Headline clinic director breaks silence after controversy over pain treatment documentary

The head of Oslo University Hospital’s pain clinic has ended six months of self-imposed silence to address criticism following a controversial documentary by comedian Harald Eia, which hailed a new pain treatment as a “health revolution,” Dagbladet reports.

Lars-Petter Granan, department head at the hospital’s pain treatment unit, told the newspaper he was “a little concerned” about the quality of care provided by private clinics now offering Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) after the documentary’s release. “Not necessarily the quality of PRT itself, but the selection of patients,” he said. “Our experience is that the expertise to assess and investigate the starting point is often too poor.”

Granan’s decision to speak follows a complaint by the patient group CRPS-fellesskap against the hospital, which was dismissed by the county governor’s office without criticism. The group has since appealed the decision, arguing that the documentary—titled Harald and the Sick Popes—created unrealistic expectations about PRT, a method aimed at “unlearning” chronic pain through therapy.

When asked whether he agreed with Eia’s claim that PRT was a “health revolution,” Granan responded cautiously. “If you talk to many professionals, the principles behind it aren’t new—we’ve known this for decades,” he said. “But from a patient perspective, you might say it’s revolutionary.”

The documentary’s release in August led to a surge in referrals to the pain clinic, doubling to 400 in September, according to Nettavisen. Earlier media reports had highlighted that all participants in the series claimed “significant recovery,” fueling both enthusiasm and skepticism. Critics warned that the hype could divert resources from other pain treatments.

Granan initially agreed to the documentary without knowing its title or Eia’s plans to frame PRT as a breakthrough. He also did not anticipate private providers using the series for marketing. The clinic had invited potential participants, but roughly half were turned away—a detail that later sparked accusations of unequal treatment.

In the interview, Granan defended the clinic’s approach, emphasizing that PRT, while promising, is not universally applicable. “We’ve worked with these principles for years,” he said. “The key is proper patient selection and expertise.”