Depression and anxiety are common among people experiencing health problems, especially for people with complex, or multiple concerns. In fact anxiety is known to accompany people who experience depression related to health concerns.

In acute situations following surgery, also, a diagnosis of chronic autoimmune conditions such as Diabetes Type 1 and Type 2, Lupus or Crones Disease, depressive and anxious responses have a negative impact on recovery and patient management. In the case of post surgery, rehabilitation and rates of recovery are severely decreased by psychological complications such as depression and anxiety.

The influence of depressive and anxious responses to physical difficulties negatively impacts healing and the management of chronic disease. Whereas rehabilitation and recovery are more rapid with a positive psychological outlook.

Depression and Anxiety in chronic health conditions include: 

• Dementia
• Post surgical response
• Pericarditis
• Heart disease
• Cancer
• Fibromyalgia 

• Alzheimer’s
• Auto-immune diseases
• Orthopaedic injury
• Breast cancer
• HIV / Hepatitis C
• Multiple Sclerosis 

Those who focus their thinking on what went wrong, the diagnosis, and the statistics that indicate a poor outcome,indicate a greater the negative impact on recovery, rehabilitation or positive management of chronic disease.

Re-evaluating unhelpful ideas, perceptions, and capacities to participate helps overcome unhelpful health related thinking. Increasing the capacity for coping, challenging avoidance, adjust health related rules of living and improving the road to recovery and positive management.

Healthy living can be an outcome you can achieve if you are experiencing the debilitating effects of depression or anxiety related to health challenges. Telephone today to arrange an appointment to discuss a treatment program. 

 Chronic pain or persistent pain is defined as pain experienced every day for at least a period of three months. Persistent pain can be experienced through nociceptive nerve endings, on the body’s surface, originating deep in muscle tissue or in the organs of the body. Neuropathic pain is experienced through injuries to nerves, the spinal chord or the brain. If you are one of the 1.4 million men or 1.7 million women affected in Australia by severe pain there is help to living with a pain condition.

Pain is a subjective and personal experience. Persistent pain can stimulate your nervous system to increase the firing of nerve fibres to the brain and back again resulting in your nervous system becoming highly sensitive, amplifying the experience of pain.

The experience of pain can be physical, mental and emotional where your attitudes and emotions can have an impact on the level of pain experienced. Negative thinking and feelings in response to pain can stimulate agitation, anxiety and stress, which stimulate the nervous system and compound the experience of pain. This doesn’t mean that pain is all in your head, but you can address the contributing factor of the mental attitude and behaviour.

To reduce and manage the experience of persistent pain:

If the persistence of pain is negatively effecting your functioning, psychological influences may be having a negative affect. Telephone to book an appointment to discuss your treatment options.