Nature connection and reduction in the sense of isolation in individuals suffering with chronic pain / Annette M. Udall.
(Book - Regular Print)

ProQuest Document ID : 1021034272

Thesis (M.A.) -- Prescott College, 2012

The chronic pain experience is increasingly becoming a common experience for many people around the world. What is known about the experience of pain is that suffering is compounded by not only the physical sensation, but also the emotional pain that is inherent in a long term illness. Multidisciplinary pain clinics are working to address all aspects of a patient's chronic pain. Different modalities are being considered as treatment; however, there are still many treatments yet to be integrated into a traditional clinic. Using nature as a way to facilitate a reconnection to the larger world is a novel treatment in this arena. Using heuristic and phenomenological approaches, I conducted a workshop to investigate if reconnecting patients to nature would lessen the experience of isolation. Targeting one specific co-morbidity of the pain experience, isolation, narrowed the question. Engaging in conversation with people involved in self-care and reconnecting with nature, I determined that these strategies could prove useful for chronic pain clinics, physicians and most importantly, patients suffering from pain.