IASP Pain and Trauma SIG Spring Webinar
The webinar will include discussion and questions as well as an update on SIG news.

8:30 am UK Time

IASP Pain and Trauma SIG members - Free
Non-members - $10 USD

If you're already an IASP member it costs $20 to join the Pain and Trauma SIG: Join here!

For those who are not able to attend this live webinar it will be recorded and posted to IASP's learning portal PERC.

Speakers:

Dr. Sharryn Lydall-Smith will speak about making sense of the relationship between chronic pain and trauma, and discuss a trauma-informed model of pain education and management. In addition she will share tips for clinicians working with people who have pain and a history of trauma.

Ms. Zoe Cricks will speak about the work of Freedom from Torture and working with people who have survived torture.  She will discuss supporting clients who live with pain, treatment, agency and understanding, as well as ways of fostering an interdisciplinary approach. 

This webinar is being produced through a collaboration of the IASP's Pain and Placebo Special Interest Group and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA - in particular - the University of Maryland School of Nursing's Placebo Beyond Opinions Organized Research Center. Both groups are aligned on advancing unbiased knowledge of placebo effects by promoting interdisciplinary investigation of the placebo phenomenon and nurturing placebo research.

Please note that this webinar is unique in that it is being hosted (both in-personal and virtually) by the University of Maryland. For your convenience, a Zoom link to attend the webinar will be distributed both 24 hours and 1 hour prior to its start time.

Join us for the Placebo Beyond Opinions Organized Research Center guest lecture hybrid series. This lecture on "Challenges in Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials in Pain Medicine" is presented by Steven P. Cohen, MD, professor and vice chair of Research and Pain Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago, USA).

This webinar is being produced through a collaboration of the IASP's Pain and Placebo Special Interest Group and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA - in particular - the University of Maryland School of Nursing's Placebo Beyond Opinions Organized Research Center. Both groups are aligned on advancing unbiased knowledge of placebo effects by promoting interdisciplinary investigation of the placebo phenomenon and nurturing placebo research.

Please note that this webinar is unique in that it is being hosted (both in-personal and virtually) by the University of Maryland. For your convenience, a Zoom link to attend the webinar will be distributed both 24 hours and 1 hour prior to its start time.

Please join us for this edition of the Placebo Beyond Opinions Organized Research Center guest lecture hybrid series. This lecture on "The Contribution of Endocannabinoids to Pain Sensitivity and Modulation" is presented by Massieh Moayedi, PhD, associate professor of Dentistry at the University of Toronto (UofT), Canada.

IASP’s World Congress on Pain is the largest gathering of pain professionals in the world, bringing together more than 5,000 scientists, clinicians, and healthcare providers from around the world and across pain disciplines. Attendees experienced a world-class lineup of more than 400 international speakers with comprehensive sessions bringing you the latest pain research and treatment. The 2024 World Congress included the IASP 50th Anniversary celebration with reflections on industry advances in pain research and IASP milestones over the last 50 years.

If you attended the 2024 World Congress, the Topical Workshop and Plenary recordings are included with your registration.  Please email IASP at congress@iasp-pain.org for the code.  

** For the Low and Middle Income Country (LMIC) rate please contact: members@iasp-pain.org

Please be sure that this is the course you wish to purchase as refunds are not permitted after the transaction is complete.

The following videos explore what is known about sex and gender differences in pain perception and modulation and address sex and gender-related disparities in pain research and treatment. 

1. Introduction to the 2024 Global Year about Sex and Gender Disparities in Pain
2. Biological Mechanisms of Sex Differences in Pain: Interview with Dr. Jeff Mogil
3. Pain in Women
4. Sex and Gender Biases in Pain Research and Practice
5. Message to Pain Researchers from LGBTQIA+ Stakeholders

They were released as part of the IASP 2024 Global Year about Sex and Gender Disparities in Pain.

This package includes nine Master Classes presented at the 2024 World Congress on Pain:

• Central Pain or Central Pain? Vistas For a Classification.
• Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women: From threat to stress to THRIVE.  
• Clinical Application of Novel Psychological Therapies for Chronic Pain
• Disease Modification therapies for neuropathic pain: focus on high-concentration capsaicin patch
• Epigenetics and ‘Omics: The Personalized Molecular Pathways of Pain Regulation
• How Should I Manage Patients with Orofacial Pain?
• Machine Learning and AI in Basic and Clinical Pain Research: A Primer on Big Data Methods
• Progress in Methodological Approaches to Study Widespread Chronic Pain in Fibromyalgia
• Psychologically Informed Practice for Pain: Current Status and Future Directions

There is growing scientific and clinical recognition that mainstream psychological interventions for chronic pain (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy), although more effective than usual care and associated with few negative effects, have relatively limited clinical benefits. Innovative psychological treatments based on emerging neuroscientific models of pain have been recently developed and tested, with encouraging results for the pain clinician searching for more powerful therapies. A common theme of these new therapies is that they view the brain as the driving organ of most chronic pain, with treatment focusing on reducing patients’ fear and avoidance or pain and movement as well as negative emotions and stressful or traumatic experiences. The three speakers here are the lead developers and clinical trialists of three of these newer approaches: Pain Reprocessing Therapy (Dr. Yoni Ashar), Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (Dr. Mark Lumley), and Hybrid Exposure Therapy (Dr. Katja Boersma). Each speaker presents the rationale for the given therapeutic approach and supporting data and will focus on teaching attendees how these therapies are conducted, using case presentations, demonstrations, or video materials. Presenters will also examine the opportunities and challenges in implementing these approaches.

