Pain management psychologist at 8813 Villa La Jolla Dr, La Jolla, CA 92037, where her chronic-pain specialty occupies a clinical niche that no other provider in the Villa La Jolla medical corridor fills — addiction treatment centers like Practical Recovery two buildings away address opioid dependence through behavioral frameworks, but Dr. Rafie targets the underlying chronic pain that drives the dependence in the first place. A UCSD faculty member at both UC San Diego Health and the VA San Diego Healthcare System, Dr. Samantha Rafie is nationally one of a small number of psychologists fellowship-trained specifically in chronic pain management. She co-authored the APA-published "Chronic Pain and Opioid Management: Strategies for Integrated Treatment," chairs the Ethics group of the American Pain Society, and is a founding member of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management Pain Policy Congress. Her practice treats chronic pain, opioid tapering, insomnia, and co-occurring mood disorders through behavioral interventions for veterans, injured workers, and civilian patients. Emerging pain-management research links ketamine to chronic pain relief alongside its established psychiatric applications — Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute on Holiday Ct has administered ketamine for treatment-resistant depression since 2008 under Dr. David Feifel, a protocol that Dr. Rafie's pain patients with co-occurring depression may also benefit from.