March 7, 2002

• Fry on Fry
  Departing Executive Vice President John Fry takes a backward look at his impact on and off campus.

• Goodwin speech hails the chiefs
• Whoa, courts, Congress can do it
• Acquire skills here

• Research: Early America as Indian country
• Student Spotlight: Egg donation ethics study wins award
• Staff Q&A: A program with University City High School steers students like Everton Swaby towards success.

• Ask Benny: About that Locust Walk bike-riding ban
• SAS meets IT in new classes
• Crunch time
• Advice for homebuyers and tips for homeowners
• Out and About: The show must go on, by gum

• Event Listings
• Editor's Pick: Spring suds shine
• People's choice: Annenberg pics ought-to-be Oscars

• News Briefs
• Bookquick from the University Press
• Quoted Recently
• Awards & Honors
• At work with...Twanda Daniels
• Campus Buzz

Office of University Communications home page

“Heal the Pain, Comfort the Spirit: The Hows and Whys of Modern Pain Treatment”

Dorene O’Hara
200 pages, paper, $19.95

Specialists estimate that as many as 60 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, and approximately 20 percent of the population in most developed countries reports having chronic pain. According to one study, chronic back pain alone afflicts more than 4 million Americans, and nearly 50 percent of these are disabled by it. Pain is the most frequent cause of disability in the United States, with as many as 50 million Americans on short- or long-term disability leave from work at any one time.

As these figures suggest, chronic pain is extremely difficult to treat—it is a complex and baffling phenomenon, poorly understood even in the medical centers devoted to its diagnosis and treatment.

In “Heal the Pain, Comfort the Spirit,” Dorene O’Hara, professor of anesthesiology at New York Medical College and associate professor of biomedical engineering at Rutgers University, explores techniques of managing pain developed over her many years of studying, treating and lecturing on chronic pain. She also examines contributions made by other clinical professionals and by practitioners of alternative medicine.

Combining a general survey of the forms of pain therapy with suggestions for how patients can find the most appropriate treatment plan for themselves, the book applies to pain sufferers as well as practitioners.

The American Library Association recently endorsed O’Hara’s work, writing that she “brings scientific and medical points to life in an informative and cogent book for both her medical colleagues and their patients.” “Heal the Pain, Comfort the Spirit” is the latest in a long line of distinguished books on care-giving published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

— University of Pennsylvania Press