It is very difficult to deal with the reality of acceptance whilst easy to talk about it. Pain sufferers find it very challenging that they cannot any longer manage an important ability they feel they should perform with ease. People with a chronic pain disability show no outward signs of their restrictions and others treat them as normal, expecting them to be able to do things normally too. Coping with the loss of usual functioning is difficult as can be the attitudes and beliefs of other people towards pain conditions. However, the conflict which exists cannot usefully be continued and sufferers benefit from working on acceptance of the situation.
The reality of our situations is often forced upon us and we have to live with it and the limits it imposes. We can approach our desired goals more closely by making alterations to the usual way we do things. A particular situation might be unchangeable and we are left with choosing to fight it or come to terms with it. Fighting the situation has been shown to have negative outcomes in some respects and it may be better to be able to accept some of our restrictions. Once we have done this we can start to generate useful alternative strategies and thereby make our chances of useful progress more likely.
Not accepting the situation means we cannot release ourselves from the conflict and can't take on our or others' suggestions for improvement. If I won't give in to the pain or let people down by admitting I can't do something then I won't see why I should do things any differently or accept a lower standard of performance of the job. This way the route to making the necessary changes can be blocked, getting in the way of our progress towards where we want to be. If we say This is the reality of the situation and I have to work with that we can step forward and begin change.
How we do this depends on the scripts we adopt to describe our lives. We all have these explicit interpretations of what is going on which we don't think about consciously. An example might be I am very fit and am able to manage my life and do sports and social activities without difficulties. However, in the world of low back pain and other pain conditions such as neck pain and fibromyalgia, the scripts are very different. A resigned script might be I am completely disabled by my pain condition and as there is no chance of me getting better this means I will never be able to do anything I enjoy again.
A negative automatic thought can repeatedly go round and round in our minds, and is one of the ways we can become depressed. New scripts can be deliberately written to replace the ones which typically recur naturally and cause negative feelings. We could say My pain condition does limit my activities to a degree but if I realistically manage and plan my life I can do most of the things that I wish to. This is a more realistic approach as situations are rarely entirely negative, allowing us to avail ourselves of the opportunities which might present themselves to try new avenues of changing for the better.
Realistic scripts have the benefit of being more positive than the typical negative ones although they should not really be positive as such as if we look through rose-tinted spectacles we will be disappointed pretty quickly when we really see where we are. A more positive approach allows us to participate in the management of our condition, perhaps with the help of a health professional, when previously any new ideas would have met with resistance.
We are more likely to choose adaptive solutions to our problems if we have our assessment of our situation close to the objective reality which others see. We can then stop the continually stressful pushing ourselves and ease off the pressure to some extent. - 14130
The reality of our situations is often forced upon us and we have to live with it and the limits it imposes. We can approach our desired goals more closely by making alterations to the usual way we do things. A particular situation might be unchangeable and we are left with choosing to fight it or come to terms with it. Fighting the situation has been shown to have negative outcomes in some respects and it may be better to be able to accept some of our restrictions. Once we have done this we can start to generate useful alternative strategies and thereby make our chances of useful progress more likely.
Not accepting the situation means we cannot release ourselves from the conflict and can't take on our or others' suggestions for improvement. If I won't give in to the pain or let people down by admitting I can't do something then I won't see why I should do things any differently or accept a lower standard of performance of the job. This way the route to making the necessary changes can be blocked, getting in the way of our progress towards where we want to be. If we say This is the reality of the situation and I have to work with that we can step forward and begin change.
How we do this depends on the scripts we adopt to describe our lives. We all have these explicit interpretations of what is going on which we don't think about consciously. An example might be I am very fit and am able to manage my life and do sports and social activities without difficulties. However, in the world of low back pain and other pain conditions such as neck pain and fibromyalgia, the scripts are very different. A resigned script might be I am completely disabled by my pain condition and as there is no chance of me getting better this means I will never be able to do anything I enjoy again.
A negative automatic thought can repeatedly go round and round in our minds, and is one of the ways we can become depressed. New scripts can be deliberately written to replace the ones which typically recur naturally and cause negative feelings. We could say My pain condition does limit my activities to a degree but if I realistically manage and plan my life I can do most of the things that I wish to. This is a more realistic approach as situations are rarely entirely negative, allowing us to avail ourselves of the opportunities which might present themselves to try new avenues of changing for the better.
Realistic scripts have the benefit of being more positive than the typical negative ones although they should not really be positive as such as if we look through rose-tinted spectacles we will be disappointed pretty quickly when we really see where we are. A more positive approach allows us to participate in the management of our condition, perhaps with the help of a health professional, when previously any new ideas would have met with resistance.
We are more likely to choose adaptive solutions to our problems if we have our assessment of our situation close to the objective reality which others see. We can then stop the continually stressful pushing ourselves and ease off the pressure to some extent. - 14130
About the Author:
Jonathan Blood Smyth, editor of the Physiotherapy Site, writes articles about Physiotherapists, physiotherapy, physiotherapists in Birmingham, back pain, orthopaedic conditions, neck pain and injury management. Jonathan is a superintendant physiotherapist at an NHS hospital in the South-West of the UK.
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