Headaches, what a pain! Nearly everyone gets them, but for some they are more than an occasional annoying event. Instead, they are severe and life altering, resulting in time away from work and family activities.
Dr. Beverly Thorn, professor of psychology at The University of Alabama and director of UA’s clinical psychology doctoral program, has been helping people learn to reduce and manage their chronic pain, including severe headaches, for some 20 years.
“Pain is a stress-related disorder,” Thorn said. “That doesn’t mean that pain is all in your head. It is real, and it is stress-related.”
The UA College of Arts and Sciences professor focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy, a widely accepted treatment method for various problems, including pain and depression. In her group therapy sessions, Thorn teaches participants relaxation exercises, tips on how to better pace themselves in their daily routines and the effects negative thoughts can have on their pain and ways to counter those thoughts.
“When you experience a stress event, your body reacts to that in ways you are not aware of and in ways you may be aware of,” Thorn said. “We teach people to be aware of their automatic thoughts and evaluate them and change them to an alternative response that’s more adaptive, more realistic.
“We know it works,” Thorn said of the therapy, “but it doesn’t work for all people under all conditions. The kind of research I do is to try to figure out what, exactly, in an effective treatment program is causing the positive effect. If we can discover the exact mechanism that’s causing the change, we can tailor the treatment to fit the individual needs of particular patients. We’re looking at the order of the treatment module to see if the order makes a difference, particularly in certain types of headache patients.”
The National Institutes of Health has awarded Thorn a three-year grant to continue her cognitive behavioral study, and she’s looking for headache sufferers to participate. Qualified participants will receive free treatment throughout a 10-week program, along with pre-, mid- and post-treatment assessments. For more information, call (205) 348-5000.