8 Oct 2023

Dr Whitney Scott: Chronic pain without the pills

From Sunday Morning, 11:31 am on 8 October 2023

One in five New Zealand adults suffers from chronic pain. 

It's estimated in about 25 years there'll be one-and-a-quarter million people in constant, persistent or recurring pain, costing billions to alleviate. 

What can be done about your pain, if you have it, that can avoid or reduce the need for pills? 

Dr Whitney Scott is a senior lecturer in clinical health psychology at King’s College London, and she also works as a clinical psychologist at the INPUT Pain Unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Whitney as has published more than 80 papers on pain.

Woman with sciatic nerve pain in her lower back. (Photo by MICROGEN IMAGES/SCIENCE PHOTO LI / SMD / Science Photo Library via AFP)

Photo: MICROGEN IMAGES/SCIENCE PHOTO LI