Professional Development Resources Announces New Online Continuing Education Course on Living a Better Life with Chronic Pain

JACKSONVILLE, FL, April 02, 2014 (Press-News.org) Professional Development Resources, a national provider of accredited continuing education units for psychologists, social workers, counselors, occupational therapists, and dietitians, has announced a new addition to its continuing education (CE) curriculum for health professionals: Living a Better Life with Chronic Pain: Eliminating Self-Defeating Behaviors. The course is authored by Dr. Robert E. Hardy, who has done many presentations and publications on eliminating self-defeating behaviors.

Certainly no one would choose a pain-filled body over a healthy, pain-free body. Yet every day, people unwittingly choose actions and attitudes that contribute to pain or lead to other less-than-desirable consequences on their health, relationships or ability to function. These actions and attitudes are what are called self-defeating behaviors (SDBs) and they keep us from living life to the fullest--if we let them.

This course is a self-instructional module that "walks" readers through the process of replacing their self-defeating chronic pain issues with healthy, positive, and productive life-style behaviors. It progresses from an analysis of the emotional aspects of living with chronic pain to specific strategies for dealing more productively with it.

"A chronic, painful condition can mean stress and frustration--and not only for the person who has it. When it comes to pain, the medical system, as a whole, is equipped to manage the acute variety--with a course of painkillers or perhaps a few days of bed rest. Your doctor may become frustrated when--despite his best attempts to treat you-- your pain lingers, and lingers, and lingers," says Dr. Hardy, author of the course. "Your friends, family members and coworkers, who were probably sympathetic when you were first sick or injured, may also become perplexed or even irritated with you as your pain continues. They may think-- or even imply--that since you look perfectly healthy, your pain must be all in your head or that you could get over it if you just tried. Neither of these is the case."

Hardy's course leads readers through the three steps that are necessary in using the eliminating self-defeating behaviors approach to living a better life with chronic pain:

1. Identify your SDBs. What are SDBs and how can you identify yours? Once you understand what they are, take an honest look at yourself and you'll probably identify at least a few you use either daily or in specific circumstances. If not, the course offers several other methods of uncovering your SDBs.

2. Analyze your SDBs. By better understanding SDBs, why and when you practice them, and how they can lead to the very consequences you're trying to avoid, you can begin the transition to healthy, positive (what I call life-giving) choices for your life.

3. Replace your SDBs. Simply eliminating SDBs can leave you with a void. By learning to replace SDBs with healthy, life-giving actions and attitudes, you'll be better prepared to deal with whatever life throws your way.

Living a Better Life with Chronic Pain: Eliminating Self-Defeating Behaviors offers a hands-on approach to pain management that includes analyzing one's own behaviors, understanding trigger patterns that occur under stress, seeing how the subconscious can control behavior, distinguishing between real and mythical fears, and taking responsibility for learning to make healthy choices. The learning process is expedited by the inclusion of 16 self-guided exercises that can help lead to permanent behavioral change.

About Professional Development Resources, Inc.

Professional Development Resources is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1992 by licensed marriage and family therapist Leo Christie, PhD. The company, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) - as well as many other national and state boards - has focused its efforts on making accredited continuing education units more cost-effective and widely accessible to health professionals by offering online home study coursework. Its current expanded curriculum includes a wide variety of clinical topics intended to equip health professionals to offer state-of-the art services to their clients.

Contact:
Leo Christie, PhD, CEO
Professional Development Resources, Inc.
904-645-3456
http://www.pdresources.org/

Professional Development Resources, Inc. is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. Our mission is to provide busy health care professionals with accredited continuing education units on topics that are vital to contemporary clinical practice. In addition to our staff, we have a Professional Advisory Board consisting of accomplished professionals representing disciplines for which we offer our CEU credits. We are located in Jacksonville, Florida. Federal Tax ID 59-3138625.