This week on Calling in Sick, I'm sitting down with Dr. Rachel Zoffness — pain scientist, pain psychologist, Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF, lecturer at Stanford, and author of Tell Me Where It Hurts. If you have chronic pain, chronic illness, or you've ever been told your pain is "just stress" or "all in your head" — this episode is going to change the way you think about your body forever.
We're diving into:
🧠 The biopsychosocial model — why pain lives at the intersection of biology, psychology, AND sociology, and why treating only one is failing patients
🍳 Your pain recipe — the ingredients driving your pain up and down, and how to identify YOUR low-pain recipe
⛽️ The pain dial — how emotions act as a volume knob for pain, and why joy and laughter are actually medicine
👻 Phantom limb pain — the proof that pain is constructed in the brain, not just in tissue
😴 The ingredients most people never connect to pain — sleep, stress, trauma, diet, and your nervous system
💊 What actually works — biofeedback, CBT-I, pain-science PT, trauma-informed therapy, and why insurance covers surgery but not the treatments with the best evidence
This is not a hopeless conversation. Dr. Z's message is clear: chronic pain has more tools than we are told. And there are ingredients in your pain recipe that haven't been targeted yet!!!
xx,
Alex
💬 Comment: What's one thing in your life that you've noticed turns your pain dial UP — and what turns it DOWN?
TIMESTAMPS:
Intro:
00:00:00 Welcome back to Calling in Sick!
00:00:04 Guest Intro: Dr. Rachel Zoffnes, pain scientist and clinical psychologist
Understanding Chronic Pain:
00:02:52 Acute vs. Chronic Pain: The distinction and definitions
00:04:30 Addressing the myth that pain is "all in your head"
00:05:44 Phantom limb pain and how the brain constructs pain
00:07:05 The "Pain Recipe": Identifying high pain vs. low pain ingredients
The Biopsychosocial Pain Model:
00:12:38 Intro to the Biopsychosocial Model (Biological, Psychological, Sociological)
00:14:14 The Psychological Domain: Shared neural real estate between emotions and pain
00:18:41 The Sociological Domain: Trauma, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors
00:21:04 Exploring the somatic (physical) components of every emotion
Trauma, Sensitivity, and Recovery:
00:24:13 Trauma's role in priming a hyper-sensitive nervous system
00:27:02 The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) and susceptibility to chronic pain
00:32:17 Expanding horizons: Finding the right providers (PT, OT, Biofeedback, CBT-I, EMDR)
00:42:22 Gaps in medical education regarding pain science & the insurance part
Conclusion:
00:47:12 One Brain Cell Show: Awakening (Oliver Sachs) Robin Williams Stand-up comedy (everywhere) and Clarkson’s Farm (Amazon Prime)
00:51:10 Thank you for listening!
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Connect with our guest, Dr. Rachel Zoffness, PhD:
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/therealdoczoff/?hl=en
• Resources - https://www.zoffness.com/resources
• Website - https://www.zoffness.com/
Buy her book here: https://amzn.to/4aDThGb
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Produced by: Alexandra Wildeson — https://www.instagram.com/alexandrawildeson/
#ChronicPain #PainScience #BiopsychosocialModel #PainPsychology #ChronicIllness #SpoonieLife #InvisibleIllness #DrRachelZoffness #TellMeWhereItHurts #PainManagement #NeuroplasticPain #CentralSensitization #TraumaAndPain #ChronicPainAwareness #PainRecipe #PainDial #PainReprocessing #MentalHealth #CallingInSickPodcast #AlexWildeson
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