Beth Darnall

Last updated
Beth Darnall
Beth Darnall-2020a.jpg
Born
Las Cruces, NM
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma mater Texas Woman's University University of Colorado, Boulder Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Known forPain psychology and voluntary opioid reduction
Scientific career
FieldsBehavioral Medicine for Pain
Institutions Stanford University
Website https://profiles.stanford.edu/beth-darnall

Beth Darnall is American scientist, pain psychologist, author, and Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine where she directs the Stanford Pain Relief Innovations Lab. [1] From 2005 to 2012, Darnall was an assistant professor and associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University.

Contents

She is known for developing and investigating brief and scalable behavioral medicine treatments for acute, post-surgical [2] [3] [4] and chronic pain, [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] leading teams of investigators in the conduct of federally-funded randomized controlled clinical pain treatment trials, research on patient-centered voluntary prescription opioid tapering, [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] advocacy for patient protections during opioid tapering, [19] [14] [12] [20] [21] and vocal opposition of forced opioid tapering practices. [22] [23] She is creator of Empowered Relief(R), a 1-session (2 hour) pain relief skill intervention that has been shown to be non-inferior to 8-session cognitive behavioral therapy for reducing multiple symptoms at 3 months post-treatment (pain distress, pain intensity, pain interference, sleep disturbance, fatigue, depression and anxiety). [24] The study publication was covered by the National Institutes of Health [25] and multiple media outlets including The New York Times, [26] MedPage Today [27] and Physician's Weekly. [28]

A study of online delivered Empowered Relief(R) in patients with different types of chronic pain showed multidimensional benefits across a range of outcomes at 3 months post-treatment (compared to a usual care control group). [6] In 2019, the Health and Human Services Pain Task Force [29] cited Empowered Relief as being an important and promising solution to address the unmet need of broad scale access to behavioral pain care in the U.S. Empowered Relief(R) is being delivered by more than 1,000 certified instructors in 25 countries and in 7 languages. [30] Tailored versions of Empowered Relief(R) have been created for people with injury/surgery, opioid use disorder, Veterans, and youth with pain.

In 2018 she briefed the U.S. Congress on the opioid and pain crises, and in 2019 provided invited testimony to the FDA on iatrogenic harms from forced opioid tapering. Her work has been featured in Scientific American, NPR Radio, BBC Radio, and Nature. [31] In 2018 she spoke on the psychology of pain relief at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. [32] Since 2019 she has served as Chief Science Advisor at AppliedVR, [33] a virtual reality therapeutics company that published the first study reporting on at-home skills-based virtual reality for chronic pain treatment. [34] Follow-on studies have included a randomized placebo-controlled trial of an 8-week home-based virtual reality program for chronic pain with clinical efficacy demonstrated to 24-months post-treatment. [9] [35] [36] [37]

In 2020 Darnall was appointed a scientific member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC) by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Alex Azar. [38] In 2020, she was appointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) opioid workgroup, [39] a group that is charged with reviewing the scientific evidence for acute and chronic pain opioid prescribing guidelines and making recommendations on the planned 2021 CDC opioid prescribing guideline. In 2021 Darnall was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Early life and education

Darnall graduated from Texas Woman's University with a B.A. in mass communications in 1994. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1998 and 2002, respectively. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in rehabilitation medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2004.

Scientific research

Darnall is principal investigator for large NIH and PCORI-funded national and multi-site clinical trials that broadly investigate behavioral medicine strategies for acute and chronic pain, and voluntary patient-centered prescription opioid reduction. [14] [40] [41]

Author

Darnall is the author of over 100 journal articles. [42]

She has authored three books:

  1. Psychological Treatment for Patients with Chronic Pain [43]
  2. The Opioid-Free Pain Relief Kit: 10 Simple Steps to Ease Your Pain [44]
  3. Less Pain, Fewer Pills: Avoid the Dangers of Prescription Opioids and Gain Control Over Chronic Pain [45]

She coauthored a fourth book with Heath McAnally and Lynn Freeman: Preoperative Optimization of the Chronic Pain Patient. [46]

Organizations

Darnall was the 2012 president of the Pain Society of Oregon.

