Dokyoung Sophia You, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Her research focuses on developing brief, effective psychological treatments for chronic pain and substance use, with a particular emphasis on creating scalable and accessible interventions.
Dr. You’s work also advances objective measures, such as EEG, to evaluate treatment outcomes and uncover mechanisms that explain why certain interventions work for specific individuals. During her doctoral training, she received an F31 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to study alcohol withdrawal-associated hyperalgesia. Building on this foundation, she completed a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) K23 project examining the effects of pain catastrophizing on prescription opioid craving and the role of subjective and objective stress in these dynamics.
Her research spans the biopsychosocial mechanisms of chronic pain and substance use, real-world discovery through analyzing data from learning health care systems, and the effectiveness of web-based or digital pain psychology interventions.
Currently, Dr. You is dedicated to developing accessible, effective interventions to address pain and substance use while exploring their underlying mechanisms. Her ultimate goal is to create individualized care approaches that prevent cancer, improve survivorship, optimize pain management with fewer medications and substances, and help patients achieve healthier, more peaceful, and meaningful lives.
Education:
Degree-Granting Institutions
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, Clinical Psychology
Postgraduate Training
- Stanford University, Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Lab, Palo Alto, CA, Pain Psychology Fellowship
Funding:
NRSA Fellowship (F31) from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Texas A&M University (Sponsor: Mary Meagher, PhD) F31, Grant No. 5F31AA023709 Project Title: Effect of Alcohol Withdrawal on Pain Sensitization.
K23 Grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Role: PI (Advisors: Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, Beth Darnall, PhD). Grant No. K23DA048972.
Project Title: Effect of Pain Catastrophizing on Prescription Opioid Craving.
T32 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Role: Secondary Mentor (PI: Sean Mackey, MD, PhD), Grant No. 5T32DA035165 Project Tile: Interdisciplinary Training in Pain and/or Substance Use Disorders.
R01 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Role: Co-I (PI: Jennifer Hah, MD, MS), Grant No. R01DA058694. Project Tile: Integrating Tailored Postoperative Opioid Tapering and Pain Management Support for Patients on Long-Term Opioid Use Presenting for Spine Surgery
Select Publications:
You DS, Ziadni MS, Vest N, Megerdichian N, Maronesy T, Castro RJ, Darnall BD, Mackey SC, Humphreys K. Evaluating a 30-day alcohol abstinence challenge in heavy-drinking individuals with and without chronic pain: feasibility, safety, and perceived benefits. Alcohol (In Press).
Edwards KA, Palenski P, Perez L, You DS, Ziadni M, Jung C, Adair E, Tian L, Mackey SC, Darnall BD. Protocol for a Randomized Trial of a Self-Directed Digital Pain Management Intervention (Empowered Relief®) Tailored to Adults with Chronic Pain and Prescription Opioid Misuse/Disorder: The MOBILE Relief Study. Accepted to BMJ.
Klein M, Darnall BD, You DS. Feasibility of single session “Empowered Relief” virtual intervention for patients with chronic pain taking methadone or buprenorphine: Protocol for a single arm trial. JMIR, 2024, https://www.researchprotocols.org/2024/1/e53784/
You DS, Chong JL, Mackey SC, Poupore-King H. Utilizing a learning health system to capture real-world patient data: Application of the reliable change index to evaluate and improve the outcome of a pain rehabilitation program. Pain Prac 2024, Online. doi: 10.1111/papr.13364.
Jiang TE, Edwards KA, Dildine TC, You DS, Nguyen T, Pascual AP, Falasinnu T. Trends in patient representation in low back pain pharmacological randomized clinical trials, 2011-2020: A systematic review. J Pain 2024, doi 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.12.013
You DS, Cook KF, Lannon EW, Ziadni MS, Darnall BD, Mackey SC. Establishing the interpretability and utility of the 4-item BriefPCS. Sci Rep 2023, 13:21272.
