An interactive guide that explores the challenges families often face when living with someone who has chronic pain and problematic use of addictive substances. Includes easy-to-implement methods that can restore physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual balance. Pain Recovery for Families provides a solution-oriented approach for family members to maintain a healthy life balance while providing support to someone with chronic pain. Chronic pain is a life-changing condition, and not just for the person in pain; chronic pain afflicts the whole family. Even a well-functioning family is likely to be thrown out of balance when one of its members has chronic pain. Family members commonly report experiencing feelings of guilt, helplessness, depression, anxiety, and even resentment. Yet their suffering is often overlooked. In many cases, the pain sufferer's problematic use of painkillers or other substances prescribed for pain management adds to the family's confusion and distress. Includes self-assessments and writing exercises designed to address the many facets of chronic pain and addiction and their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual effects on the family.

Author Biography

Mel Pohl, MD, FASAM is a board-certified family practicioner. He is Vice President of Medial Affairs and the Medical Director of Las Vegas Recovery Center (LRVC), the only private freestanding, medically managed inpatient detoxification and addiction treatment facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicing (ASAM) and co-chaired ASAM's Third, Fourth, and Fifth National Forums on AIDS and Chemical Dependency. He is the former chairman of ASAM's AIDS Committee and a member of the Symposium Planning Committee. Dr. Pohl is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of Nevada School of Medicine. Recently, Dr. Pohl was asked by the office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to consult about its initiative on prescription drug abuse. Dr. Pohl was a key force in developing the Pain Recovery Program at LVRC. He is also the co-author of Pain Recovery: How to Find Balance and Reduce Suffering from Chronic Pain and Pain Recovery for Families: How to Find Balance When Someone Else's Chronic Pain Becomes Your Problem Too. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.