Can therapy help chronic pain?
Written and clinically reviewed by Arolyn Burns, LMFT, LPCC
Psychotherapist · EMDR Certified · Certified Hypnotherapist · Author of Anxiety Annihilated · Practicing since 1997
Yes — as part of a broader plan. Psychological treatment, clinical hypnosis in particular, can reduce pain intensity, interrupt the fear-tension-pain cycle, restore sleep, and expand what you are able to do. It does not replace medical diagnosis or treatment of the underlying condition. Arolyn Burns, LMFT, LPCC works with chronic pain and pain-related anxiety in Newport Beach, using hypnotherapy, EMDR, and somatic regulation alongside her clients' medical care.
The loop that keeps pain loud
Persistent pain keeps the nervous system on alert. An alert nervous system amplifies pain signals, tightens muscles, fragments sleep, and shrinks activity to what feels safe — all of which produce more pain and more fear about it. The loop is physiological. It is not evidence that the pain is imagined.
Therapy targets the amplification rather than the diagnosis. That is a meaningful distinction: nobody is asking you to accept that the pain is not real, only that the volume knob is partly in the nervous system's hands.
What treatment works on
- Pain perception and intensity, primarily through clinical hypnosis
- Anticipatory tension and the fear of provoking a flare-up
- Sleep disruption and night-time rumination
- Medical trauma — emergencies, procedures, the moment a diagnosis landed — using EMDR
- Grief for the function and the life you had before
- Depression, isolation, and the identity shift that long-term pain forces
- Paced activity planning so daily life expands without setbacks
What it does not replace
Psychotherapy for pain sits alongside medicine, never in place of it. Any new, changing, or worsening physical symptom belongs with your physician first. With written consent, coordination with a treating doctor or pain specialist is welcome and often useful.
A realistic timeline
Many clients notice earlier change in sleep and anticipatory tension than in the pain itself — often within a few sessions. Change in day-to-day pain and function generally takes several months of consistent work. Progress tends to look like a widening range of activity rather than a single dramatic drop in pain.
Frequently asked questions
About the author
Arolyn Burns, LMFT, LPCC is a Newport Beach psychotherapist specializing in anxiety, phobias, trauma and chronic pain. She provides EMDR therapy and clinical hypnotherapy and has been practicing since 1997. CA LMFT #MFC40173, LPCC #LPC54. Office: 2333 E Coast Highway #C, Corona Del Mar, CA 92625. Phone (833) 426-0303.