References

  1. "Home". med.stanford.edu. Stanford Pain Relief Innovations Lab.
  2. Ziadni, Maisa S.; You, Dokyoung S.; Keane, Ryan; Salazar, Brett; Jaros, Sam; Ram, Jesmin; Roy, Anuradha; Tanner, Natalie; Salmasi, Vafi; Gardner, Michael; Darnall, Beth D. (August 2022). ""My Surgical Success": Feasibility and Impact of a Single-Session Digital Behavioral Pain Medicine Intervention on Pain Intensity, Pain Catastrophizing, and Time to Opioid Cessation After Orthopedic Trauma Surgery—A Randomized Trial". Anesthesia & Analgesia. 135 (2): 394–405. doi:10.1213/ANE.0000000000006088. ISSN   0003-2999. PMC   9259046 . PMID   35696706.
  3. Darnall, Beth D.; Ziadni, Maisa S.; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Flood, Pamela; Heathcote, Lauren C.; MacKey, Ian G.; Taub, Chloe Jean; Wheeler, Amanda (2019). ""My Surgical Success": Effect of a Digital Behavioral Pain Medicine Intervention on Time to Opioid Cessation After Breast Cancer Surgery—A Pilot Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial". Pain Medicine. pp. 2228–2237. doi:10.1093/pm/pnz094. PMC   6830264 . PMID   31087093 . Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  4. Wosen, Jonathan; Correspondent, Correspondent | (2019-12-28). "Stanford offers a mindful approach to pain relief". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2023-10-14.{{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  5. Darnall, Beth D.; Roy, Anuradha; Chen, Abby L.; Ziadni, Maisa S.; Keane, Ryan T.; You, Dokyoung S.; Slater, Kristen; Poupore-King, Heather; Mackey, Ian; Kao, Ming-Chih; Cook, Karon F.; Lorig, Kate; Zhang, Dongxue; Hong, Juliette; Tian, Lu (2021-08-16). "Comparison of a Single-Session Pain Management Skills Intervention With a Single-Session Health Education Intervention and 8 Sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA Network Open. 4 (8): e2113401. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13401. ISSN   2574-3805. PMC   8369357 . PMID   34398206.
  6. 1 2 Ziadni, Maisa S; Gonzalez-Castro, Lluvia; Anderson, Steven; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Darnall, Beth D (2021-09-10). "Efficacy of a Single-Session "Empowered Relief" Zoom-Delivered Group Intervention for Chronic Pain: Randomized Controlled Trial Conducted During the COVID-19 Pandemic". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23 (9): e29672. doi: 10.2196/29672 . ISSN   1438-8871. PMC   8463950 . PMID   34505832.
  7. Darnall, Beth D; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Tsuei, Jeannette; Minor, Jorge D (2020-07-07). "Self-Administered Skills-Based Virtual Reality Intervention for Chronic Pain: Randomized Controlled Pilot Study". JMIR Formative Research. 4 (7): e17293. doi: 10.2196/17293 . ISSN   2561-326X. PMC   7381022 . PMID   32374272.
  8. Garcia, Laura M; Birckhead, Brandon J; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Sackman, Josh; Mackey, Ian G; Louis, Robert G; Salmasi, Vafi; Maddox, Todd; Darnall, Beth D (2021-02-22). "An 8-Week Self-Administered At-Home Behavioral Skills-Based Virtual Reality Program for Chronic Low Back Pain: Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial Conducted During COVID-19". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23 (2): e26292. doi: 10.2196/26292 . ISSN   1438-8871. PMC   7939946 . PMID   33484240.
  9. 1 2 Garcia, Laura M.; Birckhead, Brandon J.; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Mackey, Ian; Sackman, Josh; Salmasi, Vafi; Louis, Robert; Maddox, Todd; Darnall, Beth D. (May 2022). "Three-Month Follow-Up Results of a Double-Blind, Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of 8-Week Self-Administered At-Home Behavioral Skills-Based Virtual Reality (VR) for Chronic Low Back Pain". The Journal of Pain. 23 (5): 822–840. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2021.12.002 . PMID   34902548. S2CID   245164142.
