A chronic pain psychologist is a licensed psychologist who treats the psychological side of chronic pain, migraine and chronic headache, alongside your medical care. To find one, by video anywhere in Washington or in person in Seattle, start by checking the license on the state Department of Health's public search. Then look in directories and health-system pain programs, and ask each candidate about pain-specific training, methods and their evidence, how they work with your doctors, fees and video sessions.
The license shows who may practice psychology in Washington, and your questions show who has trained to treat pain, because Washington licenses psychologists without a separate pain specialty.
What a pain psychologist does
A pain psychologist assesses and treats the psychological side of chronic pain: how pain interacts with stress, emotion, mood, sleep and the demands of daily life. Washington's psychology law, RCW 18.83, defines the practice of psychology to include diagnosing and treating the psychological aspects of illness and injury, along with counseling and psychotherapy, and to exclude prescribing drugs. Your physicians, including any pain physician, diagnose pain and headache conditions and manage medicines and procedures, and a pain psychologist works alongside them.
Why so few people with pain get this care
Few people with chronic pain receive psychological treatment for it. In 2025, 20.7% of US adults had chronic pain, meaning pain on most days or every day in the past 3 months, according to the National Health Interview Survey. A 2023 analysis in the Annals of Internal Medicine by Rikard and colleagues used national survey data from 2020. Among US adults with chronic pain, 2.6% had used talk therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for their pain in the past 3 months, while 17.2% had used physical, rehabilitative or occupational therapy.
Stigma about seeking psychological help is one reason people hesitate. A 2015 systematic review in Psychological Medicine by Clement and colleagues, covering 144 studies (90,189 participants, published 1980 to 2011), found a small-to-moderate link between stigma and less help-seeking. People in health professions were among the groups that stigma disproportionately deterred.
A 2025 online survey in the Journal of Health Psychology by Lagunas and colleagues, which I coauthored, studied 259 Latine adults with chronic pain. The stigma they sensed from others was tied to their attitudes toward getting help through the stigma they held about themselves. The link between those two kinds of stigma was weaker when familism was high. The survey measured associations at one point in time, so it cannot show what causes what.
When to see a physician first
Some signs call for emergency or urgent medical care before anything else.
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department if you have a headache and any of the following applies, as listed on the UK National Health Service's headaches page:
- You have had a seizure (fit).
- You have numbness or weakness in the body or face.
- The headache started suddenly and is extremely painful.
- You have had a head injury within the last 3 months, for example from a fall or accident.
- You are finding it difficult to speak, balance, walk or remember things.
- You are drowsy or confused.
- You have loss of vision.
- You have a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it.
- You have a very high temperature, a stiff neck, or bright lights are bothering you.
The CDC's stroke signs page also says to call 911 right away for a sudden severe headache with no known cause.
See your physician promptly if you have a headache and any of the following applies:
- You have vision or eye problems.
- The headache is triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising.
- You are being sick (vomiting).
- You have jaw pain when eating or a sore or tender scalp.
- You have any other symptoms you're worried about.
Make an appointment with your physician if you have headaches on 15 or more days a month for more than 3 months, a new kind of headache, or a change in your usual pattern.
A new headache that starts after age 50 also calls for an appointment with your physician.
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department if back pain comes with any of the signs that the UK's National Health Service lists as needing emergency care:
- You have pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs.
- You have loss of feeling around the genitals or anus.
- You have new bladder or bowel problems.
- You have changes in sexual sensation or function.
- You have chest pain.
- You have back pain after a serious accident.
Any other pain that is new, changing or unexplained also belongs with a physician before you start psychological care.
Credentials that matter in Washington
Psychologists and other licensed therapists
Under RCW 18.83, Washington licenses a psychologist after a doctoral degree through an integrated graduate program in psychology, at least two years of supervised experience and passing the state board's examinations. Mental health counselors (LMHC), independent clinical social workers (LICSW) and marriage and family therapists (LMFT) are licensed under a separate law, RCW 18.225, and their licenses also cover treating mental and emotional disorders with psychotherapy. Each of those licenses requires a master's or doctoral degree, an examination and 3,000 hours of clinical experience, or 36 months of full-time counseling for counselors. The training paths differ, and pain-specific training is a separate question for every license.
How to check a Washington license
The Department of Health's Provider Credential Search lets anyone look up a license by credential number, individual name or business name. The department calls it a primary source for verifying credentials, updates its data daily and provides copies of disciplinary actions taken after July 1998.
