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One of the alternative therapies that is more and more frequently suggested for managing chronic is psychotherapy. Psychotherapists claim to treat their patients with hypnosis, cognitive behavior therapy, regular psychoanalysis and a number of related clinical methods. Because of the the recent history of the psychotherapy field, the reasons that chronic pain patients are usually refered to them and how this treatment ends up proceeding, however, there are several serious risks to patients in pursuing these options.

The possibilities are at least very tempting. After years of chronic pain and enduring surgeries, sadistic treatments with needles, and heavy medications that make them feel and get treated like criminals, when their doctor suggests that perhaps real relief is possible simply by trying talking to someone once a week, they might jump at it. Because hell, they've tried everything.

But but if you are one of the potential patients of this relatively new focus in pain management, you should pursue this option only with extreme caution. A somewhat imperfect analogy might help to illustrate this risk. Perhaps instead of treating chronic pain you are trying to make sure you are being a law-abiding citizen and are considering novel approaches.

You might have tried hard to play by the rules already, just like a traditional patient tries first at a traditional doctor, but now want to go the extra step to eliminate any possibility of doing something wrong - so you call law enforcement officer to go through your home to and personal affairs. Is this a good thing to do? Police officers know a lot about what might get a person arrested, so why not? Well, even though this is technically true that this would be an effective alternative way to find out whether you're breaking the law, the education will be a bit painfully administered.

In law enforcement as in mental health, certain types of professionals only have certain types of remedies. Even if the police do know the law and find you in violation, the only potential remedy they have to offer is the criminal justice system. While of course it is not quite the same situation, mental health professionals similarly only offer limited types suggestions to chronic pain patients. They are trained primarily to discover and treat mental illnesses, and despite what they often claim, not very much else. So unless those remedies seem promising to the pain patient, it won't do all that much good to consult mental health professionals

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