  10. Garcia, Laura; Birckhead, Brandon; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Mackey, Ian; Sackman, Josh; Salmasi, Vafi; Louis, Robert; Castro, Carina; Maddox, Roselani; Maddox, Todd; Darnall, Beth D (2022-05-25). "Durability of the Treatment Effects of an 8-Week Self-administered Home-Based Virtual Reality Program for Chronic Low Back Pain: 6-Month Follow-up Study of a Randomized Clinical Trial". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 24 (5): e37480. doi: 10.2196/37480 . ISSN   1438-8871. PMC   9177046 . PMID   35612905.
  11. Maddox, Todd; Garcia, Heidy; Ffrench, Kelsey; Maddox, Roselani; Garcia, Laura; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Okhotin, David; Sparks, Charisse; Oldstone, Liesl; Birckhead, Brandon; Sackman, Josh; Mackey, Ian; Louis, Robert; Salmasi, Vafi; Oyao, Alexis (2022-11-25). "In-home virtual reality program for chronic low back pain: durability of a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to 18 months post-treatment". Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. 49 (5): rapm–2022–104093. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2022-104093 . ISSN   1098-7339. PMC   11103290 . PMID   36427904. S2CID   253966824.
  12. 1 2 Mardian, Aram; Perez, Luzmercy; Pun, Ting; Cheung, Matthias; Porter, Joel; De Bruyne, Korina; Kao, Ming-Chih; Flood, Pamela; Moore, Nathaniel; Colloca, Luana; Cramer, Eric; Ashton-James, Claire E.; Lorig, Kate; Mackey, Sean C.; Darnall, Beth D. (April 2022). "Engagement in Prescription Opioid Tapering Research: the EMPOWER Study and a Coproduction Model of Success". Journal of General Internal Medicine. 37 (S1): 113–117. doi:10.1007/s11606-021-07085-w. ISSN   0884-8734. PMC   8993995 . PMID   34389937.
  13. Ziadni, Maisa; Chen, Abby L.; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Flood, Pamela; Stieg, Richard L.; Darnall, Beth D. (September 2020). "Patient-centered prescription opioid tapering in community outpatients with chronic pain: 2- to 3-year follow-up in a subset of patients". Pain Reports. 5 (5): e851. doi:10.1097/PR9.0000000000000851. ISSN   2471-2531. PMC   7808679 . PMID   33490845.
  14. 1 2 3 Darnall, Beth D; Mackey, Sean C; Lorig, Kate; Kao, Ming-Chih; Mardian, Aram; Stieg, Richard; Porter, Joel; DeBruyne, Korina; Murphy, Jennifer; Perez, Luzmercy; Okvat, Heather; Tian, Lu; Flood, Pamela; McGovern, Mark; Colloca, Luana (2020-08-01). "Comparative Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain and Chronic Pain Self-Management within the Context of Voluntary Patient-Centered Prescription Opioid Tapering: The EMPOWER Study Protocol". Pain Medicine. 21 (8): 1523–1531. doi:10.1093/pm/pnz285. ISSN   1526-2375. PMC   7530567 . PMID   31876947.
  15. Darnall, Beth D.; Ziadni, Maisa S.; Stieg, Richard L.; Mackey, Ian G.; Kao, Ming-Chih; Flood, Pamela (2018-05-01). "Patient-Centered Prescription Opioid Tapering in Community Outpatients With Chronic Pain". JAMA Internal Medicine. 178 (5): 707–708. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.8709. ISSN   2168-6114. PMC   5876887 . PMID   29459978.
  16. "NEJM Journal Watch: Summaries of and commentary on original medical and scientific articles from key medical journals". www.jwatch.org. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  17. Lopez, German (2018-09-25). "Solving America's painkiller paradox". Vox. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  18. Wallis, Claudia (January 2020). "How to Break the Bonds of Opioids". Scientific American. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  19. Darnall, Beth D; Juurlink, David; Kerns, Robert D; Mackey, Sean; Van Dorsten, Brent; Humphreys, Keith; Gonzalez-Sotomayor, Julio A; Furlan, Andrea; Gordon, Adam J; Gordon, Debra B; Hoffman, Diane E; Katz, Joel; Kertesz, Stefan G; Satel, Sally; Lawhern, Richard A (2019-03-01). "International Stakeholder Community of Pain Experts and Leaders Call for an Urgent Action on Forced Opioid Tapering". Pain Medicine. 20 (3): 429–433. doi:10.1093/pm/pny228. ISSN   1526-2375. PMC   6657573 . PMID   30496540.
