Beth Darnall, PhD
Dr. Darnall is an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University. As a pain psychologist and researcher, she treats and studies people who have chronic pain of all types. Overarching themes of her research include chronic pain in women and optimizing the mind-body connection to treat pain. Her current and past studies have focused on pain mechanisms in women, inflammatory responses following pain catastrophizing, understanding the influence of psychological experience on labor and labor outcomes in nulliparous women, understanding opioid prescribing patterns for women with chronic pain, developing gender specific behavioral chronic pain treatment for incarcerated women with substance abuse, and self-delivered mirror therapy for phantom pain (a virtual reality pain treatment). Based on the success of her pilot study on self-delivered mirror therapy, in 2010 she developed “Do It Yourself Mirror Therapy ©” a DVD tool designed to teach amputees with phantom pain how to treat their phantom pain at home with mirror therapy. Her collaborative work with Dr. Heather Zwickey, entitled “Pilot study of inflammatory responses following a negative imaginal focus in person with chronic pain: Analysis by sex/gender” can be found in Gender Medicine, 2010; 7(3):247-60. Her current and past research benefactors include the American Pain Society, NIH Office for Research on Women’s Health (BIRCWH K-12), ZRT Laboratories, the N.L. Tartar Trust Foundation, and the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon. Dr. Darnall is on the board of directors for the Pain Society of Oregon, is advisor to the board for End the Pain Project (a non-profit organization dedicated to the global reduction of phantom pain), and serves as expert member of For Grace (a non-profit organization dedicated to the equal and ethical treatment of women with chronic pain). Recent news articles on Dr. Darnall's work: The pain is all in your head (and researchers say that's OK) - The Portland Tribune, Aug 11, 2011 Pain Specialists Urge Stronger Use of Holistic Therapies - The Lund Report, August 16, 2011 Chronic Pain Is No Laughing Matter - ABC News, Aug. 19, 2011
Learn more about Dr. Darnall and her work at www.bethdarnall.com
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Assistant Professor