Treating Chronic Pain and Addiction Together: Why It’s Complicated—And How PRT Can Help
When someone is living with both chronic pain and addiction, the path to healing can feel incredibly tangled. Often, one condition feeds into the other in a cycle that’s hard to break—both physically and emotionally.
As a therapist who works with people across Canada navigating this complex intersection, I know how frustrating it can be when treatments don’t fully address the whole picture. That’s why I use Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) as part of an integrative, compassionate approach to care.
Why It’s So Tricky to Treat Chronic Pain and Addiction Together
Treating pain and addiction as two completely separate issues often misses the ways they interact—both in the brain and in a person’s lived experience. Here’s why this work can be so challenging:
1. Pain is real—even when it's brain-driven
Many people with chronic pain have been told “it’s all in your head,” which can feel invalidating or dismissive. But neuroscience now shows us that the brain plays a powerful role in how pain is processed—even after physical injuries have healed.
This doesn’t mean the pain isn’t real. It means the nervous system has become sensitized, and the brain is continuing to generate pain signals, even in the absence of ongoing tissue damage.
2. Substances can be both a cause and a coping tool
Many people turn to substances like opioids, alcohol, or cannabis to manage physical and emotional pain. In the short term, these can provide relief. But over time, they can also lead to tolerance, dependence, and in some cases, a condition called opioid-induced hyperalgesia, where the medication actually increases sensitivity to pain.
When pain persists and substances stop working—or start making things worse—people are often left feeling stuck, ashamed, and misunderstood.
3. There’s a huge emotional toll
Living with pain can be traumatic in itself. Add addiction, stigma, and the isolation that often accompanies both, and you have a perfect storm of emotional distress. Anxiety, depression, fear of movement, and loss of identity are all common—and they can feed right back into the pain and substance use cycle.
4. Traditional treatments may conflict
Pain treatment plans sometimes prioritize rest or medication, while addiction recovery programs might push for rapid detox or abstinence. Without a nuanced understanding of both conditions, people can feel like they’re forced to choose between being in pain or staying in recovery.
How Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) Offers a Different Path
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a groundbreaking, evidence-based approach that helps people retrain their brains to interpret pain signals more accurately—and more safely. Instead of trying to “fight” the pain, PRT works with the brain’s natural plasticity to shift the system out of fear and into safety.
Here’s how PRT can support people dealing with both chronic pain and addiction:
✅ It helps reduce fear around pain
PRT teaches that many forms of chronic pain—especially when linked to central sensitization—are not signs of ongoing damage but misfired danger signals. When the brain learns the body is safe, the pain often decreases significantly.
This is incredibly empowering for people who’ve felt helpless or broken by pain for years.
✅ It supports emotional regulation
PRT is more than just a cognitive model—it invites curiosity, self-compassion, and emotional processing. These are key skills in both pain reduction and addiction recovery.
By working with thoughts, feelings, and nervous system responses, clients often experience a reduction in both physical symptoms and emotional distress.
✅ It avoids the medication trap
PRT does not rely on medication and is fully compatible with substance-free recovery. In fact, it often helps reduce the need for medications by addressing the root cause of pain, not just masking it.
✅ It validates the whole person
PRT doesn’t separate the body from the mind or the symptoms from the story. It validates people’s pain as real andtreatable, without shame or blame. This integrative lens is especially important for those who’ve felt judged by both the medical and addiction recovery systems.
What I Offer
I provide Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) in both individual sessions and small therapeutic groups, all online and available across Canada. Whether you’re just starting to explore alternatives to medication, or you’re in recovery and trying to make sense of your chronic pain, PRT offers a path forward that is grounded in science—and full of compassion.
You don’t have to choose between being in pain or being in recovery. There is another way.
If you’d like to learn more about how PRT can help you or someone you care about, reach out here to book a free consultation. Let’s work together to untangle the pain-addiction cycle—and support your nervous system in healing.