Therapists in Knox County, TN
Frank Pittenger
Psychologist, PhD, ABPP
Verified Verified
Knoxville, TN 37919
Not accepting new clients
If you find yourself experiencing problems that defy simple solutions, therapy can provide the caring, confidential conversation that your situation requires. Whether you seek treatment to alleviate anxiety or depression, to improve your experience of close relationships, or to emerge from a rut in your professional life, therapy can assist you in recognizing the connections between your personal history and your present problems—and in so doing, to stop dysfunctional patterns and increase your openness to new experiences. Where indicated or requested, I also provide psychological testing and assessment.
If you find yourself experiencing problems that defy simple solutions, therapy can provide the caring, confidential conversation that your situation requires. Whether you seek treatment to alleviate anxiety or depression, to improve your experience of close relationships, or to emerge from a rut in your professional life, therapy can assist you in recognizing the connections between your personal history and your present problems—and in so doing, to stop dysfunctional patterns and increase your openness to new experiences. Where indicated or requested, I also provide psychological testing and assessment.
Online Therapists
Find balance in your life with help from an experienced psychotherapist. Dr. Elena Coello-Jemmali uses a holistic approach, which helps clients from all walks of life overcome psychological, emotional, mental, physical, energetic, and spiritual challenges. She is dedicated to helping her clients achieve their highest potential and make wellness a way of life. while encouraging clients to take responsibility and making a commitment for their own healing. This unique Holistic approach addresses the mind, body and spiritual needs of the individual in their therapy to be able to identify and treat root-causes.
Find balance in your life with help from an experienced psychotherapist. Dr. Elena Coello-Jemmali uses a holistic approach, which helps clients from all walks of life overcome psychological, emotional, mental, physical, energetic, and spiritual challenges. She is dedicated to helping her clients achieve their highest potential and make wellness a way of life. while encouraging clients to take responsibility and making a commitment for their own healing. This unique Holistic approach addresses the mind, body and spiritual needs of the individual in their therapy to be able to identify and treat root-causes.
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Chronic Pain Therapists
How does chronic pain therapy work?
Engaging with a psychotherapist to help treat chronic pain does not mean that one’s pain is all in their head. Therapy for chronic-pain patients has been shown to benefit both the mind and the body, targeting physical symptoms and increasing daily functioning. In other words, for many, addressing their emotional health through therapy affects their physical health. A therapist can help a client challenge unhelpful thoughts about pain and develop new ways to respond to it, such as distraction or calming breathing techniques. Studies have found that therapy can be as effective as surgery for certain cases of chronic pain and many doctors recommend trying psychotherapy in advance of considering invasive surgery.
What are the most effective treatment options for chronic pain?
Stress, anxiety, depression, catastrophizing, ruminating, lack of activity, and social withdrawal all make chronic pain worse. Addressing these issues, research shows, can help people gain control over their pain symptoms. Therapeutic approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback, and mindfulness-based stress reduction, along with greater pain-management education, have been found to help people reduce fear and disability.
Are there new treatments for chronic pain?
Many cases of chronic pain, particularly those involving back pain, remain medically unexplained. But there is evidence that changes in the brain or nervous system are caused by previous physical ailments such as tissue damage; in such cases, the brain may continue to send out pain signals despite the physical cause having healed. To aid patients under these circumstances, a recently developed treatment known as pain reprocessing therapy (PRT) is designed to help the brain “unlearn” this response. A PRT practitioner helps individuals to reduce the “threat value” of their ongoing pain signals until they can reappraise them as less threatening and fear-inducing. They also help an individual to develop new emotional regulation skills.
How long does therapy for chronic pain take?
There is no set timeline for recovery from chronic pain, especially as there may be a range of physical and psychological causes for any individual’s discomfort, but most patients should expect to see a therapist for a number of weeks or months, typically spanning at least 12 sessions. Studies of pain reprocessing therapy found that many individuals’ experience of pain lessened in eight sessions over four weeks.