Beth Darnall, PhD, is a psychologist-scientist who studies the mind and body within the contexts of pain and pain relief. She As director of the Stanford Pain Relief Innovations Lab, she studies how pain can be altered by helping people learn to favorably shape the nervous system toward relief. She develops treatments that empower patients to best control their symptoms and reduce pain medications when desired. Her publications are resources that are widely used by clinicians and patients. Beth leads training workshops for organizations, healthcare clinicians and psychologists, so they can use these powerful evidence-based therapies.

Selected Open-Access Scientific Articles

1. Ziadni MS, You DS, Tanner R, Salazar B, Jaros S, Ram J, Roy A, Tanner N, Salmasi V, Gonzalez-Castro L, Gardner M, Darnall BD. “My Surgical Success”: Feasibility and Impact of a Single-Session Digital Behavioral Pain Medicine Intervention on Pain Intensity, Pain Catastrophizing, and Time to Opioid Cessation After Orthopedic Trauma Surgery – A Randomized Trial. 2022. Anesthesia & Analgesia. June 13, 2022 – Volume – Issue – 10.1213/ANE.0000000000006088. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000006088*
2. Garcia L, Birckhead B, Krishnamurthy P, Sackman J, Mackey IG, Louis R, Salmasi V, Maddox WT, Darnall BD. Durability of treatment effects for a randomized placebo-controlled trial of 8-week self-administered at-home behavioral skills-based virtual reality for chronic low back pain: Six-month follow-up. J Med Internet Res 2022 May; 24(5):e37480. doi: 10.2196/37480. PMID: 35612905
3. Davin S, Savage J, Schuster A, Darnall BD. Transforming Standard of Care for Spine Surgery: Integration of an Online Single-Session Behavioral Pain Management Class for Perioperative Optimization. Frontiers in Pain Research. 2022 May 2;3:856252. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2022.856252. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35599968
4. Ziadni MS, You DS, Cramer EM, Anderson SR, Hettie G, Darnall BD, Mackey SC. The Impact of COVID-19 and Race/Ethnicity on Patients with Chronic Pain: A Collaborative Health Outcomes Information Registry (CHOIR) Study. Scientific Reports. 2022 May; 12:6435. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-10431-5. PMID:
5. Darnall BD and Fields HL. Clinical and neuroscience evidence supports the critical importance of patient expectations and agency in opioid tapering. PAIN®. 2022; May 1, 163(5): 824-826. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002443. PMID: 34382602
6. Garcia L, Birckhead B, Krishnamurthy P, Sackman J, Mackey IG, Louis R, Salmasi V, Maddox WT, Darnall BD. Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 8-week self-administered at-home behavioral skills-based virtual reality (VR) for chronic low back pain: 3-month follow-up results. J Pain. 2022 May;23(5):822-840. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2021.12.002. Epub 2021 Dec 11. PMID: 34902548.
7. Ziadni MS, Anderson SR, Gonzalez-Castro L, Darnall BD. Efficacy of a Single-Session “Empowered Relief” Zoom-Delivered Group Intervention for Chronic Pain: Randomized Controlled Trial Conducted During the COVID-19 Pandemic. J Med Internet Res 2021;23(9):e29672 DOI: 10.2196/29672  PMID: 34505832*
8. Darnall BD, Roy A, Chen A, Ziadni MS, Tanner R, You DS, Cook KF, Lorig K, King H, Slater K, Mackey IG, Kao MC, Hong J, Tian L, Mackey SC. Comparison of a Single-Session Pain Management Skills Intervention With a Single-Session Health Education Intervention and 8 Sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(8):e2113401. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13401*
