Santa Barbara Therapist and Author

Dr. Rachel B. Aarons LCSW

Dr. Rachel B. Aarons LCSW

ANNOUNCING: About Pain is now available as an audiobook!

Narrated by the author Dr. Rachel Aarons with the help of Deborah Allen, Christine Orpen, Thomas Robinson and Jonathan Young.

Purchase the audible, kindle version or paperback at Amazon

Click Here to Listen to a Sample or Download the Audiobook on Audible.com

Purchase other books by Rachel B. Aarons at Amazon

At last! A totally honest book about pain. Rachel says what others haven’t, wouldn’t or couldn’t say about pain. 

~ Pain patient

After the death of my husband, I fell into a deep depression, one I couldn’t recognize. This depression covered me with pain of all kinds. Rachel’s book opened many doors for me, especially looking at whether I wanted to live or die. I chose life.

~Patricia Poet, pain patient.

Thank you for personally dropping off your book, "About Pain". I read it this summer and learned some important lessons from it. I appreciated the three sections of Inside View, Outside View and Rising Above and, above all, the need to emphasize compassion for patients with chronic pain. It gives many good examples of how people with pain cope with it.

It appropriately struggles with the mind/body continuum of chronic pain.

I shall make it available to my patients.

~P. Joseph Frawley M.D., Specialist in Chronic Pain Management

Hi Rachel:  I'm going to be 100% honest with you... which is what I think you'd want from me. I truly was interested in reading about the different patients and their problems. And I was amazed to read of all you, yourself, have gone through and yet to see you now, it's hard to believe! I kept thinking of all the times I feel sorry for myself because of the things I can't do anymore and yet it's nothing compared to the patients you write about. What was new for me was the last section on Rising Above pain. I'm more familiar with what I guess you'd call "traditional methods" and am somewhat of a chicken when it comes to trying new things. However, I admire you for trying out what I call these "non-traditional" methods, not just physical therapy like me. I can't imagine a better counsellor to visit to discuss any kind of pain, for how can you help others unless you've experienced some of what they are going through! Hopefully there will be people who read the book and find a new way that was previously unknown to them. And I hope they write to tell you that it was your book that inspired them.

~Lee Alfano, pain patient.

In truth, at first I felt a slight hesitation in reading "About Pain….for those who suffer and their caregivers," by Rachel Aarons. I figured it would be a tough topic to read about in my spare time. Once I dove in, I was so glad that I did. Yes, I was reading about people's pain, but through Rachel's own experience and the stories of others who live with pain, I become more informed, and inspired by the resilience and grace of those who shared their journeys. By delving into these stories, and through the explanation that Rachel provides, I now have a deeper empathy for people living in and moving through pain. Thank you Rachel.

~ Nicole Romasanta, MA,  Director of Volunteer Services, Hospice of Santa Barbara.

I spent last weekend reading your book “About Pain” and thoroughly enjoyed it even though the subject matter is so sad.  I do not know what I was expecting but the personal, warm, human, and enlightening ideas made it a great read.  I learned a lot.  Your focus on using resources such as EMDR and somatic psychotherapy along with client centered compassion create a positive “less travelled” path.  I commend you for this and hope you generate a following with these ideas.

~Norma Wilder Benavides, MFT, Bilingual Psychotherapist

About Pain: Reader Comments