Day 1

The Legacy and Impact of Dr. John Sarno

David Schechter, MD with Andrea Leonard-Segal, MD, FACR, Arlene Feinblatt, PhD and a special guest Christina Sarno-Horner, LMHC

This presentation will briefly discuss the history of psychosomatic medicine leading up to and including the seminal work of John E Sarno, M.D. Doctors who trained under him and have continued to practice this work for decades will share keys to his approach that still apply today. Finally, a moment of tribute to Dr. Sarno's contribution will cap off this opening presentation.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the history of psychosomatic medicine leading to Dr. John Sarno's work

  • Learn key features of TMS from physicians and a psychologist who worked with Dr. Sarno directly

  • Increase your understanding of TMS principles and Dr. Sarno's legacy in this field

Current PPD Research

Timothy Brown, PhD, MA, Yoni Ashar, PhD, Brandon Yarns, MD, MS, Howard Schubiner, MD, and Pavel Goldstein, PhD

  1. Pain reprocessing therapy (PRT) for low back pain—Dr. Ashar

  2. Meta-analysis of costs and effectiveness of mind-body treatment for chronic pain—Dr. Brown

  3. Emotional awareness and expression therapy (EAET) for musculo-skeletal pain syndromes in US veterans—Dr. Yarns

  4. Personalized Danger Signal Reprocessing (PDSR) for painful syndromes in the Ukraine—Dr. Goldstein

Learning Objectives

  • Describe the effectiveness of PRT for low back pain

  • Describe the cost-effectiveness ratio of mind-body treatments

  • Describe the effectiveness of EAET for chronic pain in US veteran population

  • Describe the effectiveness of PDSR for pain in the Ukrainian population

Day 2

Interface Between Rheumatology and Psychophysiologic Disorders (PPD)

Andrea Leonard-Siegel, MD, FACR

The presentation will consider several commonly diagnosed rheumatologic diseases (e.g., some soft tissue musculoskeletal disorders, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis). It will provide information about the classical clinical, laboratory and structural presentation of each condition. It will also consider how to determine whether a patient with one of these underlying diagnoses could actually have PPD as the cause for their presenting physical symptoms."

Learning Objectives:

  • Develop a familiarity with rheumatologic terminology and joint anatomy.

  • Understand the difference between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

  • Develop an appreciation of rheumatologic complaints that can be attributed to a psychophysiologic disorder.

  • Appreciate that patients with an underlying nonPPD rheumatologic disorder can also have PPD.

Treating Low Back Pain; Evolution of a Spine Specialist

Brian Foley, MD, MBA

The talk will provide an overview of spinal anatomy, presentation, workup, and treatment of low back pain. Dr. Foley will share how his treatment philosophy has changed over the years.

Learning Objectives:

  • To provide an overview of low back anatomy.

  • To survey the various causes of low back pain.

  • To present the current standard workup and treatment.

  • Understand how the causes of low back pain have shifted.

  • Briefly explore mindbody aspects of spinal pain.

Supporting Athletes In Unlearning Pain

Charlie Merrill, MSPT

Athletes are not immune to chronic pain. Numerous studies in the last decade indicated that the incidence of chronic symptoms is higher in athletes than in the general population. Many continue to train despite pain and adapt to a string of nagging symptoms that either come and go or accumulate over time in a symptom-imperative pattern. Athletes commonly struggle with unique psychological and social factors that drive pain in similar and distinctive ways relative to a general chronic pain population. Unfortunately, most clinicians assume athletes have pain because they are injured, overtraining, or dealing with "wear and tear" resulting from biomechanical issues. Because athletes may not present chronically in a traditional sense, they get funneled into the biomedical system looking for body-based causes and answers, failing treatment after treatment. Ultimately, many athletes never learn about mind/body treatment options and are left to manage and cope with symptoms that significantly limit their function, longevity in sports, and mental health. I'll discuss the importance of (and strategies for) capturing this population early, outline how they present uniquely relative to others living with chronic pain, and discuss how best to treat athletes from a mind/body perspective. 

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand how athletes present uniquely from a mind/body perspective. 

  • Discuss common challenges and opportunities that exist when working with athletes.

  • Learn to incorporate novel mind/body strategies that resonate with athletes to support them in unlearning symptoms.


