November 05, 2020

Episode 202 | Using Savoring And Mindfulness To Treat Chronic Pain And Addiction With Eric Garland

38 minutes

As always, it's an honor and a pleasure to be spending this time with you. If you're using any type of psychologically informed care, whether you're a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a coach, a nurse, a physician, or a mental health provider, you'll notice that many people observe that pain impacts their thoughts and brings about emotional states that affect their body, aggravates pain and for some, increases their desire for drugs such as opioids. More and more patients are seeking integrative and comprehensive pain therapies that care for both their body as well as their mind. Some realize that pain medications alone are not enough to address the root cause of their problem.

In this episode, we speak with Professor Eric Garland, who teaches at the University of Utah, a licensed clinical social worker and a researcher who uses mindfulness to treat many chronic conditions. His research has been shown to be effective and support the recovery from alcohol dependence, opioid misuse, nicotine addiction, relieve pain as well as symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, reduces video game addiction and unhealthy eating behaviors. We'll take a deep dive into the theory, research and practical components of delivering mindfulness-based interventions.

Specifically, this episode centers around three concepts that I want to define before we begin this episode. The first is simply mindfulness, which is a state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment while accepting thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. The second is reappraisal, which entails helping people shift their thinking and developing new, more helpful perspectives, beliefs, and actions to deal with stressful events. The third is the skill of savoring, which is a positive sense of reward needed to drive and sustain behavior change. This is an excellent episode for those living with chronic pain, stress and related conditions, as well as the practitioners who treat them. I enjoyed speaking with Eric and I know you will as well. Let's begin. Let's meet Professor Eric Garland.

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