Darnall BD, Burns JW, Hong J, Roy A, Slater K, Poupore-King H, Ziadni MS, You DS, Jung C, Cook KF, Lorig K, Tian L, Mackey SC. Empowered Relief, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Health Education for chronic back pain: A comparison of outcomes at 6-Month follow-up for a randomized controlled trial. Pain Rep 2024, 9(1):e1116.
Ziadni, M, Jaros S, Anderson SR, You DS, Darnall BD, Mackey SD. A longitudinal investigation of the impact of COVID-19 on patients with chronic pain. J Pain 2023, 24(10):1830-42.
You DS, Hettie G, Darnall BD, Ziadni MS. Spontaneous self-affirmation: an adaptive coping strategy for patients with chronic pain. Scan J Pain 2023, 23(3):531-538.
Webster F, Connoy L, Longo R, Ahuja D, Amtmann D, Anderson A, Ashton-James C, Boyd H, Chambers CT, Cook KF, Cowan P, Crombez G, Feinstein AB, Fuqua A, Gilam G, Jordan I, Mackey SC, Martins E, Martire LM, O’Sullivan P, Richards DP, Turner JA, Veasley C, Würtzen H, Yang S-Y, You DS, Ziadni MS, Darnall BD. Patient responses to the term pain catastrophizing: Thematic analysis of cross-sectional international data. J Pain 2022, 24(2):356-67.
Ziadni MS, You DS, Tanner R, Salazar B, Jaros S, Ram J, Roy A, Tanner N, Salmasi V, Gardner M, Darnall BD. “My Surgical Success”: Feasibility and impact of a single-session digital behavioral pain medicine intervention on pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, and time to opioid cessation after orthopedic trauma surgery-a randomized trial. Anesth Analg 2022;135(2):394-405.
You DS, Ziadni MS, Hettie B, Darnall BD, Cook, KF, Von Korff RM, Mackey SC. Comparing perceived pain impact between younger and older adults with high impact chronic pain: A cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative survey. Front Pain Res 2022, 3:850713.
Ziadni MS, You DS, Cramer EM, Anderson SR, Hettie G, Darnall, BD, Mackey SC. The impact of COVID-19 on patient with chronic pain seeking care at a tertiary pain clinic. Sci Rep 2022;12:6435.
Bhandari RP, Harrison L, Richardson P, Arce AG, You DS, Rajagopalan A, Birnie KA, Sil S. Clinical utility of CAT administered PROMIS measures to track change for pediatric chronic pain. J Pain 2022; 23:55-64.
You DS, Ziadni MS, Cooley CE, Talavera DC, Mackey SC, Poupore-King H. Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program in real-world patients with chronic back pain: A pilot cohort data analysis. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil 2021;34(6):965-73.
Kong JT, You DS, Law CSW, Darnall BD, Gross JJ, Manber R, Mackey S. Association between temporal summation and conditioned pain modulation in chronic low back pain: baseline results from two clinical trials. Pain Rep 2021;6(4):e975.
Hettie G, Nwaneshiudu CA, Ziadni MS, Darnall BD, Mackey SC, You DS. Lack of premeditation predicts aberrant behaviors related to prescription opioids in patients with chronic pain: A cross-sectional study. Subst Use Misuse 2021;56:1904-9.
You DS, Rassu FS, Meagher MW. Emotion regulation strategies moderate the impact of negative emotion induction on alcohol craving in college drinkers: an experimental paradigm. J AM Coll Health 2021;1-9. DOI 10.1080/07448481.2021.1942884
Darnall BD, Roy A, Chen AL, Ziadni MS, Keane RT, You DS, Slater K, King H, Mackey I, Kao M-C, Cook KF, Lorig K, Zhang D, Hong J, Tian L, Mackey SC. Comparison of a Single session Pain Management Skills intervention to a Single session Health Education Intervention to Eight sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open 2021;4(8):e2113401.
You DS, Karen FC, Domingue BW, Ziadni MS, Hah JM, Darnall BD, Mackey SC. Customizing CAT administration of the PROMIS-Prescription Pain Medication Misuse Item Bank for patients with chronic pain. Pain Med. 2021; 22(7):1669-75
You DS, Mardian AS, Darnall BD, Chen CA, De Bruyne K, Flood PD, Kao MC, Karnik AD, McNeely J, Porter JG, Schwartz RP, Stieg RL, Mackey SC. A Brief Screening Tool for Opioid Use Disorder: EMPOWER Study Expert Consensus Protocol. Front Med 2021;8: Article 591201.
