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The psychological impact of chronic pain after a workplace injury
Quick answer: Persistent pain after a workplace injury often carries a psychological load alongside the physical one, including frustration, low mood, disrupted sleep and a fear of making things worse by moving. Psychological support for pain works alongside your medical and physiotherapy treatment, not instead of it.
When pain continues well beyond the point you expected to be recovering, it affects more than the body. The points below explain how pain and psychological wellbeing interact, and what pain-focused psychological support can offer alongside your other treatment.
How pain and psychological wellbeing interact
Persistent pain can affect sleep, concentration, mood and how much you feel able to do, and each of these can, in turn, make pain feel harder to manage. This is a well-recognised pattern, not a sign that the pain is not real or that something is wrong with how you are coping.
Common experiences
Frustration, low mood, irritability and grief over lost activities or routines are all common when pain continues longer than expected. Many people also describe a fear of movement, worrying that activity will cause further damage, even where their treating team has confirmed it is safe to move.
What psychological support for chronic pain looks like
Support typically focuses on practical strategies such as pacing activity, addressing unhelpful thoughts about pain and movement, improving sleep, and building tolerance for activity gradually. Approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy are commonly used in this area.
Working alongside your medical treatment
Psychological support for pain is a complement to your medical and physiotherapy treatment, not a replacement for it. Where appropriate, your psychologist can also communicate with the rest of your treating team so that your care is coordinated.
Frequently asked questions
Not always, and to different degrees for different people. It is common, though, for ongoing pain to affect mood, sleep and confidence, and support is available whether or not you feel your pain has become a psychological issue as such.
Where psychological treatment has been approved as part of your Workers Compensation or CTP claim, pain-related psychological support can generally be included as part of that treatment.
The overall approach is similar, but the focus is specifically on how pain is affecting your mood, activity and daily functioning, and on practical strategies to manage that alongside your physical recovery.
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Make an enquiry
If you have questions about psychological support for ongoing pain, please call or email directly. All enquiries are handled personally.
This page is general information for people in NSW and is not personal or clinical advice. Eligibility and treatment depend on your individual claim and insurer approval. Please speak with your treating doctor about your situation.