Details tested techniques that have been found to help decrease the need for post-operative pain medicine, reduce complications, lessen distress before & after surgery, and promote a quicker return to health.
Dr. Deardorff is board certified in clinical health psychology, founding president of the American Academy of Clinical Health Psychology and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in two divisions: Health and Independent Practice. He is an examiner for the American Board of Professional Psychology (Clinical Health Psychology) and as an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine he is active in teaching and research.
Dr. Deardorff is co-author of eight books including two textbooks on the practice of clinical health psychology in medical settings. His books written for the layperson include Preparing for Surgery (New Harbinger, 1997), Win the Battle Against Back Pain (Bantam Doubleday, 1996) and Back Pain Remedies for Dummies (IDG, 1999). His book, Preparing for Surgery, won the Small Press Book award in Health and Medicine in 1998. He is co-author of the book, A Compendium of Spine Treatment Outcome Measures, published by the North American Spine Society. He is also co-author of a professional textbook on surgery screening and enhancing surgery outcomes entitled The Psychology of Spine Surgery (2003).
Dr. Deardorff has published numerous scientific articles and book chapters in the area of clinical health psychology, mostly in pain evaluation and treatment. He has lectured extensively in clinical health psychology with a special emphasis in pain management, preparing for surgery, and pre-surgical psychological screening.
Dr. Deardorff is one of the few psychologist-members of the North American Spine Society (NASS) and the National Association of Spine Specialists. He is a member of the Outcome Measures Task Force for NASS, as well as being on the yearly scientific review committee for the national professional meeting. Dr. Deardorff is on the medical advisory board for Spine-Health.com.
Dr. Deardorff recently founded www.BehavioralHealthCE.com which is a continuing education website for healthcare professionals. However, all courses can be viewed for free allowing for public health education
