ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the framework underlying Contextual cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) and summarizes data supporting its applicability to chronic pain management. In a contextual cognitive-behavioral approach, psychological events are considered in terms of their relations of influence on emotions and behavior, influence that is considered situationally dependent and determined by the patient’s history. CCBT is an expansion of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for chronic pain. A functional contextual approach to chronic pain has several implications for the role of social influences on pain and suffering. Contextual change is not superficial but is an attempt to get to the core of where suffering and behavior disruption are based, primarily in processes of language and cognition. CCBT integrates the emphasis on the environment and overt behavior from the operant behavioral approach with the emphasis on the pain sufferer’s cognitive and emotional experiences from CBT.
