Therapy for Chronic Illness

Dr. Shaneze Gayle Smith, PhD

Autoimmune disease caused me to leave medical school in my fourth year.

I know the emotional toll health challenges have —and I’m here to help you navigate it.

Is Chronic Illness Affecting Your Mental Health?

Living with chronic illness and pain brings unique challenges. Whether you’re facing physical limitations, navigating the healthcare system, or dealing with the emotional weight of pain and uncertainty, you may feel frustrated, isolated, hopeless or overwhelmed.

Do you often ask yourself:

  • Why won’t my body cooperate the way I want it to?

  • Why don’t people understand what I’m going through?

  • Why is it so exhausting to advocate for myself in medical settings?

  • When does the pain stop?

  • Will I ever feel better?

  • Why does the life I want to live seem so out of reach?

  • Will I be able to have children?

My Specialties

  • Autoimmune diseases

  • IBD (Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis)

  • PCOS

  • Headaches & Migraines

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Cancer

It’s really hard to be a woman. Unfortunately, most of the conditions I specialize in disproportionately affect women. For example, approximately 80% of autoimmune patients are female. From breast and reproductive cancers to increasing rates of lung cancer in non-smokers, women face unique risks due to biological, hormonal, and societal factors. Women’s physical health concerns have historically been under-recognized and sometimes dismissed by medical professionals, a pattern that continues to affect care today. Research has shown that women are more likely than men to have their pain underestimated by doctors, leading to delayed diagnoses and inadequate treatment.

Additionally, those physical concerns exacerbate mental health issues. Studies have shown that women with autoimmune diseases are two to three times more likely to experience depression and anxiety compared to the general population. Women with PCOS are about three to eight times more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety and depression with their symptoms often being more severe. Recent study from Journal of Headache and Pain reported that 60% of migraine sufferers had high levels of anxiety with 40% also having depression. You deserve to get quality care. To be seen, heard and have a team supporting you. Not working against you.

How My Therapy for Chronic Illness Helps

Therapy for chronic illness and pain can truly be life changing. Therapy can help reduce the frequency and intensity of pain signaling, provide tools and strategies to help manage symptoms, and improve quality of life. Therapy can also address the ways in which these symptoms impact other areas of your life—relationships, work, self-esteem, fertility and parenting.

I specialize in working with women who face the daily struggles of long-term health conditions, including:

  • Difficulty adjusting to a new diagnosis 

  • Managing symptoms of chronic pain

  • Worries about the future and difficulty remaining present 

  • Feeling hopeless and/or depressed 

  • Health anxiety or avoidance of health maintaining behaviors

  • Implementing lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, stress management)

  • Kinesiophobia (fear/avoidance of movement and exercise)

  • Infertility (specifically for PCOS)

  • Medication non-adherence

  • Difficulty with self advocacy with providers and/or accommodations needed for school and/or work 

  • Processing/healing from medical trauma

  • Feeling unheard, unseen and/or invalidated by providers

  • Internalized ableism 

  • Parenting (discussing health diagnoses and symptoms to children)

  • Body image challenges due to physical changes from illness or result of medications or chemotherapy/radiation (ex: hair loss, weight fluctuations)

My own health journey took me from medical school into therapy, and it’s this blend of lived experience and professional expertise that allows me to offer a unique approach to chronic illness therapy.

“The Best Time to Start Therapy Is As Soon As You’re Thinking About It”

I bring medical knowledge to the table, so I understand the ins and outs of health conditions better than most therapists. I also incorporate lifestyle medicine into our sessions—exploring how things like diet, exercise, positive social connection, stress management and sleep affect your overall well-being. These factors have been shown to prevent and treat many chronic conditions and even reverse chronic disease. We’ll look at how your body and mind work together, and I’ll help you gain control over the things you can change.

Methods I Use In This Therapy

I use evidence-based therapeutic methods that are particularly helpful for people living with chronic illnesses. Each of these approaches is tailored to help you cope with the emotional impact of chronic illness while building a sense of empowerment and control over your health journey.

  • Helps break free from negative thought patterns. CBT also focuses on relaxation techniques which can be used to manage stress and decrease muscle tension

  • Mindfulness focused which is great for checking in with your body and reducing pain. DBT skills such as distress tolerance can help regulate nervous system and reduce pain sensitivity.

  • Focuses on aligning your actions with your values, even when your body limits you. With ACT techniques, we can develop individualized pacing strategies to manage energy levels, reduce symptom flares and live the life you want.

  • Focuses on evidence-based lifestyle interventions—including nutrition, physical activity, sleep, positive social connection, stress management, and reduction of substance use—as a primary modality to prevent, treat and often reverse chronic disease.

Therapy for Chronic Illness With Results

My clients often report: 

  • Increasing understanding of invisible illnesses and dynamic disabilities

  • Decrease in medical symptoms and fewer health complications

  • Decrease in feelings of depression and anxiety

  • Better stress management and healthier coping strategies

  • Healthier eating habits and more regular exercise

  • Increase in energy and clarity of the mind

  • Improvement in school/work productivity

  • Greater feelings of empowerment/advocacy in medical system

  • Capacity to engage in the activities and relationships that are meaningful

  • Regular cycles (PCOS)

Through therapy, you’ll not only learn how to manage your condition better but also gain tools to live more fully in spite of it.