9. Mardian A, Perez L, Flood P, DeBruyne K, Lorig K, Porter J, Moore N, Pun T, Cheung M, Colloca L, Ashton-James C, Mackey SC, Darnall BD. Engagement in Prescription Opioid Tapering Research:  The EMPOWER Study and a Coproduction Model of Success. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 AUG 13. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-021-07085-w
10. Garcia L, Birckhead B, Krishnamurthy P, Sackman J, Mackey IG, Louis R, Salmasi V, Maddox WT, Darnall BD. Garcia L, Birckhead B, Krishnamurthy P, Sackman J, Mackey IG, Louis R, Salmasi V, Maddox WT, Darnall BD. An 8-Week Self-Administered At-Home Behavioral Skills-Based Virtual Reality Program for Chronic Low Back Pain: Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial Conducted During COVID-19. JMIR. 23 (3) 2021:FEB  DOI: 10.2196/26292.
11. Ziadni MS, You DS, Chen A, Wilson AC, Darnall BD. Validation of CARE-7 Scale in treatment-seeking patients with chronic pain: Measurement of sex invariance. PAIN Reports®. 2020 Nov 11;5(6):e862. doi: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000862. eCollection 2020 Nov-Dec. PMID: 33204930
12. Kertesz S, McCullough M, Darnall BD, Varley A. Promoting Patient-Centeredness in Opioid Deprescribing: a Blueprint for De-Implementation Science. J Gen Int Med. NOV 2020. DOI : 10.1007/s11606-020-06254-7
13. Zhaoyang R, Martire L., Darnall BD. Daily Pain Catastrophizing Predicts Less Physical Activity and More Sedentary Behavior in Older Adults with Osteoarthritis. PAIN®. 2020 Nov;161(11):2603-2610. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001959.PMID: 32569091
14. Ziadni MS, Chen A, Krishnamurthy P, Flood P, Stieg RL, Darnall BD. Patient-Centered Prescription Opioid Tapering in Community Outpatients with Chronic Pain:  2- to 3-year follow-up in a subset of patients. PAIN Reports®: September/October 2020 – Volume 5 – Issue 5 – p e851. doi: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000851
15. Darnall BD, Mackey SC, Stieg RL, Flood P, Kao MC, Lorig K, Mardian A, Porter J, Okvat H, Colloca L, De Bruyne K, Tian L, Perez L, McGovern M, King H, Murphy JL, Van Dorsten B, Pun T, and Cheung M. Comparative Effectiveness of Pain Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Chronic Pain Self-Management within the Context of Voluntary Patient-Centered Prescription Opioid Tapering: The EMPOWER Study Protocol. Pain Med. 2019 Dec 26. 10.1093/pm/pnz285 PMID:31876947
16. Darnall BD, Ziadni MS, Krishnamurthy P, Mackey IG, Heathcote L, Taub CJ, Flood P, Wheeler A. “My Surgical Success”: Effect of a Digital Behavioral Pain Medicine Intervention on Time to Opioid Cessation After Breast Cancer Surgery—A Pilot Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. Pain Med. 2019; 20(11): 2228–2237. https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnz094. Received Editor’s Choice designation for the issue.
17. Darnall BD & Colloca L. Optimizing Placebo and Minimizing Nocebo to Reduce Pain, Catastrophizing, and Opioid Use: A Review of the Science and an Evidence-Informed Clinical Toolkit. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2018;139:129-157.
18. Darnall BD. To treat pain, study people in all their complexity. Nature 2018 May; 557 (7703):7. PMID: 29717254.
    
19. Darnall BD, Ziadni MS, Stieg RL, Mackey IG, Kao MC, Flood P. Patient-Centered Prescription Opioid Tapering in Community Outpatients with Chronic Pain. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2018 May 1;178(5):707-708. PMID: 29459978.
    
20. Darnall BD, Ziadni MS, Roy A, Kao MC, Sturgeon JA, Cook KF, Lorig K, Burns JW, Mackey SC. Comparative Efficacy and Mechanisms of a Single-Session Pain Psychology: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial in Chronic Low Back Pain. Trials 2018; 19:165. PMID: 29510735.
    

View Dr. Darnall’s full listing of peer-reviewed articles.