Ziadni MS, You DS, Chen AL, Wilson A, Darnall BD. Validation of CARE Scale-7 in treatment-seeking patients with chronic pain: Measurement of sex invariance. Pain Rep 2020,5:e862
Ziadni MS, You DS, Johnson L, Lumley MA, Darnall BD. Emotions matter: The role of emotional approach coping in chronic pain. Eur J Pain 2020;24:1775-84. doi:10.1002/ejp.1625
You DS, Hahn HA, Meagher MW. Hyperalgesia after a drinking episode in young adult binge drinkers: A cross-sectional study. Alcohol Alcohol 2020;55(6):608-15. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agaa035
Ziadni MS, You DS, Sturgeon JA, Mackey SC; Darnall BD. Perceived injustice mediates the relationship between perceived childhood neglect and current function in patients with chronic pain: a cross-sectional study. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 2020. doi: 10.1007/s10880-020-09722-8
You DS, Ziadni MS, Gilam G, Darnall BD, Mackey SC. Evaluation of candidate items for severe PTSD screening for patients with chronic pain: pilot data analysis with IRT approach. Pain Pract 2019; 20(3):262-8. https://doi.org/10.1111/papr.12848
Gilam G, Sturgeon JA, You DS, Wasan AD, Darnall DB, Mackey SC. Negative affect-related factors have the strongest association with prescription opioid misuse in a cross-sectional cohort of patients with chronic pain. Pain Med 2019;21:e127-38.
You DS, Hah J, Collins S, Ziadni MS, Domingue B, Karen C, Mackey SC. Evaluation of the preliminary validity of misuse of prescription pain medication items from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). Pain Med 2019;20:1925-33.
You DS, Meagher MW. Childhood adversity and pain facilitation. Psychosom Med 2018, 80:869-79.
You DS, Sergiu A, Linsenbardt H, Meagher MW. Cumulative childhood adversity as a risk factor for common chronic pain conditions in young adults. Pain Med 2018; 20:486-94.
Ziadni M, You DS, Wilson AC, Darnall BD. CARE Scale-7: Development and preliminary validation of a measure to assess factors impacting self-care in chronic pain. Clin J Pain 2018;34:818-24.
You DS, Haney RB, Meagher MW. Generalized pain sensitization and endogenous oxytocin in individuals with symptoms of migraine: A cross-sectional study. Headache 2017;58:62-77.
Hahn H, You DS, Hubbard M, Thamotharan S, Fields S. Is it too soon to meet? Examining differences in geosocial networking app use and sexual risk behavior of emerging adults. Sexuality & Culture 2017; 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-017-9449-3.
You DS, Meagher MW. Association between borderline personality traits and temporal summation of second pain. Behav Med 2017;43:208-217.
You DS, Meagher MW. Childhood adversity and pain sensitization. Psychosom Med. 2016;78:1084-93.
Van Meter A, You DS, Halverson T, Youngstrom EA, Birmaher B, Fristad MA, Kowatch RA, Horwitz SM, Frazier TW, Arnold LE, Findling RL, the LAMS group. Diagnostic efficiency of caregiver report on the SCARED for identifying youth anxiety disorders in outpatient settings. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2016;1-15.
You DS, Creech SK, Meagher MW. Enhanced area of secondary hyperalgesia in women with multiple stressful life events: a pilot study. Pain Med. 2016;17:1-6.
You DS, Youngstrom EA, Feeny NC, Youngstrom JK, Findling RL. Comparing the diagnostic accuracy of five instruments for detecting posttraumatic stress disorder in youth. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2015;46:1-12.
You DS, Creech SK, Vichaya EG, Young EE, Smith JS, Meagher MW. The effect of written emotional disclosure on secondary hyperalgesia in women with trauma history. Psychosom Med. 2014;76:337-346.