Want to learn more about creative hopelessness? Creative hopelessness is an alternative way to cope with long-lasting, chronic physical and mental pain that doesn’t seem to get better with medical intervention. This form of treatment flips the switch in the thought process. Consequently, it teaches you how to live your life through those feelings and not wait for them to go away.
Do you live with chronic pain, depression, or anxiety? Does it not seem to get better with medication, doctor intervention, or holistic help? Does this pain keep you from interacting with family and friends or stop you from doing the things you enjoy? If so, creative hopelessness can be a treatment that can work for you.
What is Creative Hopelessness and How is it Used?
All too often, people with chronic pain will avoid activities that they used to enjoy or have always considered trying out. They will put these on the backburner, insisting they will get to it once their pain has subsided.
Unfortunately, not everyone is guaranteed to heal, and they may live with this consistent ailment for the rest of their life. If this is the case, they will end up living their lives… waiting to live their lives.
Most people that deal with any type of pain typically avoid daily activities that can irritate or exacerbate the soreness. Ideally, this lasts until the injury is healed and life goes on.
Sadly, this isn’t the case for so many people dealing with chronic pain every day. These feelings can exist whether it is a long-lasting injury or years of depression. Yes, they avoid daily activities; however, they don’t heal so quickly. Thus, they continue avoiding their lives, families, and friends.
Instead of wasting away the days, hoping that something will change, creative hopelessness works on changing how you think about your situation. It helps you cope with your pain in a different way. In addition, it gives you the tools necessary to live with the uncomfortable feelings while still enjoying life.
How Does Creative Hopelessness Work?
Creative hopelessness is not a medical intervention. It is a tool used by doctors and physical therapists that help guide their patients through a mental process. It helps them improve their daily lives but changes the way they think about their pain.
Creative hopelessness is very much like mind-over-matter when it comes to aches and discomfort.
This process starts with talking to the patient and asking questions. There are no pushing, probing, or prescriptions, just a select few questions to get the patient thinking for themselves. They are helped in coming to a conclusion on where they are going wrong.
A big step in this line of questioning is helping the patient identify areas of life that they have no control over (i.e., the pain). Next, they identify the areas in life they can control (i.e., going camping with the kids or visiting family that lives states away.)
The patient must come to these realizations on their own in order to develop a certain amount of will. If they can decide where to make changes on their own, it can give them a sense of determination. “The way I am living right now isn’t the way I want to keep living.”
Once a person has recognized what they have been missing out on, it will help them gain more mental strength and clarity to keep them pushing forward. As a result, they will be putting their pain to the back of their minds, allowing them to deal with it in a whole new way- a much better way.
Once someone with chronic pain accepts they may not ever get rid of it, they can begin to heal mentally and change how they think, feel, and act.
How Can Creative Hopelessness Help with Pain Tolerance?
While simply saying ‘we can now live with the pain’ sounds great, that doesn’t mean it is going to cure everything in one day. This type of therapy is going to be a slow process while the patient builds up the mindset and strength to work past the cycle they are stuck in.
Rewiring the brain to focus more on goals and aspirations over pain and suffering is going to begin healing the mind. Thus, they will be creating a healthy mental state and a new look at life.
Depression and anxiety are two conditions that are well-known for making chronic pain seem almost intolerable. Hiding from these conditions is not a solution. As the mind gets clearer and the goals become more real, the pain will subside, and patients often find they can get back to living.
Summing Things Up
The mind is a powerful thing and can sometimes cause us to doubt ourselves and our strength. When you can utilize tools such as creative hopelessness to alter your mindset, you can often find you are much stronger than you think. In short, you will have the ability to take back control of your own life.