I feel so alone. I have pain in my leg and back.

Having physical pain and psychological pain (depression) is a difficult but common combination. Do speak to your GP about it; there are treatment options.  Regarding neck and back pain, your doctor would need to make sure that your physical condition is properly assessed and treated.

Cognitive behavioural therapy, and specifically pain management, is a type of psychological therapy that can help you to break the link between chronic physical pain and depression, and to help you to reduce the impact of long term physical pain on your life.  This style of therapy is also effective for most people in treating depression.  There are also antidepressant medications that can provide pain relief as well as helping depression, though medication isn't my area of expertise.  Your GP should be able to help you to come up with an action plan and referrals to any specialists that might be needed, including to a suitable psychologist.  

I wish you all the best, do pursue treatment options, because it's worth it.

Also try Chiro, Physio and massage. It worked well for me. I have no depression when I have no pain!

Boots

Hi Robyn,

I'm so sorry you are overwhelmed with these problems but I believe that dealing with them one at a time will help.

Leg pain coming from the back is very common. As a chiropractor I have treated this type of problem many times. Physical pain can aggravate other issues you are dealing with. Also sleep is very important for your health in many ways. I don't think your sleep would be too good at the moment with the back and leg pain you're suffering.

If you could see a chiropractor and find out what's going on in your spine that would be great. Knowing what's wrong and even better, getting it treated properly, will make a great difference to your life. Once you're feeling better physically and sleeping better you'll have more physical and emotional strength to tackle the other issues such as depression.

There are some great therapists available to help you. That is not my area of expertise (please see other answers) but one thing I would recommend is that you find one that you can relate to well: they may not be the first one you come across but don't give up, you'll know the right one when you meet them. This is important with any health professional you use.

Emotional pain and physical pain registers in the same area of your brain as if they are almost the same thing, which also means that they always come together and if one gets worse, so does the other. Most people with chronic pain will then end up developing Depression because of this. I wonder if there are (perhaps even online like a facebook page) support groups you can join with others in the same position who can give you some sense of community of people who understand you. I am assuming you have tried all the medical things you can do about the pain... Because physical and emotional pain registers in the same area of the brain, the worse your pain gets, the worse your depression will get, and the worse your depression gets, the worse your pain gets. What a horrible cycle! The key is to get at least one of the two to improve. If there is no medical way to improve the physical pain, the physical pain can be improved by improving your overall mental health and stress levels and depression. I do recommend, if you haven't yet, to visit all the professionals you need to to tend to the physical aspects of it. As for the emotional pain part of it... I would recommend researching SAD lamps. They are available on Amazon and can greatly improve our mood without any side effects (if used correctly and not too late in the day or for too long at a time). Anti-Depressants might help...your GP or Psychiatrist can help with that. There are psychologists who work specifically with chronic physical pain who really specialize in this connection between physical pain and emotional pain. Google them and perhaps see if they can help. I would then focus a lot on lifting that Depression, which will lower your pain levels naturally...spend a lot of daytime in natural light in nature, don't sleep in the day, sleep at night when it's dark, get into a good daily routine, set yourself small goals to reach every day (even if that just means brushing your teeth and taking a shower today), reach out to an old friend, drink plenty of water, etc. Once you feel less depressed your pain levels will likely improve some already. A combination of perhaps physio / chiro / or whatever is needed physically and therapy & perhaps anti-depressants might be the best option. I hope this helps a little...