Living Beyond Pain by Linda S. Mintle, PhD and James W. Kribs, DO

Many people live in some sort of pain every day. Unfortunately, people often don't know what to do to help themselves live a better life either free of pain or with reduced pain. In Living Beyond Pain by Linda S. Mintle and James W. Kribs, the authors guide the reader ways they may reduce or eliminate pain holistically.

Living Beyond Pain is co-authored by a psychologist and practicing physician. It is divided in to 3 parts: Understanding Pain, Tools for Pain Management, and Hope and Resilience. Because Opioids are a real problem in the United States, the authors address that subject in the first section. They also share the five most common types of pain. In the second section, the authors address various factors that may be contributing to your pain and discuss various ways to help reduce pain with/or alongside medication. In the last section, the authors offer hope and encourage readers to look for good things around them and maintain a positive mindset amidst the challenges.

As a whole, I thought Living Beyond Pain was interesting. While the authors do write in such a way that a layperson can understand the pain issue, I still found parts of the book to be more of a textbook style in the way it read. Other parts, were quite interesting in learning how various people had pain and learned to handle it. The authors do address a variety of issues from migraine headaches, back pain, arthritis and other issues. I like that the authors give ideas on how to change your focus. I also like how they encourage readers to find a doctor they can work with and offer advice on how to talk to the doctor. Much of Living Beyond Pain was interesting to me, but it wasn't an easy book to read straight through. I think I would rather break it up and read it in portions as there is a lot of information to take in.

I received this book from Baker Books through the Baker Publishing Group Blogger Program. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.