  20. Huber, Jennifer (2018-09-25). "Looking beyond opioids: Stanford pain psychologist briefs Congress". Scope. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  21. Ribeiro, Celina (2020-02-15). "Life after opioids: 'We have not served our patients well'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  22. Darnall, Beth D; Juurlink, David; Kerns, Robert D; Mackey, Sean; Van Dorsten, Brent; Humphreys, Keith; Gonzalez-Sotomayor, Julio A; Furlan, Andrea; Gordon, Adam J; Gordon, Debra B; Hoffman, Diane E; Katz, Joel; Kertesz, Stefan G; Satel, Sally; Lawhern, Richard A (2019-03-01). "International Stakeholder Community of Pain Experts and Leaders Call for an Urgent Action on Forced Opioid Tapering". Pain Medicine. 20 (3): 429–433. doi:10.1093/pm/pny228. ISSN   1526-2375. PMC   6657573 . PMID   30496540.
  23. Darnall, Beth (2018-10-31). "Addressing the dual crises of pain and opioids — a case for patient-centeredness". The Hill. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  24. Darnall, Beth D.; Roy, Anuradha; Chen, Abby L.; Ziadni, Maisa S.; Keane, Ryan T.; You, Dokyoung S.; Slater, Kristen; Poupore-King, Heather; Mackey, Ian; Kao, Ming-Chih; Cook, Karon F.; Lorig, Kate; Zhang, Dongxue; Hong, Juliette; Tian, Lu (2021-08-16). "Comparison of a Single-Session Pain Management Skills Intervention With a Single-Session Health Education Intervention and 8 Sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA Network Open. 4 (8): e2113401. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13401. ISSN   2574-3805. PMC   8369357 . PMID   34398206.
  25. "NIH-funded study suggests a single skills-based session on pain management packs a punch". National Institutes of Health. August 16, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  26. Subramanian, Sushma (November 10, 2021). "How Psychologists Can Treat Chronic Pain". The New York Times. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  27. George, Judy (August 16, 2021). "Single-Session Skills Class Provides Chronic Pain Relief". MedPage Today. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  28. "Pain Management Skills Class Aids Those With Chronic Low Back Pain". Physician's Weekly. August 31, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  29. "Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report: Updates, Gaps, Inconsistencies, and Recommendations". U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. May 2019. Archived from the original on December 30, 2018.
  30. "Empowered Relief". empoweredrelief.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  31. Darnall, Beth (2018-05-01). "To treat pain, study people in all their complexity". Nature. 557 (7703): 7. Bibcode:2018Natur.557....7D. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-04994-5 . PMID   29717254.
  32. "Optimizing pain management through positive thinking - Beth Darnall". Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. 2018-02-21. Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  33. . October 26, 2020 https://appliedvr.io/.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  34. Darnall, Beth D.; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Tsuei, Jeannette; Minor, Jorge D. (July 7, 2020). "Self-Administered Skills-Based Virtual Reality Intervention for Chronic Pain: Randomized Controlled Pilot Study". JMIR Formative Research. 4 (7): e17293. doi: 10.2196/17293 . PMC   7381022 . PMID   32374272.
