The Strengths-Based Shift: Why Pain Researchers Are Asking "What's Right With You?" Instead of "What's Wrong?" | Prof. Niamh Moloney & Barry Moore

For decades, pain care has run on a simple question: what's wrong with you? Risk factors, deficits, pathology, problems. It's well-intentioned but could the deficits focus being making things worse?In this episode of Pain Coach, Lachlan sits down with Dr Niamh Moloney and PhD candidate Barry Moore from Curtin University to unpack a quietly radical reframe in persistent pain research: stop leading with what's wrong, and start asking what's right.Niamh shares the the beachside journaling session that flipped her thinking. Barry walks through his newly published scoping review in the European Journal of Pain, surfacing 79 studies on protective factors like self-efficacy, optimism, resilience and social connection, that help people live well with pain.Crucially, this isn't toxic positivity. It's not about ignoring pathology or dismissing what hurts. It's about refusing to reduce a person to a list of their risk factors and building care around the resources they already carry.If you've ever walked out of an appointment feeling smaller than when you walked in (or  unintentionally sent a patient home that way) this conversation will change how you think about pain care.One problem in, a couple of solutions out. That's the goal.RESOURCES: Free trial of Pain Coach: https://paincoach.co?utm_src=podB&N Dr Niamh Moloney on X: https://x.com/drniamhmoloney Barry E. Moore LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-moore-006a24145/ 📄 Moore, B. E., Schleidgen, L., Hang, C. P., et al. (2026). "Protection from Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Scoping Review." European Journal of Pain, 30(4): e70273. → https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.70273 📄 Rabey, M. & Moloney, N. (2022). "I Don't Know Why I've Got this Pain!" Allostasis as a Possible Explanatory Model. Physical Therapy, 102(5), pzac017. → https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzac017KEY TOPICS00:00 — Intro00:43 — Disclaimer & welcome01:22 — Meet Dr Niamh Moloney & Barry — paths crossing at Curtin03:05 — What is chronic / persistent pain?05:18 — Why pain persists: the multifactorial picture09:35 — Central sensitisation in lay terms12:47 — Why "central sensitisation" grinds Niamh's gears15:36 — How to know if your nervous system is involved18:43 — Niamh's lived experience of persistent pain20:34 — The "why" behind the wider project24:46 — The allostatic load paper: "I don't know why I've got this pain"26:14 — Confronting her own risk factors27:55 — The beach notebook: writing down what kept her well29:44 — CliftonStrengths and the leadership lightbulb31:39 — From deficits to strengths: a research pivot33:09 — Antonovsky, Holocaust survivors & the salutogenic model36:16 — Barry's scoping review (European Journal of Pain) — 79 studies38:25 — Strengths aren't just the opposite of risk factors40:04 — What surprised the researchers43:30 — Lived experience: how people actually use their strengths46:13 — Strengths ≠ toxic positivity: validating patients first48:56 — Why disability (not pain) was the chosen outcome51:22 — Pain intensity work is coming next52:43 — The decade-long wider project & future studies56:58 — Building hope, not despair58:18 — Advice for someone at their low point1:04:04 — Where to follow Niamh and Barry