Pain-specific training and what it means
Board certification in clinical health psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) is voluntary. After licensure, a specialty board verifies the psychologist's education, training and experience and gives an examination.
Professional membership in the American Association of Pain Psychology, founded in 2010, requires an active, unrestricted license. The association describes no certification, so membership is not a credential.
The Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center, which teaches the method of the same name, trains practitioners at three levels. Its Foundational (Level I) training is 21 hours, and the Center calls people who complete it trained providers and does not call the training a certification. The training is open to medical providers, mental health clinicians, manual therapists and health coaches, with no licensure requirement stated, and the Center's trademark policy says no organization or government agency licenses the method.
No certification exists for Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET), and the University of Michigan's pain guide notes that few providers are specifically trained in it.
Where to look in Washington
Video sessions anywhere in Washington, and PSYPACT
Start with video, because it widens the search to the whole state: a psychologist licensed in Washington can see you by video wherever you are in Washington.
PSYPACT, the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact, lets psychologists who hold its authorization see clients by video in other participating states, and Washington takes part. The PSYPACT Commission's practice FAQ says you must be physically in a participating state during each session, so a session from a state outside the compact or from abroad is not covered. The Commission also keeps a map of participating states and a verification site that shows whether a psychologist currently holds the authorization.
Directories, and what a listing can't tell you
Three directories are useful starting points. On October 31, 2026, Psychology Today's chronic pain filter showed 2,113 Washington listings, 1,808 of them with its online filter added, along with 1,066 on its Seattle page and 69 on its Lynnwood page. Those counts include every license type, change daily and overlap between city pages. The same day, the American Association of Pain Psychology's Find a Provider returned 3 Washington listings, 1 in Mount Vernon and 2 in Seattle; it lists only members who choose to appear. The Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center's directory of mental health clinicians returned 41 listings for Washington, 38 of them with Washington addresses.
Every listing is self-reported, so treat it as a lead and check the license yourself. The Center describes its directory as informational and does not endorse the people listed, and neither pain-specific directory has a field for video sessions.
Hospital and health-system pain programs
Several Seattle-area health systems run pain programs that include psychological care and take patients by referral. Swedish Pain Services on First Hill is an interdisciplinary clinic where a pain psychologist performs initial evaluations, and its services include CBT, relaxation training and counseling; it requires a physician referral. The UW Medicine Center for Pain Relief includes relaxation and coping-skills training in its multidisciplinary care, and its UW Medicine location page says new patients need a referral from a UW Medicine provider. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health's pain psychology service starts referred patients with four 60-minute online classes on pain neuroscience, CBT skills, mindfulness and relaxation, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) skills. Patients may then choose individual video visits.
Headache clinics
Headache clinics provide neurologist-led medical care, and a psychologist works alongside it. The UW Medicine Headache Clinic is led by neurologists and lists treatments including medications, biofeedback therapy, neuromodulation devices, injections, acupuncture and massage. It describes care as beginning with a referral from primary care. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health has headache neurologists in Seattle, Lynnwood, Issaquah and Federal Way, with mental health care by referral. On the Eastside, Overlake Medical Center & Clinics lists a Headache Program.
Why openings can be hard to find
A 2025 University of Washington data brief by Woolcock and colleagues reported 37.2 psychologists per 100,000 residents in Washington in January 2025, near the national rate of 38.7. The rate was 39.7 in urban counties and 16.5 in rural ones, and the count includes psychologists of every specialty. Nationally, 53% of psychologists who answered the American Psychological Association's 2024 Practitioner Pulse Survey had no openings for new patients, and 61% had no waitlist; 853 psychologists responded, a 3.1% completion rate.
Questions to ask in a first call
The American Psychological Association's guide to choosing a psychologist suggests asking about licensure, experience with your problem, treatment approaches and their research support, fees and insurance. For pain and headache, it also helps to ask:
- Are you licensed as a psychologist in Washington? You can confirm the answer on the Department of Health's search, or on the PSYPACT verification site for a psychologist licensed in another state.
- What training have you had in treating chronic pain or headache, and who provided it? A clear answer names the program, the level and the year.
- How much of your work is with conditions like mine?
- Which methods do you use, and what research supports them for a problem like mine?
- How will you work with my physician or neurologist?
- Do you offer video sessions, and how long is a session? APA notes that sessions usually last 45 to 50 minutes.
- What do you charge, do you bill insurance, and will you give me a Good Faith Estimate?
- Do you have openings, and how soon could we start?