  35. Garcia, Laura M; Birckhead, Brandon J; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Sackman, Josh; Mackey, Ian G; Louis, Robert G; Salmasi, Vafi; Maddox, Todd; Darnall, Beth D (2021-02-22). "An 8-Week Self-Administered At-Home Behavioral Skills-Based Virtual Reality Program for Chronic Low Back Pain: Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial Conducted During COVID-19". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23 (2): e26292. doi: 10.2196/26292 . ISSN   1438-8871. PMC   7939946 . PMID   33484240.
  36. Garcia, Laura; Birckhead, Brandon; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Mackey, Ian; Sackman, Josh; Salmasi, Vafi; Louis, Robert; Castro, Carina; Maddox, Roselani; Maddox, Todd; Darnall, Beth D (2022-05-25). "Durability of the Treatment Effects of an 8-Week Self-administered Home-Based Virtual Reality Program for Chronic Low Back Pain: 6-Month Follow-up Study of a Randomized Clinical Trial". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 24 (5): e37480. doi: 10.2196/37480 . ISSN   1438-8871. PMC   9177046 . PMID   35612905.
  37. Maddox, Todd; Sparks, Charisse; Oldstone, Liesl; Maddox, Roselani; Ffrench, Kelsey; Garcia, Heidy; Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Okhotin, David; Garcia, Laura M.; Birckhead, Brandon J.; Sackman, Josh; Mackey, Ian; Louis, Robert; Salmasi, Vafi; Oyao, Alexis (2023-10-03). "Durable chronic low back pain reductions up to 24 months after treatment for an accessible, 8-week, in-home behavioral skills-based virtual reality program: a randomized controlled trial". Pain Medicine (Malden, Mass.). 24 (10): 1200–1203. doi:10.1093/pm/pnad070. ISSN   1526-4637. PMC   10546478 . PMID   37220894.
  38. "Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC) | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke". NIH IPRCC. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  39. "CDC Opioid Workgroup Roster" (PDF). Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  40. Darnall, Beth D.; Ziadni, Maisa S.; Stieg, Richard L.; Mackey, Ian G.; Kao, Ming-Chih; Flood, Pamela (2018-05-01). "Patient-Centered Prescription Opioid Tapering in Community Outpatients With Chronic Pain". JAMA Internal Medicine. 178 (5): 707–708. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.8709. ISSN   2168-6106. PMC   5876887 . PMID   29459978.
  41. "Comparing Two Online Programs for Treating Chronic Pain -- The PROGRESS Study". Comparing Two Online Programs for Treating Chronic Pain -- The PROGRESS Study | PCORI. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  42. "Beth Darnall's Profile | Stanford Profiles". profiles.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  43. Darnall, Beth (2018). Psychological treatment for patients with chronic pain (First ed.). Washington DC. ISBN   978-1-4338-2943-7. OCLC   1048635154.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  44. Darnall, Beth (2016). The opioid-free pain relief kit : 10 simple steps to ease your pain. Boulder, Colorado. ISBN   978-1-936693-98-6. OCLC   951556332.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  45. Darnall, Beth. (July 2014). Less pain, fewer pills : avoid the dangers of prescription opioids and gain control over chronic pain. Boulder, Colorado. ISBN   978-1-936693-59-7. OCLC   883663980.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  46. McAnally, Heath B. (2019). Preoperative optimization of the chronic pain patient : enhanced recovery before surgery. Freeman, Lynda W.,, Darnall, Beth. New York. ISBN   978-0-19-092017-3. OCLC   1114275995.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)