Psychological Approaches to the Assessment and Treatment of Chronic Pain (With CE)

$40.00

Presenter: Dr. John D. Otis is a Research Associate Professor at Boston University and the Director of Behavioral Medicine at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD). He is also a clinical psychologist in the Spinal Cord Injury Service at the VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury, MA.  He received his graduate training in Health Psychology at the University of Florida Shands Hospital, specializing in the assessment and treatment of chronic pain.

For the past 20 years Dr. Otis has conducted research and produced scholarly writing about pain throughout the lifespan. Dr. Otis has focused his clinical research career on the development of innovative approaches to pain management, tailored to specialized patient populations. His most recent research focuses on the develop of an intensive integrated treatment for Veterans who experience variety of chronic pain conditions complicated by mild traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury (SCI), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dr. Otis is a clinician and researcher who has helped countless numbers of individuals gain greater control over their chronic pain. He travels nationally giving talks and workshops to both clinicians and patients on how the principles of CBT can be used to help people lead healthier and more productive lives. He is the author of Managing Chronic Pain (Oxford University Press: Treatments that Work Series) – an evidence-based treatment program that includes both a therapist manual and patient workbook.

Webinar Summary: Chronic pain is one of the most frequent reasons that patients seek medical care in the United States, with approximately 55% of individuals reporting some pain, and 11.2% to 15.6% reporting chronic pain (Nahin, 2017). Estimates of costs of pain in the United States range from $560 to $635 billion per year when considering annual healthcare costs and costs associated with lower productivity (Gaskin & Richard, 2012). The recent “opioid epidemic” has further reinforced the need to develop and disseminate non-pharmacological pain management approaches to those who need them most.

Cognitive behavioral treatments are considered the “frontline” psychological treatment for chronic pain; CBT has been shown through numerous trials to be efficacious at reducing pain related symptoms, distress and disability. CBT for chronic pain focuses on teaching patients ways to identify and change negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and to replace them with more adaptive pain coping strategies, with the ultimate goal being to improve quality of life, reduce pain-related interference, and decrease psychological distress.

The presenter will review important factors that clinicians should consider when working with patients who have chronic pain including the selection of pain assessment measures, and ways to teach key cognitive-behavioral therapy skills that are commonly used.

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Presenter: Dr. John D. Otis is a Research Associate Professor at Boston University and the Director of Behavioral Medicine at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD). He is also a clinical psychologist in the Spinal Cord Injury Service at the VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury, MA.  He received his graduate training in Health Psychology at the University of Florida Shands Hospital, specializing in the assessment and treatment of chronic pain.

For the past 20 years Dr. Otis has conducted research and produced scholarly writing about pain throughout the lifespan. Dr. Otis has focused his clinical research career on the development of innovative approaches to pain management, tailored to specialized patient populations. His most recent research focuses on the develop of an intensive integrated treatment for Veterans who experience variety of chronic pain conditions complicated by mild traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury (SCI), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dr. Otis is a clinician and researcher who has helped countless numbers of individuals gain greater control over their chronic pain. He travels nationally giving talks and workshops to both clinicians and patients on how the principles of CBT can be used to help people lead healthier and more productive lives. He is the author of Managing Chronic Pain (Oxford University Press: Treatments that Work Series) – an evidence-based treatment program that includes both a therapist manual and patient workbook.

Webinar Summary: Chronic pain is one of the most frequent reasons that patients seek medical care in the United States, with approximately 55% of individuals reporting some pain, and 11.2% to 15.6% reporting chronic pain (Nahin, 2017). Estimates of costs of pain in the United States range from $560 to $635 billion per year when considering annual healthcare costs and costs associated with lower productivity (Gaskin & Richard, 2012). The recent “opioid epidemic” has further reinforced the need to develop and disseminate non-pharmacological pain management approaches to those who need them most.

Cognitive behavioral treatments are considered the “frontline” psychological treatment for chronic pain; CBT has been shown through numerous trials to be efficacious at reducing pain related symptoms, distress and disability. CBT for chronic pain focuses on teaching patients ways to identify and change negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and to replace them with more adaptive pain coping strategies, with the ultimate goal being to improve quality of life, reduce pain-related interference, and decrease psychological distress.

The presenter will review important factors that clinicians should consider when working with patients who have chronic pain including the selection of pain assessment measures, and ways to teach key cognitive-behavioral therapy skills that are commonly used.