Online Chronic Pain Therapy in California
Let’s address an important concern first: seeing a psychologist for pain does not mean anyone believes your pain is “in your head.” Your pain is real. If you have lived with chronic pain, you may have encountered skepticism or dismissal, and that experience can be frustrating and isolating.
Pain is a complex experience influenced by the nervous system, physical health, sleep, stress, attention, mood, and patterns of activity. Recognizing these influences does not call the reality of your pain into question. It helps us identify areas where psychological treatment can make a meaningful difference.
What chronic pain affects beyond the pain itself
Sleep that is disrupted by pain—and pain that feels worse after disrupted sleep
Cycling between overdoing it on better days and needing days to recover afterward
Withdrawing from work, exercise, relationships, or activities that once mattered to you
Low mood, irritability, and grief for the life you had before
Anxiety about movement, reinjury, or what the pain might mean
The exhaustion of managing appointments, medications, and other people’s opinions
A life that has gradually narrowed around what feels tolerable
How I treat chronic pain
My approach draws on cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain (CBT-CP), an evidence-based treatment protocol disseminated nationally by the Department of Veterans Affairs and one I used extensively in my work there.
CBT-CP is an active, practical approach. Its goal is not to convince you that your pain is unimportant or imaginary. It is to reduce the impact pain has on your life and help you reclaim some of the ground it has taken.
Treatment may include:
Activity pacing. Cycling between doing too much on better days and needing extended recovery afterward can contribute significantly to pain-related disability. Pacing helps you establish a more sustainable pattern based on time or planned goals rather than pain level alone.
Graded activity. We work on gradually rebuilding your tolerance for movement and meaningful activity in manageable increments, so your world begins to expand rather than continuing to narrow.
Working with pain-related thinking. Fear-based or worst-case thoughts about pain can increase distress, avoidance, and disability. These patterns can change. This is not about positive thinking or convincing yourself that nothing is wrong. It is about responding to pain with greater accuracy, flexibility, and effectiveness.
Improving sleep. Pain and disrupted sleep can reinforce one another. When insomnia is part of the picture, we address it directly.
Addressing mood and grief. Chronic pain can involve real loss. Making room for the emotional impact of those losses is part of treatment, not a detour from it.
Reducing physiological arousal. You will learn practical strategies for reducing tension and regulating the nervous-system responses that can intensify the experience of pain.
What success can look like
I work alongside your medical team, not instead of it. Therapy does not replace appropriate medical care, and—with your permission—I am glad to coordinate with your physicians when helpful.What success actually looks like
Honesty matters here. For most people, the goal is not the elimination of pain. The goal is a larger life with the pain in it — more activity, better sleep, less fear of movement, less of your attention consumed. Many people also experience a reduction in pain severity as a consequence of those changes, but I will not promise it, and you should be skeptical of anyone who does.
Some people also experience a reduction in pain severity as these patterns change, but I will not promise that outcome, and you should be skeptical of anyone who does.
Working together
I am a licensed clinical psychologist providing telehealth to adults anywhere in California. If you have been managing this alone, or have been passed between specialists without anyone addressing the daily reality of it, a free 15-minute consultation is a reasonable next step.
