Therapy for health conditions and chronic pain in Tunbridge Wells

Living with a health condition

Being diagnosed with a long-term condition, or living with pain that doesn’t go away, affects far more than your body. It can change your work, your relationships, your plans and the way you see yourself. Many people feel they should be coping better than they are, or that the people around them don’t really understand what each day is like.

Psychological therapy doesn’t replace your medical care. It works alongside it, and helps with the emotional side of living with a condition: the worry, the low mood, the frustration, the sense of loss for how things used to be, and the effort of managing a condition day after day.

What people come to us with

• Chronic pain, including back pain, fibromyalgia, headaches and migraine, and pain that has carried on after an injury or operation
• Long-term conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, heart and lung conditions, and Crohn’s disease or colitis
• A new or recent diagnosis, or a long wait for tests and results
• A sudden illness, an injury, an operation or a stay in hospital
• Physical symptoms that doctors haven’t been able to fully explain

If you are living with cancer, or supporting someone who is, our cancer support page explains the help we offer.

How a health condition can affect you emotionally

Living with illness or pain often brings worry about the future, about flare-ups or about what the next appointment will show. Some people feel low or flat, or grieve for the life and the plans they had before. Others feel angry that this has happened, or guilty about what they can no longer do for the people around them.

A condition can also change your role at work and at home, and the way you think of yourself. Pain, fatigue and broken sleep make everything harder to manage. Many people find themselves stuck between avoiding activity in case it makes things worse, and pushing through on good days and paying for it afterwards.

If worry about your health has become constant, with a lot of checking, searching online or looking for reassurance, our page on health anxiety may also be useful.

Psychological therapy for chronic pain

Your pain is real. Seeing a psychologist doesn’t mean anyone thinks the pain is in your head. Pain, stress, mood, sleep and activity all affect each other, and therapy works on the parts of that cycle that can change, so that pain takes up less of your life even when it hasn’t gone away.

For chronic primary pain, where pain is the main problem rather than a symptom of another condition, NICE guidance (NG193) says that acceptance and commitment therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy for pain should be considered for people aged 16 and over. Therapy for pain often includes:

• Pacing, so that you can do more of what matters to you without big crashes afterwards
• Planning for flare-ups, so that you know what you will do when they happen
• Working out what matters most to you and building your days around it
• Reducing the constant struggle with pain, using approaches such as ACT and mindfulness
• Looking at sleep, which is often affected by pain
• Being kinder to yourself, especially if you are very self-critical about what you can and can’t do

How therapy can help with other health conditions

Whatever the condition, therapy can help you to:

• Make sense of what has happened and how it has affected your life
• Manage worry, low mood, anger and frustration
• Adjust to changes in work, family life and how you see yourself
• Cope with appointments, treatments, procedures and waiting for results
• Talk to family, friends or your employer about your condition and what you need
• Live alongside uncertainty about the future

We draw on approaches including cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, compassion focused therapy and mindfulness, depending on what you need. If a frightening medical experience keeps coming back as flashbacks or nightmares, our page on trauma and PTSD explains how we can help with that too.

Keeping your medical team involved

If your symptoms are new, getting worse or changing, please speak to your GP or specialist team first. We don’t give medical advice or advice about medication, and we will encourage you to keep your medical team involved in decisions about your treatment.

Who you will see

Several of our Clinical Psychologists have a particular interest in physical health. Dr Rachel Whatmough and Dr Sarah Maynard work with chronic pain and cancer. Dr Ellie Cavalli works with long-term conditions, physical illness and symptoms that are hard to explain. Dr Jo Webber, Dr Emily Carter and Dr Bethan Williams work with adults, children and young people adjusting to health conditions.

Sessions are face-to-face in Tunbridge Wells or online, which many people find easier when travelling is tiring or painful.

Getting started

Fill in our short online form and we’ll match you with the right psychologist. It takes about three minutes, and we reply within 3 working days.

Get started