Chronic Pain Specialist

Optimizing Nonpharmacological Care for Chronic Pain

Jennifer L Murphy PhD:
Pain Psychologist, Author, Educator, Researcher

Dr. Murphy’s book is available now! This resource offers a unique perspective on how to integrate behavioral approaches for pain and opioid management. It is intended for all healthcare professionals Chronic Pain and Opioid Management: Strategies for Integrated Treatment


Click here to order now!  Discounted price for APA Member/Affiliates. Also available for order on Amazon

Also read Dr. Murphy’s Psychology Today blog, Ease Pain, with new posts available regularly.

Jennifer L. Murphy, Ph.D. is a pain psychologist with expertise in developing and implementing nonpharmacological treatments for chronic pain across healthcare systems. Dr. Murphy serves as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Director of Pain Management. She has served as lead for VA’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (CBT-CP) since its inception in 2012. She provides training workshops and presentations in both the public and private sectors on the role of behavioral management in improving pain-related functional outcomes, including opioid deprescribing. As a pain subject matter expert, Dr. Murphy is an investigator on multiple funded clinical trials examining nonpharmacological pain treatment approaches and outcomes. She has also conducted research on the effects of opioid cessation during pain rehabilitation, as well as outcomes of CBT-CP and interdisciplinary pain treatment. 

Recent Works

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Chronic Pain PTSD Research Quarterly, 2022

The Resurrection of Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation: Outcomes Across a Veterans Collaborative Pain Medicine, 2021

Chronic Pain: Behavioral Management Practical Neurology, March/April 2021

Optimizing Behavioral Treatments for Chronic Pain 21st Century Pain Solutions podcast interview by Dr. Wayne Phimister, January 2021

Ensuring Patient Protections When Tapering Opioids: Consensus Panel Recommendations Mayo Clinic Proceedings, October 2020

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain: Evidence for Effectiveness in a Model Program Psychological Services, online ahead of print, September 2020

Minimizing Distress During Opioid Deprescribing: Tools for Optimizing Outcomes Webinar presented by Providers Clinical Support System and American Academy of Pain Medicine, July 2020

A Balancing Act: Tools to Help Taper Invited presentation as part of panel, AAPM Foundation Spotlight: Opioid Reduction at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, National Harbor, Maryland, February 2020

Primary Care Providers Capitalizing on Behavioral Skills for Pain Management Webinar for Primary Care Development Corporation with Mayo’s Dr. Michael Hooten, November 2019

Treating Chronic Pain: Practitioner Profiles Featured in Good Practice article, Fall 2019 Edition


Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain: Results from a Clinical Demonstration Project in Primary Care Behavioral Health Article in Clinical Journal of Pain, October 2019

Interdisciplinary Chronic Pain Management: Overview and Lessons from the Public Sector Chapter in Bonica’s Management of Pain, 5th edition, 2019

Brief Behavioral Treatments for Chronic Pain: Implementing Behavioral Pain Medicine Strategies Across the Continuum of Care Article in Practical Pain Management, June 2019

Advancing the Role of Integrated Behavioral Health in Addressing Chronic Pain Invited symposium presentation at World Congress Healthcare 8th Annual Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care Models Summit, Orlando, Florida, May 2019

Buying into Biopsychosocial for Chronic Pain: Integrating Behavioral Approaches Symposium presentation at the Annual Meeting of the National Council for Behavioral Health, Nashville, Tennessee, March 2019

Speed Dating: Brief Pain Psychology Interventions That Work Symposium presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, Denver, Colorado, March 2019

Like Mind, Like Body podcast From the Curable app and site, Dr. Murphy discusses behavioral approaches to pain management, January 2019

Psychological Interventions in Pain Management Webinar presentation for the Uniformed Services University, Center for Deployment Psychology, October 2018

SAMHSA podcast From the Complex Clinical Decisions in Psychopharmacology Series on The Role of Pain Management in Recovery from Serious Mental Illness, Dr. Murphy discusses CBT for Chronic Pain (30:20-46:17), September 2018

CBT for Chronic Pain Patient-Therapist Clinical Vignettes  Video examples of CBT-CP therapy skills in action, August 2018

Clinical Policy Recommendations from the VHA State-of-the-Art Conference on Non-Pharmacological Approaches to Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Article in Journal of General Internal Medicine, May 2018