  • Testimonial

    “Before starting therapy, my migraines were controlling my life. I was constantly in pain, missing work, and withdrawing from friends and family. I felt helpless and frustrated, especially when doctors were prescribing medications that at times caused more headaches. Working with Dr. Gayle-Smith changed that. Together, we explored how stress, anxiety, and even my thought patterns were contributing to the frequency and intensity of my migraines. Through mindfulness techniques, cognitive behavioral strategies, and emotional support, I learned how to manage my symptoms—not just react to them. While I still get the occasional migraine, they aren’t as bad or debilitating and I finally feel like I have tools that work. Therapy gave me back a sense of control and the confidence to live more fully."

  • Testimonial

    "Anyone with PCOS knows how difficult it can be. Living with PCOS felt overwhelming—physically, emotionally, and mentally. I struggled with fatigue, weight changes, irregular cycles and mood swings, and worst of all, I often felt dismissed or unheard by medical providers. I was doubtful that therapy would really help but I know I needed some help with lifestyle changes. Dr. Smith helped me understand how stress and emotional health impacted my symptoms and worked with me to increase exercise, improve my sleep, and tackle my stress. She also had so many tips about reducing sugar and changing eating habits which was really hard. She supported me prior to dr appts and navigating the healthcare system. She empowered me to advocate for myself and find doctors who truly listened and understood my needs. Therapy became a safe space where I could process my frustration and grief, while also celebrating small wins. For the first time, I feel like I'm managing my PCOS—not the other way around."

About Dr. Shaneze Gayle Smith

Read More About Me

I am licensed to provide therapy virtually in 41 states. I provide in-person and virtual therapy in New York City.

In my fourth year of medical school, I faced my own health crisis—an autoimmune disease that changed the course of my life. Not only was I navigating autoimmune disease but I had debilitating migraines almost daily. It was during this time that I found therapy, and it transformed how I managed both my body and mind. Realizing I could make an even greater impact through psychology (and more preventative work), I shifted my focus and earned my Master’s in Psychology then my doctorate with a focus on health psychology.

Today, I’m off all medications that I once relied on and focus on lifestyle medicine and mental health to manage my health (it’s been years since having a flare and only 1-2 migraines per month that are less severe). I’m passionate about helping others discover how they, too, can regain control of their health and emotions.

Education, Training, & Experiences

  • PhD in Clinical Psychology, Seton Hall University (Health Psychology & Child/Adolescent Focus)

  • Psychology Residency, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center

  • MS in Forensic Psychology, Walden University

  • Medical School (3 years), Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School

  • BA in Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers University

I have worked at over a dozen different adult and pediatric hospitals supporting individuals with various medical conditions including: autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, migraines, chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, and PCOS.

You no longer need to push past your daily limits, struggling to enjoy activities due to pain and fatigue. You no longer need to feel limited in what you can achieve. Your chronic illness is a part of you, but it does not need to define you. We’ll work together to help you lead the life you want.

Let’s Work Together

Navigating life with chronic illness is hard, but you don’t have to do it alone.

It’s time to stop feeling like a burden and start taking up the space you deserve. Whether you're feeling frustrated, unheard, or simply exhausted from your health battles, I’m here to help. We’ll work together to find solutions that empower you to live your life more fully.

FAQs About Therapy For
Chronic Illness and Pain

  • Yes! Because chronic pain affects a person’s mental health, a therapist can help identify and resolve some of those issues, reducing the severity of stress, anxiety, and depression so you can find more happiness despite their pains. 

    Also, there’s evidence that poor mental health can increase the feeling and experience of pain. When your mental health struggles, you become more likely to focus on pain, which makes you more sensitive to it. Similarly, some conditions, like depression, are also linked to pain censors in the brain. Living with depression may mean that a person is living with more combined daily pain, feeding the cycle.

  • It’s best to have both medical provider and therapist. Medicine often separates the body from the mind - medical doctors for the physical symptoms and mental health providers for thoughts and feelings. In reality though, physical and mental health are deeply connected and supporting your mental health can offer relief for a range of physical symptoms. Research has shown that chronic illness and especially chronic pain is impacted by both physical and psychological factors. Just think about the last time you were really anxious and it caused a stomach ache or headache or in moments you feel really stressed and end up getting sick. Your mind and body are one and need to be treated as such.

  • Absolutely not. We can structure the sessions to be time-limited and short-term. It can take 4–6 months to learn, implement and practice different techniques and change habits.

  • Working with a therapist who understands the nuances of chronic health conditions is critical to finding relief and improvement. Oftentimes, providers lack the adequate knowledge to understand chronic panic leading to feelings of self-doubt and invalidation which can worsen your symptoms and contribute to depression and anxiety.