ACT for pain
A clinician-led acceptance and commitment therapy for persistent pain. You practice making room for difficult sensations while moving toward a valued life.
Written with Bible believers in mind
Pain Skills Library
This is a consumer directory of evidence-based mental health practices used for physical and chronic pain. It is written with Bible believers in mind who are dealing with persistent pain. Many struggle with feelings of moral failure under the weight of their pain, and they seek relief and reassurance. These skills are evidence-based, and they can work together with our faith. Jason Cheney, a licensed professional counselor and minister, gathers the notes. Nothing here is medical advice.
Browse by category
CBT Skills
Practical ways to notice and answer painful thought patterns without pretending the pain is imaginary.
Attention & Mindfulness
Clinic attention skills: noticing the present moment. Not a spiritual path, and not an Eastern-religion practice.
ACT & Acceptance
Acting on what matters even when pain is present. Values may include faith and family, without a sermon attached.
Pain Education & Reprocessing
Learning how a real, alarmed nervous system can keep pain going after tissues have had time to heal.
Breathing & Relaxation
Slow breathing and muscle-release skills that some people use to lower tension that travels with pain.
Daily Practices
Small habits for ordinary days: pacing activity, and speaking to yourself with honesty and kindness.
Apps & Guides
Books and apps people often ask about. Notes stay conservative: what the resource is, and what it is not.
Christian Practices
Complementary prayer practices that can sit beside clinical care. They are not a substitute for treatment.
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Activity pacing
A clinic habit of breaking tasks into sustainable pieces so a good day does not create a two-day crash. Mixed evidence as a standalone cure; still widely taught.
Breath prayer
A complementary Christian practice that pairs a short prayer with an ordinary slower breath. It is not an RCT-backed pain treatment.
CBT for pain
A clinician-led course of cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at living with persistent pain—thought skills, activity plans, and problem-solving, not a claim that pain is imaginary.
Coping with catastrophic pain thoughts
A beginner CBT skill for noticing “this will never end / something terrible is happening” thoughts and answering them with a calmer, more accurate sentence.
Curable app
A commercial pain-education and skills app. One independent wait-list trial reported small-to-moderate benefits. It has not been shown to beat an active therapy.
Empowered Relief
A single ~2-hour Stanford class, taught by a certified instructor, that teaches a short set of pain-CBT skills. It is not 8-week CBT, not a self-paced app, and not a claim that pain is imaginary.
Explain Pain (Butler and Moseley)
A widely used book that teaches how pain works in the nervous system. It is an education resource, not a clinical trial and not a promise of recovery.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction
An eight-week clinic attention class that trains noticing breath, body, and the present moment. On this site it is described as a clinical skill, not a spiritual path.
Pain neuroscience education
A teaching approach that says pain is real, and that a nervous system can stay alarmed after tissues have had time to heal. Learning this is not the same as being told the pain is imaginary.
Pain reprocessing therapy and somatic tracking
An emerging, clinician-led approach that teaches people to attend to pain sensations with less threat. Pain is treated as real. Medical evaluation comes first.
Praying the lament psalms
A complementary Christian practice of praying the psalms that complain, weep, and ask “how long.” Not a substitute for medical or psychological care.
Progressive muscle relaxation
A beginner method of briefly tensing and then releasing muscle groups, used to notice where the body is bracing around pain.
Self-compassion practice
Kind, honest self-talk on a hard pain day. Not self-worship, not empty positivity, and not a claim that you caused the pain by being unkind to yourself.
Slow diaphragmatic breathing
A beginner relaxation skill: slower breaths that gently move the belly, used to lower tension and alarm that often travel with pain.
The Way Out (Alan Gordon and Alon Ziv)
A popular book that explains pain reprocessing therapy and somatic tracking for a general audience. It is a popularization, not a clinical trial.
Values-based daily action
A beginner ACT skill: pick one value that still matters—faith, family, work, friendship—and take one small action toward it on a painful day.
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