The July meeting was hosted at the home of Dr. Matthew Holcomb, and our guest speaker was Dr. Erin Reuther. She is a past-president of the Louisiana Psychological Association, and has chaired the Legislative & Governmental Affairs Committee for LPA for the past four years. She is a licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist. She graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and completed her internship at the University of Florida-Shands Hospital working with inpatient and outpatient pediatric and adult clients with psychological and medical illnesses. Prior to her current position, Dr. Reuther was a faculty at LSU Health Sciences Center and began the trauma psychology consultation-liaison service there. Currently she works at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. While she treats a range of child and adolescent issues, both inpatient and outpatient, her particular expertise is chronic pain and child trauma.
During her talk, Dr. Reuther reviewed the frequency of migraines in children (8-10%), as well as various common comorbid symptoms (e.g., vomiting and abdominal pain). She noted that only half of the children/teens with migraines referred for psychological treatment actually see a psychologist. This is unfortunate because cognitive-behavioral therapy focused on managing stress and improving sleep, hydration, and diet is more effective treatment than simple treatment with medications. Supporting this, she cited the CHAMP Study (read a discussion here and a follow-up study here). Dr. Reuther discussed good “headache hygiene,” and how to effectively work with children/teens and their families to improve the client’s daily functioning and quality of life.