Recrafting a Life: Solutions for Chronic Pain and Illness

The Book

From the Authors
The book, Recrafting a Life: Solutions for Chronic Pain and Illness is the result of a collaborative 5-year project integrating original research on what “works” for chronic pain and illness sufferers with a practical therapeutic approach that emphasizes solutions rather than pathology. More importantly, however, have been our own personal adventures (or, more often than not, misadventures) with chronic conditions and our healthcare system. These experiences have indelibly impacted our philosophy, our clinical approach, and most significantly our respect for the courage and endurance of individuals suffering from a chronic condition.

Although Recrafting a Life was originally written for healthcare professionals, individuals suffering from chronic pain and chronic illness have found it helpful as well. Of particular interest are the chapters that center on the five stages of recrafting a life, specific solution focused and hypnotic intervention strategies, and the “experiments” section included at the end of the book. Virtually everyone has enjoyed the Robinson Crusoe metaphor we employ to dramatize the endurance and courage both patients and their caregivers must posses to successfully recraft a life.

Whether you are a chronic pain / chronic illness sufferer, concerned family member, or an interested health care professional, we are interested in what you think – please let us know.

Charlie Johnson and Denny Webster

From the Publisher
Recrafting a Life: Solutions for Chronic Pain and Illness represents an advanced psychotherapeutic approach to (seemingly) intractable physical conditions. Chronic pain and chronic illness can be overwhelming for both patients and the clinicians who treat them. Patients must navigate an unfamiliar psychological and physiological landscape with few (initially) recognizable resources. These challenging circumstances, in turn, require that the clinician develop an integrated skill set that addresses the patient's painful physical symptoms while effectively dealing with the feelings of hopelessness, defeat, and fear that inevitably accompany the experience of chronic pain and illness.

Recrafting a Life effectively addresses complex challenge by presenting a new treatment approach that creatively incorporates powerful Ericksonian hypnosis interventions with effective solution-focused therapy techniques. Resource-focused and rooted firmly in self-care theory, this integrative approach enables the clinician to effectively reduce physical pain and suffering while successfully addressing the psychological issues associated with a chronic condition.

Engaging the reader with the transformational metaphor of Robinson Crusoe, the authors describe the five stages of recrafting a life through which patients pass in the journey to transcend their chronic condition. The clinician can utilize the dynamics of this framework to construct therapeutic strategies that best fit each stage, substantially improving treatment outcomes.

The rich case examples that illustrate this process are accompanied by specific hypnotic and clinical interventions. Readily accessible for both clinicians and their patients, the clinical material in Recrafting a Life: Solutions for Chronic Pain and Illness is supplemented by a virtual "self-care toolkit," offering interactive scales and inventories, solution-finding interview interventions, self-hypnosis protocols, self-care experiments, and healing homework assignments.

Brunner-Routledge publishers (2002)

Order the Book
You can order Recrafting a Life: Solutions for Chronic Pain and Illness Barnes & Noble, AMAZON, and even Wal-Mart (fast delivery at a discount!). We do not sell it on this website.

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