Brown Bag: Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy

Chronic pain in general and migraine in particular are highly debilitating conditions that are estimated to affect 15%-20% of the world’s population. Past trauma and chronic interpersonal stress are two etiological factors that have been shown to promote the initiation of several chronic pain conditions, possibly through emotional and/or autonomic mechanisms.

Currently used behavioral treatments for chronic pain having “stress relieving properties” (e.g., biofeedback, mindfulness, progressive muscle relaxation) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have been highly recommended to help better manage pain symptoms either as a standalone or in combination with pharmacotherapy. However, despite their use, these recommended behavioral interventions are limited and
may not provide long-lasting pain relief. A possible explanation is that these interventions do not directly address the emotional and interpersonal stress consequences of adverse life events, which are prevalent in the chronic pain population.

Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET), is a novel manual-based, empirically-supported behavioral intervention that has shown promising results in many controlled and uncontrolled studies in patients with chronic pain, including superiority to the current gold standard, cognitive behavioral therapy. Preliminary data shows that EAET has tremendous potential as a novel and efficacious behavioral treatment for migraine. Participants who work with trauma and/or chronic pain patients are encouraged to participate and learn about this new and promising treatment.

Register here