Cost, insurance and Good Faith Estimates
Ask about fees and insurance early, because arrangements vary: in APA's 2024 national survey, 66% of responding psychologists were in-network with some insurance plans and 34% with none. If you pay for care yourself, or have insurance and choose not to use it, federal rules, 45 CFR 149.610, entitle you to a written Good Faith Estimate of expected charges. What a pain psychologist costs in Washington covers fees, insurance and estimates in detail.
How to tell whether an approach fits you
The main psychological approaches to chronic pain work on different things, so start with what you want to change. EAET helps people work through past stressors and avoided emotions, while CBT and ACT generally focus on managing pain, as the University of Michigan's pain guide describes them. Pain Reprocessing Therapy combines education about how the brain and nervous system produce pain with guided practice in reappraising pain sensations, so that they provoke less fear. A 2022 randomized trial in JAMA Psychiatry by Ashar and colleagues compared it with an open-label placebo injection and usual care in 151 adults with primary chronic back pain in Boulder, Colorado, in 2017 and 2018. Treatment there was one telehealth evaluation and education session with a physician, then eight individual therapy sessions. The Center advises checking with a medical provider first to rule out a physical cause.
Then ask what research supports a method for a condition like yours, starting with what the EAET trials found, the research on therapy for migraines and what pain science says about chronic pain.
When to see a psychologist
See a psychologist when pain or headaches persist despite good medical care, when stress, mood, sleep or fear of movement have become tangled up with pain, or when you want an approach that does not rely on medication. Start once a physician has evaluated your symptoms, and keep your medical care going alongside therapy.
How I work with chronic pain and migraine
I'm Joel Jin, a licensed psychologist in Washington, and I work with adults who have chronic pain, migraine or chronic headache, especially high-achieving people who are used to solving hard problems, until their bodies stop cooperating. Sessions are by secure video anywhere in Washington, and I see clients in person on Fridays at my Lynnwood office.
I lead with Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET), which I am trained in. I completed the Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center's Foundational (Level I) training, and I draw on that method for chronic pain. My third method, attachment-oriented psychodynamic therapy informed by ISTDP (intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy), looks at longer patterns such as self-criticism, perfectionism and the habit of overriding the body's signals to keep performing.
I was formerly Acting Assistant Professor in Family Medicine at the University of Washington, in primary care behavioral health. With a release of information signed by you and your providers, I keep your physician, neurologist and other providers updated on our work. Physicians who want to refer can find details on my page for physicians. My Washington license number is PY61353978. You can also look me up by name on the Department of Health's Provider Credential Search.
The practice is private pay and does not bill insurance; an initial consultation is $325 for 60 minutes, ongoing sessions are $265 for 60 minutes, and full details are on Services and fees.
Frequently asked questions
What does a pain psychologist do?
A pain psychologist assesses and treats the psychological side of chronic pain, such as stress, emotion, mood and sleep, alongside your physicians' care. In Washington, a psychologist's practice does not include prescribing medication.
Is there a pain psychology certification?
No certification is required to work as a pain psychologist in Washington, where the requirement is a license to practice psychology. Pain-related credentials, such as ABPP board certification in clinical health psychology, are voluntary. Association membership is not a credential, the Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center does not call its Foundational training a certification, and no certification exists for EAET.
Can a psychologist help with chronic pain?
Yes, a psychologist can help, as one part of care that includes your physicians. A 2020 Cochrane review by Williams and colleagues included 75 randomized trials in adults with chronic pain other than headache, with searches to April 2020. Compared with usual care or a waiting list, CBT brought small benefits for pain, daily function and distress at the end of treatment, and smaller benefits that were still present 6 to 12 months later. For headache, see the research on therapy for migraines.
What is a red flag for a therapist?
A license you cannot confirm is a red flag, so check it on the Department of Health's search or, for a psychologist licensed in another state, on the PSYPACT verification site. A directory listing or association membership offered as proof of pain training is another, because listings are self-reported and membership is not a credential.
Start with a free discovery call
If you are looking for a psychologist for chronic pain, migraine or chronic headache in Washington, a free discovery call lets you ask me about training, methods, fees and video sessions before you commit to anything.
About the author
Joel Jin, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in Washington who works with adults with chronic pain, migraine and chronic headache. He sees clients by secure video anywhere in Washington and in person on Fridays in Lynnwood. He is Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology, the author of more than 20 peer-reviewed articles, and a coauthor of two books on deliberate practice from the American Psychological Association.
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