Chronic illness diagnoses frequently cause the shattering of personal assumptions about the self and the world, resulting in an experience of alienation and fragmentation of identity. Multiple studies on the effects of expressive writing have demonstrated physical, emotional, and psychological health benefits, yet little is known about how it…

This real-life story can be rationalised as an auto-ethnographic appreciation of the journey of Diane and I. The journey is new to us when it was once known and planned. The path has veered with new challenges realised since the "death sentence" was passed. This longitudinal research, is original and unique, drawing initially upon the…

The combination of an art therapist's personal trauma with secondary traumatic stress can lead to compassion fatigue. Inspired by narrative art therapy methods, the author engaged in memoir writing, art responses, authentic movement, and public exhibition. This creative life review identified ways in which her nervous system responses to clients'…

Many actions of troubled children and adolescents can disguise and conceal their ever-present and deep-seated psycho-emotional pain. Adults living and working with these youth may overlook this pain in a strategy of avoidance. Labelling troubling behavior as "outbursts," "explosions," or "acting out," ignores the…

Sport participation can be a stressful experience for some high school athletes. Sustaining a sport injury can further increase athletes' stress levels. Coaches may feel uncomfortable interacting with injured athletes and can unconsciously or purposefully marginalize them. However, coaches have a responsibility toward all of their athletes,…

Extremely premature infants face multiple acute and chronic life-threatening conditions. In addition, the treatments to ameliorate or cure these conditions often entail pain and discomfort. Integrating palliative care from the moment that extremely premature labor is diagnosed offers families and clinicians support through the process of defining…

Chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) is common in the general population as well as in people who have a substance use disorder (SUD) (Exhibit 1-1). Chronic pain is not harmless; it has physiological, social, and psychological dimensions that can seriously harm health, functioning, and well-being. As a multidimensional condition with both objective and…

"Performance of pain, performance of beauty" explores performance projects in war zones using Elaine Scarry's definitions of "pain" and "beauty" as a starting point. The way in which pain constricts the body and the experience that beauty can take a person beyond the body become a contested framework for considering…

In this article, the author discusses how to manage stress in children. A teacher's story and a parent's story about a child who complains of frequent stomach aches, is presented. Stomach aches and other somatic complaints without any apparent physical explanation are common among young children experiencing stress. Nevertheless, it is essential…

Discusses coping and personal adjustment to chronic pain for adolescents with sickle cell anemia and presents a model of illness behavior for these adolescents. Offers a framework of disease severity and disease impact, and suggests using functional ability as an index of coping and personal adjustment. Contains 59 references. (SLD)

This commentary reviews the case of GH, a survivor of a road traffic collision, who has chronic pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The case formulation, assessment strategy, and treatment plan are informed by the relevant experimental literature and empirically supported treatments using a cognitive behavioral perspective. Given this…