In this episode, we have two incredible guests. I'm excited to bring two guests with some incredible experience and research behind them to talk about an important topic, which is bringing ACT to a multidisciplinary pain clinic setting. My guests are Physical Therapist Corinne Cooley and Psychologist Heather King. First, I'll tell you about Corinne. She is a Physical Therapist at the Stanford Pain Management Center and a Clinical Residency Faculty Member in the Stanford Orthopaedic Clinical Residency Program in California. She works with pain physicians and pain psychologists to help optimize complex patient care plans, and leads the exercise and movement portion of interdisciplinary outpatient programs.
Psychologist, Heather King, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Peri-Operative Pain Medicine. She also serves as the Director of the Pain Psychology Fellowship at Stanford. Her areas of expertise are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for pain as well as insomnia, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. In this episode, we'll discuss an investigation that Corinne and Heather were both involved in.
This study included an outpatient interdisciplinary approach with pain psychology using ACT as well as physical therapy, and compared that to traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In essence, this was an ACT plus PT intervention compared to a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy intervention alone. They got some interesting data and some results to share. They share how they went about investigating this topic and some of the outcomes as well as the patient population, and how ACT flowed through the psychology as well as the physical therapy part of care.
As you know, I'm a little biased toward mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches, to living life to the fullest, especially with chronic pain. That's why I'm so excited to share Corinne and Heather with you. They also use ACT as their primary form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in their treatment. Just a reminder, if you want to learn more about ACT for chronic pain, there are two great resources for you. The first is my book, which is called Radical Relief. The second is our course, ACT for Chronic Pain, here at the Integrative Pain Science Institute.
Take the time to read about some of the topics we're talking about with regard to chronic pain, both on how ACT can help the psychological aspect as well as the physical aspect of pain. Also, how Heather and Corinne worked together as this tight interdisciplinary team, which is important in the study they created. Hopefully, we can see more of this in healthcare settings. I highly recommend if you're a professional to download the paper. It’s open access. You can read either the paper and follow along with the show or read the paper after. Without further ado, let's begin and meet Physical Therapist Corinne Cooley and Psychologist Heather King.
Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!
Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: