sofia bergbom is a clinical psychologist and researcher affiliated with the Center for Health and Medical Psycho-logy at Örebro University. Born in 1982, she graduated from the clinical psychology program at Uppsala University in 2007 and earned her license as a psychologist in 2008. Her main research interest has been the application of pain psychology in clinical settings. More specifically, she has investigated how psychological mechanisms can contribute to the development of long-term disabling pain problems, and how the me-chanisms can be targeted in early interventions.
Most people who experience pain recover spontaneously, but some do not. Already at an early stage, it is possible to identify people at risk for term pain-related disability. Common for many people at risk for long-term problems is elevations in psychological factors related to the experience of pain. Taking off in the fear-avoidance model of pain along with earlier findings about how these psychological factors can contribute to long-term suffering, this dissertation aims to extend our knowledge about how they work. Which factors are important for the development of long-term pain? Are there individual differences in terms of psychological factors? How can we use this knowledge to improve interventions? The dissertation investigates if we can target psychological factors directly, and reverse an unfavorable prognosis. Moreover, it includes the realization of a matching system where different combinations of elevations in psychological factors are used as cues as to which interventions might be effective. Finally, a clinical flow chart is presented summarizing our knowledge about assessment of people who seek for pain, appropriate targets for treatment, and treatment optimization.
Örebro Studies in Psychology 29 I
ÖREBRO 20142014
