Description
Book SynopsisSilver reviews the causes and characteristics of chronic pain and explores its impact on individual family relationships and on the extended family, covering such issues as employment, parenting, childbearing and inheritance, and emotional health.
Trade ReviewIn this latest entry in Harvard University's useful series of concise guides for families aiding sick members, Silver examines how family relationships can be affected by chronic pain: the impact on parents of suffering children, and on children of suffering parents, the role of extended family, the effect on intimacy and sexual activity, and more. Silver clearly discusses medication and other treatments as well, including alternative medicine. Useful sidebars deal with specific issues: one suggests ways to eliminate unhelpful chronic pain behaviors that can alienate friends; another gives a list of pain medications associated with sexual dysfunction. Silver's advice is wise and sensible, based on her own years of practice with chronic pain patients. * Publishers Weekly *
Table of Contents1. What Is Chronic Pain? 2. Effect on the Couple 3. Intimacy and Sexual Activity 4. Work Issues 5. Childbearing and Inheritance 6. Growing Up with a Parent in Pain 7. Chronic Pain in Children 8. The Extended Family 9. Emotional Changes and Depression 10. Medication Dependence and Addiction 11. Diagnosing Chronic Pain Conditions 12. Traditional Treatment Options 13. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Afterword Appendix: Resources Suggested Reading Notes Acknowledgments Index
