UTA researcher focuses international attention on how patients’ doubts about never getting better influences chronic pain treatment success

A leading psychology professor at The University of Texas at Arlington has focused international attention on how a chronic pain patient’s irrational doubts about never getting better can influence both his reactions to pain and even treatment outcomes. Chronic pain costs the U.S. up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity, and is considered a problem of epidemic proportions.  The influence of these irrational beliefs on both patient behavior and chronic pain treatment success is of growing interest to the scientific community. “We are seeing that patients