This book (and another) were recommended to me by a doctor in a pain clinic. The only way that this book would ever be helpful is if someone is new to chronic pain. Being that I'd been dealing with my chronic, intractable pain for 6 years prior to reading the book, most of the information contained in the book were dealing with issues I've long come to terms with. It also very much implies that taking narcotics in any way for a long term is not the solution for chronic pain, when that couldn't be further from the truth for very many people. I was offended by the overall tone in the book that seemed to come off that all persons taking narcotics for pain were addicts, in many instances.
This book was not helpful to me. It may be helpful to you if you don't yet know how to cope with life-long severe pain. However, if I were you, I'd first research intractable pain - there are much better resources out there than this book, and most of them are free on the web.

Here's to a managable day!
Sincerely,
Chandra Welter

This book was reccomended by my Dr and it has been a great help in dealing with my pain..

One review titled "I am recovering from chronic pain" may not have read the book or its' cover. You don't recover from "chronic" pain, you manage and learn to cope.

That is what this book is about, not the most current drugs or treatments. It is a collection of practical tools for understanding your chronic pain, coping with and managing chronic pain in your daily life so you can more enjoy life and living. This book was the most read and used by others in a chronic pain group I went to, where I first heard of it.

If one tool doesn't work, there are many other tools and approaches for managing and learning to live life more fully with chronic pain in this book.

I wasn't nearly as thrilled with this book as some of the folks whose reviews influenced me to buy it. If you know anything about the functional anatomy of sensation/pain and/or psychology of pain, it's not for you; you won't get anything new. If you're newly diagnosed with a chronic pain syndrome, and don't have a background in any of the above, yes, it might be helpful.

I work in a multidisciplinary pain treatment clinic as a clinical psychologist. Dr. Caudill is a well-respected scientist/expert on the subject of chronic pain. She has significant experience in hands on treatment of chronic pain. Her motives in writing this book obviously include a wish to make knowledge of effective pain coping resources more broadly available. Like other good pain coping books (e.g., "The Pain Survival Guide," Dennis Turk, PhD), the book effectively covers a range of knowledge of what works in helping chronic pain patients help themselves. Caudill details up-to-date and proven means of controlling pain. She explores how mind and body interact to regulate and moderate pain and how to reduce and better manage pain (e.g. learning to moderate sympathetic arousal, reducing fatigue, pacing, interpersonal factors that effect pain and visa-versa, changing thoughts and behaviors and maintaining gains).
The book is systematically structured as an effective self-help tool. It provides many well-formed exercises to effectively encourage adoption of proven resources. I encourage patients to use it as part of outpatient treatment process. I also routinely suggest it to patients who prefer to work on their own. In either case, many patients effectively apply it with little or no assistance.
If you are looking for self-help with chronic pain, I highly recommend this book. I do not think you will be disappointed. I also recommend "The Pain Survival Guide." Both are written by articulate and compassionate experts. I recommend both books to healthcare professionals who regularly, or occasionally, treat individuals with chronic pain, as effective summaries of current clinical wisdom on these subjects.
I believe it is important to add that, for many with chronic pain, gaining the motivation to help self is the biggest challenge. Often a first issue is determining if the cost of addressing, managing and taking responsibility to manage pain appears worth the benefit. Caudill treats both issues with understanding and empathy.

I suffer from fibromyalgia, chronic cluster headaches, 3 herniated discs in my neck covered in bone spurs and 3 herniated discs in my lower back and torn ligaments in my right knee. Granted I am medicated, but this book is a wonderful help. It gives you hope and follows through. I would recommend this to ANYONE! PLEASE, IF YOU SUFFER FROM PAIN, EVEN MINOR PAIN, GET THIS AND READ IT. IT WILL BENEFIT YOU! Get it in hardback if available. I wish I would have.

Since 2003 I've been using this book in my chronic pain class that I conduct. The patients get to check out the book for the four weeks. We have a difficult time getting them to turn it back in because they enjoy the material. There are so many good tools in this book. I would recommend this for any health care professional that deals with chronic pain patients.

