The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University and the Rita Allen Foundation recently hosted a webinar about creating a cohesive messaging platform regarding chronic pain. Dr. Ted Price, CAPS director, participated in the webinar.
As Dr. Laura Lindenfield Sher notes, chronic pain “impacts more than 100 million Americans” and the cost of treating it “is estimated to be between 560-635 billion dollars per year”. Tragically, “the suicide rate for chronic pain sufferers is more than double the national average”. Additionally, when it comes to the treatment of chronic pain, there are several imbalances of equity. For instance, “women are treated less aggressively than men” and “black patients are half as likely to receive medications than their white counterparts” even when they exhibit similar symptoms. Clearly, chronic pain is a wide scale issue that requires a deep public commitment to solve.
You can watch the complete webinar at:
