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Mark Lumley

Mark Lumley

Distinguished Professor

313-577-2247

313-577-7636 (fax)

mlumley@wayne.edu

5057 Woodward, Room 7304

Curriculum vitae

Website(s)

s.wayne.edu/lumleylab

Media

Department

Psychology

Mark Lumley

I regret to inform you that I am NOT recruiting doctoral students under my mentorship for fall 2025 admission to our clinical psychology program.

I am a native of Detroit and attended Wayne State University as an undergraduate, majoring in both psychology and biology. I completed the Ph.D. program in clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida in Gainesville from 1985 until 1990, including a pre-doctoral clinical psychology internship (1989-1990) at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. Subsequently, I had a post-doctoral fellowship (1990-1991) in behavioral medicine at the University of Michigan. I have been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Wayne State University since 1991.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist in Michigan and maintained a small practice for many years until I became the director of clinical training in the department in 2005 – a position I held through 2022. I very much enjoy teaching and mentoring graduate students, and have graduated 47 Ph.D. students. I also conduct clinical supervision at our in-house training clinic and develop and test novel emotional processing therapy interventions with students in my lab.

As one who studies "disclosure," I also value it highly. So, I'll disclose that I am married, a father of four sons (identical twins born in 1990 and sons born in 1992 and 1994), try to play soccer, tennis and most recently, pickleball, get injured often, and sing in a Methodist church contemporary group (tenor).

Research interest(s)/area of expertise

My primary scholarly interests are on emotions, stress, and physical health. Much of the research that my students, colleagues, and I conduct involves developing and testing emotion-focused interventions to reduce stress and improve health. For example, in numerous studies, we have examined the effects of written or verbal emotional disclosure. More recently, we have developed and have tested "Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy" (EAET) for people who have centralized psychosomatic conditions, such as fibromyalgia, headaches, chronic musculoskeletal pain, irritable bowel syndrome and pelvic pain.

We are demonstrating that directly targeting unresolved stress, trauma, and psychological conflict is very helpful for many patients with these conditions. EAET is listed as one of the evidence-based behavioral treatments by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pain Management Best Practices Inter-agency Task Force Report (2019). We also are interested in individual differences in emotional abilities and deficits, such as the personality construct of alexithymia, and how such individual differences influence responses to our interventions. I am collaborating on research related to EAET with numerous groups around the country and world. I am also involved with the development and testing of Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), which is closely related to EAET but focuses more on reducing people's fear of their pain and changing their fearful attributions for their pain "from body to brain."

We have developed various manuals or protocols to study EAET in clinical trials, and these are described briefly here along with links to the documents. These are freely available for downloading and use.

In 2012, we developed this EAET Therapist Manual and EAET Patient Workbook for an 8-session, group-based therapy for people with fibromyalgia:

We developed and used in several trials the Life Stress EAET Interview Protocol, which is designed for a single, 90-minute session with a patient:

We developed a three-session (brief) version of individually-administered EAET and used in a trial for people with irritable bowel syndrome:

 This document lists EAET Principles and Procedures for Practitioners. This document lists EAET Suggestions and Instructions for Patients.

This document provides an annotated bibliography and additional references of studies on EAET and related approaches that we and others have conducted:

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Florida (Department of Clinical and Health Psychology), 1990
  • B.S. (2) in Psychology and Biology, Wayne State University, 1985
  • Licensed Psychologist, Michigan

Awards and grants

Here are some of the major grants that I have had in recent years:

  • Co-investigator (5%). 2R44 NR017575. “Efficacy of a Virtual Reality Neuroscience-based Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain. National Institute of Nursing Research (NIH/NINR), 6/11/2024 - 3/31/2027. Total costs: $1,843,764. (Tassilo Baeuerle & Marta Ceko, Multiple PI)
  • Co-Principal Investigator. R01 NR020610: "Comparative mechanisms (mediators, moderators) of psychosocial chronic pain treatments. National Institute of Nursing Research (NIH/NINR), 9/26/2022 - 6/30/2026. Total costs: $2,802,546. (John Burns & Mark Lumley, Multiple PI)
  • Co-investigator. R21 NR018972: “Automated Physiological Assessment of Chronic Pain in Daily Life.” National Institute of Nursing Research (NIH/NINR), 4/1/2021 - 3/31/2023. Total costs: $419,129. (Marta Ceko, PI)
  • Co-investigator. “Examining the efficacy of a novel stress reduction training on the reversal of prediabetes: A feasibility study. Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Michigan, 1/1/2020 – 12/30/2022; Total costs: $70,000. (Maha Albdour, PI)
  • Co-investigator. R61/R33 MH111935. "Effects of THC on retention of memory for fear extinction learning in PTSD." National Institute of Mental Health, 2/24/2017 - 12/31/2023; Total costs: $1,438,000. (Christine Rabinak, PI)
  • Co-Principal Investigator. R21 AR074020. “Development and preliminary testing of novel virtual human-assisted psychosocial interviews for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.” National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIH/NIAMS), 9/1/2018 – 6/30/2021; Total costs: $381,808. (Doerte Junghaenel & Mark Lumley, Multiple PI)
  • Co-investigator. R21 AT007939: “Preliminary test of an integrative intervention to alleviate chronic pain and improve quality of life.” National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 8/1/2014 – 7/31/2016; Total costs: $404,950. (Annmarie Cano, PI)
  • Principal Investigator. R01AR057808: “Emotional exposure and cognitive behavioral therapies for fibromyalgia.” National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases, 8/15/2010 – 6/30/2015; Total costs: $3,373,353
  • Site Principal Investigator. R01AR057047: “Anger suppression and expression among chronic pain patients.” National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases, 4/2010 – 3/2014; Total costs to Wayne State: $920,458. (John Burns, Rush University Medical Center, is PI of primary grant)
  • Co-investigator. R01 MH085793: “Health in Iraqi refugees: Importance of post-displacement social stressors.” National Institute of Mental Health, 7/1/2010 – 2/28/2015; Total costs: $2,641,514. (Bengt Arnetz, PI)
  • Co-investigator. R34 MH086943: “Imagery-based trauma-resiliency training for urban police.” National Institute of Mental Health, 8/2009 – 5/2012; Total costs: $679,718. (Bengt Arnetz, PI)
  • Co-investigator. R21 HL097191: “Perceived fairness and biological stress reactivity.” National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 8/15/2010 – 4/30/2012; Total costs: $418,000. (Todd Lucas, PI)
  • Principal Investigator. R01 AR049059: “Disclosure and skills training for rheumatoid arthritis.” National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases, 8/2004 – 5/2009; Total costs: $2,646,682

News mentions

Selected publications

The following is taken from my NIH Biosketch.

Personal statement

I hold the rank of distinguished professor at Wayne State University (an R1, Highest Research Activity institution) and am also a licensed clinical psychologist. My research program is internationally recognized for advancing knowledge and practice on stress, emotional processes (e.g., alexithymia, emotional disclosure, emotional expression), and health, particularly in chronic pain disorders. I have been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over two decades, have published over 200 peer-reviewed articles (Google Scholar h-index = 78), and am a Fellow of several professional societies.

I have specific expertise in the development and testing of psychological interventions for people with chronic pain, including written and spoken emotional disclosure techniques, Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET), which I co-developed. My colleagues and I have demonstrated the benefits of these interventions in many small- and large-scale randomized clinical trials, encouraging the field to improve chronic pain treatments by seeking recovery from chronic primary pain and by targeting trauma and emotional/interpersonal conflict via emotional processing. EAET is listed as an evidence-based treatment option in the 2019 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pain Management Best Practices Inter-agency Task Force Report.

Several of my recent articles (with trainees noted in italics) that review this body of work are:

  1. Lumley, M.A., Yamin, J.B., Pester, B.D., Krohner, S., & Urbanik, C.P. (2022). Trauma matters: Psychological interventions for comorbid psychosocial trauma and chronic pain. PAIN, 163, 599-603. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002425.
  2. Lumley, M.A., & Schubiner, H. (2019). Emotional awareness and expression therapy for chronic pain: Rationale, principles and techniques, evidence, and critical analysis. Current Rheumatology Reports, 21, Article 30. PMCID: PMC7309024. doi.org/10.1007/s11926-019-0829-6.
  3. Lumley, M.A., & Schubiner, H. (2019). Psychological therapy for centralized pain: An integrative assessment and treatment model. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81, 114-124. PMCID: PMC6355353.
  4. Aaron, R.V., Finan, P.H., Wegener, S.T., Keefe, F.J., & Lumley, M.A. (2020). Emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic factor underlying co-occurring chronic pain and problematic opioid use. American Psychologist, 75, 796-810. PMCID: PMC8100821.

Contributions to science

Health correlates of emotional awareness and expression

We have published numerous studies of the correlates of alexithymia (deficient emotional awareness and expression) and other emotional processes using a range of assessment methods. We have reported how emotional processes relate to chronic pain, mental health, sleep, smoking, physiological reactivity, gambling, symptom awareness, health care utilization, disease biomarkers, and many other outcomes. Much of this work is included in two major meta-analyses (a and b below) and a highly cited review of pain and emotion (c, below). This work shows that limited emotional awareness and expression are risk factors for poor health.

  1. Asgarabad, M.H., Yegaei, P.S., Jafari, F., Azami-Aghdash, S., & Lumley, M.A. (2023). The relationship of alexithymia to pain and other symptoms in fibromyalgia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Pain, 27, 321-337.
  2. Aaron, R.V., Fisher, E.A., de la Vega, R., Lumley, M.A., & Palermo, T.M. (2019). Alexithymia in individuals with chronic pain and its relation to pain intensity, physical interference, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PAIN, 160, 994-1006.
  3. Lumley, M.A., Cohen, J.L., Borszcz, G.S., Cano, A., Radcliffe, A., Porter, L., Schubiner, H., & Keefe, F.J. (2011). Pain and emotion: A biopsychosocial review of recent research. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67, 1-27. PMCID: PMC3152687.
  4. Lumley, M.A., Neely, L.C., & Burger, A.J. (2007). Assessing alexithymia in the medical setting: Implications for understanding and treating health problems. Journal of Personality Assessment, 89, 1-17. PMCID: PMC2931418.

Experimental research on emotional disclosure

To test whether such emotional processes are causally related to health, my students and I have conducted 16 controlled experiments on the health effects of privately writing or speaking about trauma or stress (“emotional disclosure”) in people with chronic pain or other conditions/stressors. We have demonstrated that people often experience stressors that are not disclosed or resolved, disclosure has positive but small health benefits, and this technique tends to work best for people with some emotional skills. We reviewed this literature for chronic pain (d, below).

  1. Krohner, S., Town, J., Cannoy, C.N., Schubiner, H., Rapport, L.J., Grekin, E., & Lumley, M.A. (2024). Emotion-focused psychodynamic interview for people with chronic musculoskeletal pain and childhood adversity: A randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Pain, 25, 39-52.
  2. Holmes, H.J., Yamin, J.B., Krohner, S., Rapport, L.J., Grekin, E.R., Schubiner, H., & Lumley, M.A. (2021). Effects of a sexual health interview among Arab American women: An experimental disclosure study. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50, 373-384.
  3. Lumley, M.A., Keefe, F.J., et al. (2014). The effects of written emotional disclosure and coping skills training in rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82, 644-658. PMCID: PMC4115002.
  4. Lumley, M.A., Sklar, E.R., & Carty, J.N. (2012). Emotional disclosure interventions for chronic pain: From the laboratory to the clinic. Translational Behavioral Medicine: Practice, Policy, Research, 2, 73-81. PMCID: PMC3419371.

Development and testing of innovative methods of intervention delivery

My colleagues and I have become increasingly interested in testing alternatives to in-person delivery of clinical interventions for people with chronic pain and related disorders. Thus, in recent years, we have examined virtual reality interventions (a below), interventions delivered by computer avatar (b, below), over the internet (c, below), and via telehealth (d, below). These studies demonstrate the success of these innovative methods.

  1. Čeko, M., Baeuerle, T., Webster, L., Wager, T.D., & Lumley, M.A. (in press, 2024). The effects of virtual reality neuroscience-based therapy on clinical and neuroimaging outcomes in patients with chronic back pain: A randomized clinical trial. PAIN.
  2. Junghaenel, D.U., Schneider, S., Lucas, G., Boberg, J., Weinstein, F.M., Richeimer, S.H., Stone, A.A., & Lumley, M.A. (2023). Virtual human-delivered interviews for patients with chronic pain: Feasibility, acceptability, and a pilot randomized trial of standard medical, psychosocial, and educational interviews. Psychosomatic Medicine, 85, 627-638.
  3. Maroti, D., Lumley, M.A., Schubiner, H., Lilliengren, P., Bileviciute-Ljungar, I., Ljótsson, B., & Johansson, R. (2022). Internet-based emotional awareness and expression therapy for somatic symptom disorder: A randomized, controlled trial. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 163, Article 111068.
  4. Yarns, B.C., Molaie, A.M., Lumley, M.A., Zhu, T.A., Jazi, A.N., Ganz, D.A., & Melrose, R.J. (2024). Video telehealth Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy for older U.S. Military veterans with chronic pain: A pilot study. Clinical Gerontologist, 47, 136-148.