Our Pain Committee reviewed several resources before settling on this workbook for our community Living With Chronic Pain Program. It has not disappointed us as we are in our 5th program cycle. Participants find it a valuable resource, the summaries are like 'cliff notes' at the end of chapters so they can keep up with the reading, and I have been very pleased with the information. It is current, helpful, and up to date.

Our Pain Committee reviewed several resources before settling on this workbook for our community Living With Chronic Pain Program. It has not disappointed us as we are in our 5th program cycle. Participants find it a valuable resource, the summaries are like 'cliff notes' at the end of chapters so they can keep up with the reading, and I have been very pleased with the information. It is current, helpful, and up to date.

This book was recommended to me by my Dr. in a chronic pain clinic. I have since personally recommended it to everyone I know who suffers chronic pain. It discusses mind-body approaches,therapeutic exercises and diet as well as pain medications. It offers a program to help us help ourselves.
The book is user friendly for those not participating in a formally structured program.

We had two copies of this book in our back pain clinic library. They were recommended to us by a psychologist working in the pain field. Patients seemed to find it very helpful - to the point that both copies of the book were eventually borrowed and not returned! That must be the ultimate positive review.

We had two copies of this book in our back pain clinic library. They were recommended to us by a psychologist working in the pain field. Patients seemed to find it very helpful - to the point that both copies of the book were eventually borrowed and not returned! That must be the ultimate positive review.

After decades of dibilitating pain, employing techniques offered in this book changed my life dramatically. I am now in control of my pain and my life. There is no "quick fix" to chronic pain, but with resolve and dedication to educating yourself, it is possible to live a fulfilling life even with chronic pain. This book offers just that, real life techniques and tools you can employ immediately, to change your approach to a chronic problem. I recomend this book to anyone who is serious about making positive lifestyle changes in order to manage their pain more effectively. Drugs and their negative side effects are not the only option. I have my life back after many, many years.

This is an excellent self-help workbook. It explains what pain is and what affects it and has many exercises to help to gain control of pain. I have used this workbook to teach pain management in the chronic pain support group I facilitate.

This workbook is a great adjunct to cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain. The techniques in the book are well-explained and can also be used by people suffering from other chronic problems, such as depression. This book is written at an intermediate reading level, making it more difficult to understand for some and too simplistic for others. However, the therapist should be able to pick and choose the chapters that are right for their client.

This book "Managing Your Pain..." is the best book I have discovered in my personal 13 year recovery journey with chronic pain. Dr. Caudill has presented the information in a clear and understandable fashion, making it easy to make effective behavioral changes as well as attitude shifts. I am also working as a pain management specialist and recommend this book to all of my clients. I have never received an unfavorable review from them. I especially like the chapters "Mind Body Connection" and "Body Mind Connection." The other important feature of this book is that the author allows people who purchase her book to copy the exercises and even makes it easy by adding removable pages for ease of photo copying. I highly recommend this to both people suffering from chronic pain and health care providers with chronic pain clients. Steve Grinstead.

I'm not surprised to see the blurbs from MDs and PhDs that appear in the reviews below--and the complete lack of comment from people actually IN pain.

This book talks down to the reader at all times, making it clear that the overeducated author assumes that you, dear reader, are too dumb to understand all but the most generic material.

Her language is downright painful to read--unless you are the kind of person who enjoys seeing words like "cognitive" used in every second paragraph.

But let's go beyond style to content. The author is not up-to-date in her coverage of pain therapy for several chronic diseases covered in this book, most notably Interstitial Cystitis. Despite her own claims to the contrary, her approach tends to be, "If you doctor can't find the cause of your pain, it probably is in your mind." Coupled with her poor coverage of medical treatments for pain syndromes, a sufferer from a disease like Interstitial cystitis, who reads this book might well end up taking Prozac when what she really needs is acupuncture or Elmiron.

There is lots of lip service to meditational techniques, but the author's coverage of these topics is heavy in acronyms and low in understanding. It's clear she has read a few books on the subject and feels comfortable reducing each one to a paragraph. This is one area where the "Cliff's Notes" approach will simply not work. Save your money and buy a better book!