UAB study Finds Optimism Benefits Pain Sufferers

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have found that a person’s level of optimism — the general expectation of positive outcomes in his or her future — indirectly affected how much pain  they reported in a study of people suffering from osteoarthritic (OA) disease. The study was recently published online in The Journal of Pain.

“Past research has shown that optimists rate their pain as less severe, but it could not adequately explain why this occurred,” said Burel Goodin, Ph.D., primary investigator of the study and director of the UAB Biobehavioral Pain Research Lab. “We found that optimism indirectly affects pain reports through pain catastrophizing, an exaggerated negative response to actual or anticipated pain.”

Goodin, with a team of researchers from UAB and the University of Florida, studied 140 people between 45 and 85 years of age suffering from knee OA. The investigators used quantitative sensory testing, an approach to pain sensitivity assessment that consists of measuring subjects’ responses to various standardized methods of painful stimulation, such as heat and pressure. 

The study showed that knee OA patients who demonstrated the greatest levels of optimism tended to engage in less pain catastrophizing in anticipation of a painful stimulus. In turn, less pain catastrophizing predicted less severe pain reports in response to quantitative sensory testing.

The study showed that knee OA patients who demonstrated the greatest levels of optimism tended to engage in less pain catastrophizing in anticipation of a painful stimulus.

Goodin, a clinical health psychologist who specializes in pain-related behavioral medicine, often sees varying degrees of optimism and pessimism in clinical settings. He said even when people have a chronic health condition, their physical and mental well-being often benefits from keeping an optimistic outlook.  

“If we can actually target optimism and steer people towards that disposition, then we might be able to improve their outlook on future pain, and they might be more compliant with doctor’s orders or adhere to their treatments,” said Goodin, an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Psychology.

Cheryl McCullumsmith, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UAB Division of Hospital Psychiatry, said it is possible to teach optimism using experiential methods and treatment.

“While people may have a predisposition to a generally positive outlook or a negative outlook, several proven psychotherapy techniques that focus on shifting one’s negative thoughts to positive ones result in improvement in depression,” said McCullumsmith.

Goodin would like clinicians to start considering personal outlook. He said this could potentially help tailor treatments and decrease health-care costs by allocating treatments to those most in need. For instance, chronic pain patients with greater optimism may have fewer problems with pain catastrophizing, as suggested in this study, and require less treatment focused on this maladaptive pain response. Conversely, patients with less optimism may require additional treatment and assistance in order to effectively manage their pain catastrophizing.

By: Kevin Storr

From Alabama to Africa: UAB Grad to Help Farmers in Sierra Leone

Growing up as the son of a Presbyterian pastor, Brendan Rice of Anniston learned that stories have the power to move people to action. When he graduates with a bachelor’s degree in international studies from theUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, he will share some of his own story as the undergraduate commencement speaker.  

Then Rice will use what he has learned to help small farmers in Sierra Leone, Africa. 

Rice, 21, came to UAB and the university’s Global and Community Leadership Honors Program to further his interest in social justice and hone his leadership skills “to shape a better world.” UAB offered him the space and the opportunities to explore his interests, he said.

“After attending the Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit my freshman year, I became passionate about the issue of hunger, because it is simply unthinkable that hunger exists in a world with enough food for everyone,” Rice said. “I began to see how the energy and dedication of students can shake up the structures that allow issues like hunger and poverty to persist.”

In UAB’s international studies program, Rice had the opportunity to learn about food security through social, political and economic lenses while focusing on his coursework on Africa. Rice also earned a minor in media studies, which taught him how to communicate the issue of hunger through digital media in a way that moves people and spurs them to act.

Rice’s accomplishments, honors and volunteer work show his dedication and ability. A winner of the UAB International Studies Student Engagement Award and two-time winner of the UAB Student Excellence Service Initiative Award, Rice also was a national finalist for the Truman Scholarship, a highly competitive award for students exemplifying leadership and commitment to public service. He was one of 50 students selected nationally by Oxfam America as an Oxfam CHANGE Leader. He volunteered for the Alabama Poverty Project and Alabama Arise, a grassroots organization to promote repealing the Alabama state sales tax on groceries. He has taken years of French classes so he will be able to communicate with the citizens of Sierra Leone.

Rice is a “virtual intern” with USAID Kenya for the Virtual Student Foreign Service of the U.S. State Department. Through social media he shares stories related to food security in Kenya with students and development professionals. Each summer of his college career he has interned in Washington, D.C., for hunger-related organizations, including Bread for the World, the Alliance to End Hunger and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

These experiences, along with his coursework at UAB, have readied him for his new job with the Food and Agriculture Organization, in which he will bolster food security in Sierra Leone through developing rural institutions that improve smallholder farmers’ ability to increase food production and access markets.

“Considering that a great deal of the world’s hungry are subsistence farmers in rural areas who work just to produce food for their families, ensuring that smallholder farmers succeed both reduces hunger and begins to build a better global food system,” Rice said.

On Saturday, Rice will stand before his classmates, and their family and friends, to deliver his commencement address. He will talk to them about fighting injustice in the world, about helping people and about sharing their stories to make the world a better place. He will receive his degree in front of his parents, David and Karolyn Rice, and his brother Brian, who also attends UAB. Then Rice will set off to put his words into action in Africa.

By: Shannon Thomason 

CAS Graduate Student Entrepreneurship Awards

The UAB College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) announces a FY2013 competition for graduate student entrepreneurship awards. CAS plans to award six such graduate student projects of up to $10,000each. The goal is to promote student innovation and entrepreneurship across graduate programs in CAS. This program is open to all students in Master’s or Doctoral graduate programs in CAS. Graduate students supported under this program will undergo basic training in issues of intellectual property disclosure, copyrights, and patent filings, and will gain hands-on experience in assessing market and business potential of early-stage technologies, ideas, and concepts. This CAS program is organized in collaboration with the UAB Research Foundation (UABRF), the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA), and the Innovation Depot. The earliest start date for these awards will be March 1, 2013.

Eligibility:

• Must be enrolled as a Masters or Doctoral student in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences.
• In good academic standing with graduate GPA > 3.0.
• It is anticipated that the graduate student is engaged actively in research. In most cases, PhD candidates will be admitted to candidacy in their program of study.
• The proposed research must have a potential commercial partner either locally or nationally and the proposal must include plans for further collaborative research with the external partner. If a student has an innovative idea and needs help connecting to a business partner for commercialization discussions, he/she may contact Associate Dean Yogesh Vohra ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) for assistance in locating an appropriate partner.

Application Details

• A three page summary of the research program/thesis project stating major research goals, progress to date, and timeline for completion.
• A one page description of future collaborative plans with the commercial partner and the role the graduate student will play in these activities during the one year support period.
• A support letter from a commercial partner confirming participation in the project and any resources committed to the project.
• A support letter submitted separately by the student’s faculty mentor emphasizing the student’s participation in the project and the potential impact that funding may have on commercialization.
• A one-year budget for up to $10,000, along with budget justification. The budget request can include travel support for the student and faculty mentor to commercial partner sites if needed and other research expenses needed to achieve the goals of the collaborative project. This program is for student project support and no CAS funds may be directed to support the commercial partner or faculty mentor salary. The proposed budget and justification is limited to one page.
• Graduate students should email their completed applications to Associate Dean Yogesh Vohra ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) by February 1, 2013. The faculty mentor should submit a support letter directly to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .