traumatic events. When engaging in RET with a skilled therapist, clients often report a reduction in difficult emotions and nervous system reactivity related to particular memories and triggers¹¹.

COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY (CBT)

Anxiety and Depression can cause us to have negative thinking, rumination, fear thoughts, and engage in unhealthy behaviours. CBT helps clients learn to challenge and change our negative thinking, while also increasing behaviours that can improve mood and reduce anxiety¹². CBT is an extensively researched approach proven to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression³.

EXPOSURE THERAPY

When we feel anxious, we often avoid what we fear, which could include social situations, certain movements/activities, leaving the house, phobias, necessary medical treatments, and physical sensations. Exposure therapy is a proven approach that helps clients gradually approach what they fear with a sense of safety¹². This approach allows our clients to retrain the brain, widen their world, and live life more fully.

PROLONGED EXPOSURE THERAPY

Prolonged Exposure Therapy has been developed from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and is proven to be very successful in the treatment of trauma related disorders, such as PTSD. This highly-researched treatment consists of revisiting traumatic memories and exposure to triggers that the brain perceives as unsafe, long after the trauma has passed¹³.

ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT)

We thrive when we can recognize what is most important to us, and take specific steps toward a richer and more meaningful life. ACT incorporates mindfulness skills to help clients reduce the negative effects of unhelpful habits, emotions and thoughts, while intentionally moving toward values-based actions that increase health and vitality¹⁴.

NARRATIVE THERAPY

We all experience problems in life, both big and small. Narrative therapy is a non-blaming approach that separates the problem from the person, recognizing that each client is an expert in their own life with many skills, competencies, values, and beliefs that can be utilized to improve health and relationships¹⁵.

MINDFULNESS

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally”⁹. Our therapists teach mindfulness skills to help people attend to their internal and external world with curiosity and acceptance. Utilizing mindfulness can reduce mental health symptoms¹⁶.

Contact us to book your free 20-minute consultation today and begin your healing.