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WHAT TREATMENTS ARE AYAILABLE? ^ 69

Pain redefinition is just a part of something called cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) which involves your changing your thoughts, ideas and behaviours. In many cases, CBT can help to reduce your headaches, not directly, but through changes to your lifestyle and your attitude to it. Your doctor can refer you to the psychological services department at your local hospital and, depending upon your problem, you could be seen by any of the specialists there. If you need some kind of lifestyle change you might be helped by a clinical psychologist or a health psychologist.

Sometimes the psychologist can identify other reasons for the persistence of your headaches. If your headaches are due to anxiety and stress as a result of problems in your life, then a counselling psychologist may also be able to help. We all have problems, and there is nothing shameful about admitting it. Men sometimes have particular difhculty admitting to problems, as they often want to convey the impression that they are unshakeable rocks. Weil, no one is a rock. It can take a lot of courage to accept that you are fallible, and that you have problems that need help from someone else. If you suspect that your headaches are caused by something that is on your mind, you really should try talking it through with someone, especially someone who is professionally ąualihed to listen and help you to come to terms with your problems. Some people worry about what counselling involves. It really is nothing unusual. You sit down, conhdentially, with someone, and slowly, when you are ready, you talk about your problems. You will not be pushed to talk about anything you do not want to talk about, but the counsellor is someone who is trained to make you feel comfortable about discussing your problems freely. Getting things off your chest is not only a great feeling, but is half of the process of hnding a solution. By talking about things that bother you, you will eventually learn to seethem in new ways, or perhaps putthem morę into perspective - and this is almost always a very good thing. This might seem a million miles away from your headaches, but dealing with one set of problems can often help to deal with another. The mind and the body are not separate things. Together they make up the person, and it is the whole person who gets a headache or migraine, not just part of the person.

Relaxation therapy

There is nothing magical or mystical about this, although getting someone to learn to relax is not easy, which is why some people make an occupation of helping others to do so. Have you ever wanted to relax but couldn’t? It’s not an easy thing to do if you are tense; in fact, some people say that the only time