This activity is only available to Larry Epp's group and is by invitation on

We all know we are going to die, but the when and the how are unknown. While many causes of death are due to preventable injury, the majority of death is caused by medical related factors such as cancer, stroke, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s to name a few. We often head to Dr. Google with our symptoms where we read that our headache can be caused by dehydration or possibly a brain tumor. Of course, we assume the worst. It is no wonder humans experience excessive health-related fears based on misperceptions of innocent bodily cues and sensations. Generally, we refer to these worries as Health Anxiety, however we are really talking about two different diagnoses: Illness Anxiety Disorder and Somatic Symptom Disorder. In this talk you will learn the difference between the two diagnoses and how to treat them using effective techniques.

All people experience needs to regulate their emotions throughout everyday life. Some of our strategies may be more useful than others, but sometimes lack of either awareness or practice of different emotion regulation strategies is a barrier to exploring more effective ways at regulating our emotions without ignoring them. This presentation will cover: the process model of emotion generation and emotion regulation; how to use the process model to identify various places to regulate emotions; past research on two emotion regulation strategies: suppression and rethinking; practice utilizing the rethinking strategy; create a “plan to practice” an active emotion regulation strategy; suggestions for using the model in practice and ways of helping patients practice and self-monitor their emotion regulation effectiveness. Teaching patients the process model of emotions and emotion regulation can provide an empowering framework for organizing and suggesting emotion regulation strategies. Attendees will also practice one emotion regulation strategy “rethinking” – and generate ways to aid their patients in practicing this strategy to add to a toolbelt.

At the turn of the 21st century, pain management became a major public health concern, recognized as the 5th vital sign in VA healthcare, while opioid prescribing for chronic pain surged, leading to a fivefold increase in morphine milligram equivalents by 2010. In 2013, the DSM-5 redefined Substance Use Disorder (SUD) criteria, excluding tolerance and withdrawal for medically prescribed opioids. As the opioid epidemic unfolded, the limitations of long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain became evident, prompting current guidelines to discourage opioid initiation in favor of non-opioid approaches. However, some patients remain on long-term opioid therapy, struggling to taper without functional improvement, raising questions about whether these cases fit under mild Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) or require a new diagnostic category. This talk will address this ambiguity, outlining a clinical decision-making framework, and exploring the need for new diagnostic approaches when opioid harms outweigh benefits.