Developing and testing emotional exposure and pain reprocessing therapies

Many patients with chronic pain and other somatic symptoms have trauma or unresolved conflicts and fear-based beliefs about their bodies and pain, and avoidance of their emotions and activities triggers or maintain their symptoms. Standard pain management or acceptance treatments have limited effects on pain, perhaps because they do not directly address the underlying trauma, emotional conflict, fear-based avoidance, and disturbed relationships found in many of these patients.

Exposure-based therapies, however, are effective for trauma and other anxiety disorders, so my colleagues and I have developed and tested novel emotional and pain exposure / processing approaches for patients with various chronic pain disorders. These studies suggest that targeting fears of emotions and of pain can lead to substantial pain reductions in some patients.

  1. Ashar, Y.K., Gordon, A., Schubiner, H., Uipi, C., Knight, K., Anderson, Z, Carlisle, J., Polisky, L., Geuter, S., Flood, T., Kragel, P., Dimidjian, S., Lumley, M.A., & Wager, T.D. (2022). Pain reprocessing therapy for chronic back pain: A randomized clinical trial with functional neuroimaging. JAMA Psychiatry, 79, 13-23.
  2. Ashar, Y.K., Perlis, R.H., Liston, C., Lumley, M.A., Gunning, F.M., & Wager, T.D. (2023). Reattributing the causes of chronic back pain: A natural language investigation of mechanisms of pain reprocessing therapy. JAMA Network Open, 6(9):e2333846. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.33846.
  3. Ziadni, M.S., Sturgeon, J.A., & Lumley, M.A. (2022). “Pain, stress, and emotions”: Uncontrolled trial of a single-session, telehealth, Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy class for patients with chronic pain. Frontiers in Pain Research, 3, Article 1028561.
  4. Burger, A.J., Lumley, M.A., Carty, J.N., Latsch, D.V., Thakur, E.R., Hyde-Nolan, M.E., Hijazi, A.M., & Schubiner, H. (2016). The effects of a novel psychological attribution and emotional awareness and expression therapy for chronic musculoskeletal pain: A preliminary, uncontrolled trial. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 81, 1-8. PMCID: PMC4724386.

Clinical trials of Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET)

Our team has developed EAET. In eight randomized trials, we have tested EAET on various “centralized” or “nociplastic” pain disorders including a large-scale trial in fibromyalgia (a, below). Two trials indicate superiority of EAET over CBT (a and d, below).

  1. Lumley, M.A., Schubiner, H., Lockhart, N.A., Kidwell, K.M., Harte, S., Clauw, D.J., & Williams, D.A. (2017). Emotional awareness and expression therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and education for fibromyalgia: A cluster-randomized, controlled trial. PAIN, 158, 2354-2363. PMCID: PMC5680092.
  2. Thakur, E.R., Holmes, H.J., Lockhart, N.A., Carty, J.N., Ziadni, M.S., Doherty, H.K., Lackner, J.M., Schubiner, H., & Lumley, M.A. (2017). Emotional awareness and expression training improves irritable bowel syndrome: A randomized controlled trial. Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 29:e13143. PMCID: PMC5690851.
  3. Ziadni, M.S., Carty, J.N., Doherty, H.K., Porcerelli, J.H., Rapport, L.J., Schubiner, H., & Lumley, M.A. (2018). A life-stress emotional awareness and expression interview for primary care patients with medically unexplained symptoms: A randomized controlled trial. Health Psychology, 37, 282-290. PMCID: PMC5848463.
  4. Yarns, B.C., Jackson, N.J., Alas, A., Melrose, R.J, Lumley, M.A., & Sultzer, D.L. (2024). Emotional awareness and expression therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain in older adults: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Network Open, 7(6), e2417340.

Citation index

Courses taught by Mark Lumley

Fall Term 2024

Winter Term 2024

Fall Term 2023

Winter Term 2023

Fall Term 2022

Winter Term 2022

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