Faculty:

• Yoni Ashar
• Mark Lumley
• Katja Boersma

This webinar - held on 29 January 2025 - was produced by the International Association for the Study of Pain's Methodology, Evidence Synthesis, and Implementation Special Interest Group (MESISIG). MESISIG aims to:

• Foster a widespread interest in the production, methods and critical appraisal of high-quality evidence and evidence synthesis.
• Provide a forum for the dissemination and promotion of skills, methodological best practice and promote innovations across the full breadth of pain research.

For pain research to be trustworthy and valuable for all members of society it must strive to be equitable, diverse, and inclusive. This requires confronting discriminatory and oppressive practices to assist in developing and promoting these values in our research communities, to be used in how we undertake research, with whom, and how research is communicated.

In this MESISIG workshop, we were delighted to welcome three international researchers who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in this area. Talks made the case for improving practice and gave practical examples of how, as a research community, we can move towards more equitable, diverse, and inclusive research.

Participants included:

• Anna Hood, PhD – University of Manchester, UK, Why equity, diversity, and inclusion are critical to trustworthy evidence, the case for change, and actionable steps to achieve good practice
• Emma Karran, PhD – University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia, Shining a light on ED&I through improved data collection and reporting
• Hemakumar Devan, MPhty PhD – University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand, Coproducing knowledge with indigenous communities, successes and challenges
• Neil O’Connell, PhD – Brunel University of London, UK (moderator)

In late November 2024, Francis S. Lee and colleagues at Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, USA) reported in Science Advances that elevated levels of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) diminishes the rewarding properties of opioids while maintaining their analgesic efficacy. Subsequently, psychiatrist and scientific journalist Richard A. Friedman provided coverage of these findings for the renowned publication The Atlantic. IASP presented a conversation with Drs. Lee and Friedman regarding the impact of these results and the importance of utilizing effective science communication to elevate them within the public discourse.

Martínez-Rivera A, Fetcho RN, Birmingham L, et al. Elevating levels of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol blunts opioid reward but not analgesia. Science Advances. 2024;10(48):eadq4779.

Friedman RA. Imagine a Drug That Feels Like Tylenol and Works Like OxyContin. The Atlantic . 29 November 2024.

This webinar - held on 24 January 2025 - included insights and recommendations from Dr. Friedman regarding science communication for a broad audience, as well as his inspiration to cover Dr. Lee’s research findings for The Atlantic. Furthermore, Dr. Lee presented the work of his lab and colleagues and their significance for future studies. These presentations were followed by an interactive Q&A.

Participants included:

• Francis S. Lee, MD, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA
• Richard A. Friedman, MD, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA
• Gregory Carbonetti, PhD, IASP Associate Director of Publications (moderator)

This webinar - held on 5 February 2025 - was produced by IASP's Acute Pain Special Interest Group.

The Acute Pain SIG advances and promotes the understanding of mechanisms, assessment, prevention, and management of acute pain through the following:

• Collaboration between basic and clinical research.
• Study of the underlying mechanisms of acute pain, including the transition from acute to chronic pain, and the implications of acute pain therapy for clinical outcome and quality of life.
• Exchange of guideline developments, methodology, and implementation strategies.
• Exchange of information and experience about the assessment and treatment of acute pain, both within IASP and in exchanges with other national and international NGOs such as the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists.
• Identification and implementation of programs to minimize the development of acute pain and related suffering.
• Furthering the educational objectives of the SIG via international meetings, an annual symposium, workshops at IASP World Congresses, Congress satellite meetings, a newsletter, and the IASP website.

This webinar centered around identified perioperative behavioral interventions with randomized controlled evidence supporting efficacy for extending analgesia after surgery, based on the following work:

Darnall BD, Abshire L, Courtney RE, Davin S. “Upskilling Pain Relief After Surgery: A scoping review of perioperative behavioral intervention efficacy and practical considerations.” Reg Anes Pain Med. 2025;50:93-101.

In this article, authors reported that out of 20 included randomized controlled trials, four reported evidence for four different types of brief behavioral interventions that provided longer-term analgesia after surgery (e.g., 1-6 months). This webinar described the evidence for all four interventions, and included presentations from the principal investigators of three of these interventions. Only one of the four interventions is being utilized widely in the clinic as standard care. Practical considerations for broad implementation were discussed by an experienced team, as well as gaps in scientific research and understandings and in-progress research.

Participants included:

• Madelon Peters, PhD, Maastricht University, Netherlands, Need for accessible and effective interventions in post-surgical pain relief and recovery
• Katie Hadlandsmyth, PhD, University of Iowa, USA, Preventing persistent postsurgical pain: The Perioperative Pain Self-management (PePS) intervention
• Samantha Meints, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in arthroplasty patients
• Beth Darnall, PhD, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USASara Davin, PsyD, MPH, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA, Embedding Empowered Relief into spinal surgery at Cleveland Clinic
• Regina "Rianne" L.M. van Boekel, RN, PhD, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands (moderator)