How to Create an Individualized Treatment Program

David Schechter, MD

Dr. Schechter will share, from his vast clinical experience treating TMS/PPD, how he develops a treatment program personalized to each patient. These elements will include diagnosis, reading materials, apps, videos, and journaling. Learn how one puts these together to increase the likelihood of a successful outcome without overwhelming the patient.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn how to create an individualized program of psychoeducation for each patient

  • Understand how much is enough and when is too much in this arena

  • Improve your ability to utilize existing materials effectively, or even create your own

Working with Adolescents

Jamie Shafir, MSW

n this presentation Jamie Shafir LCSW, will explain how working with adolescents experiencing PPD presents unique clinical considerations. Adolescents experiencing PPD, exist within many influencing systems, such as family and school systems. Parents can be viewed as influencers in their adolescents' pain journey. More specifically, psychoeducation can be delivered through a two-pronged approach, with a clinician tailoring the presentation to both the parent and adolescent’s understanding of pain. Cognitive-based psychoeducation can be addressed through an adolescent informed lens, based upon how the adolescent and their parent conceptualizes pain. With special attention paid to what the adolescent and parent think pain is, why pain exists, and how pain is felt. Psychoeducation is presented in a manner that explains hurt does not always mean harm, to help establish safety. Which paves the way for more openness to creative imaginal and in-vivo values-based exposure work. Complementary to cognitive and behavioral work, emotionally focused work provides adolescents with real time experiential psychoeducation on the connection between feelings, anxiety, and somatic experiences. 

Learning Objectives:

  • Why a parent’s perspective on their child’s chronic pain matters 

  • How to provide cognitive-based psychoeducation through an adolescent informed lens

  • When to include creative imaginal and in-vivo values-based exposure work

  • When to connect emotions and somatization in session

  • How and when to include caregivers in treatment

Women's Health - How Does PPD Fit in?

Rebecca Kennedy, MD, and  Christie Uipi, LCSW

We will examine women's health issues commonly attributed to structural or hormonal factors, drawing from clinical experience and literature including cross cultural differences to assess the role of PPD in these symptoms. This insight will guide discussions on how to best support affected women.

Learning Objectives:

  • Research to help understand the role of PPD with women's health issues

  • The role of PPD tools to help hormonally related symptoms

  • Explore the sensitivity of the diagnostic and treatment process in women's health issues

  • Deepen awareness of sociocultural narratives and embodiment and their impact on symptoms.

Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy for Chronic Pain

Brandon Yarns, MD  and Howard Schubiner, MD

Emotional awareness and expression therapy (EAET) is an innovative and powerful psychological intervention for chronic pain with a unique theoretical model leveraging pain neuroscience principles and emphasizing the resolution of emotional conflicts and trauma—major drivers of chronic pain not directly addressed by standard psychological chronic pain treatments. In this presentation, learners will gain a thorough understanding of the EAET theoretical model and key techniques of EAET. Learners will appreciate how EAET can be used to reduce or eliminate chronic pain.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand that life stress and emotions can cause physical symptoms

  • Describe how childhood experiences can cause emotional reactions that reoccur later in life

  • Describe how current relationships mirror relationships that occurred prior in life

  • Gain an experience in processing emotions


Full of Doubt: Understanding the Intersection of the Obsessive Compulsive Personality Style and Psychophysiologic Disorders 

Justin Barker,  PsyD

Many people experiencing a psychophysiologic disorder exhibit obsessive and/or compulsive patterns in how they relate to chronic pain. These patterns include chronically doubting the PPD diagnosis; constant checking to see if the pain is still there; intellectualizing instead of experiencing emotions; hyper-fixating on the pain; and getting into a myriad of control conundrums in which increasing levels of attempted mental and physical control lead to increasing anxiety which then further amplifies pain. This presentation will provide an overview of a psychodynamic understanding of the obsessive and compulsive personality, a distinctly different category from the more narrow obsessive compulsive disorder. Dr. Barker will describe how this personality style intersects with PPD in ways that provide added challenges in treatment and healing. Specific treatment considerations will be discussed that integrate psychodynamic, behavioral, and mindfulness-based interventions with the aim of helping these clients to build a purpose-driven life and experience liberation from chronic rumination related to pain.

Learning Objectives:

  •  Learn about a psychodynamic formulation of the obsessive and compulsive personality style and how this overlaps with common personality traits in people with PPD. 

  • Gain understanding of how issues of control are central to address in people with overlapping obsessive compulsive tendencies and PPD. 

  • Understand how to integrate mindfulness, behavioral, and psychodynamic interventions in the treatment of people with obsessive compulsive personality traits and PPD. 

Day 3

The Past, Present, and Future of the PPD Association

David D. Clarke, MD

The presentation will begin with a brief review of the history of the PPD Association and the many reasons for its existence. This is followed by an assessment of the daunting challenges facing PPD patients today and our plans for changing healthcare practice so they receive the care they deserve.


Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the growth of the PPD movement to the present day

  • Recognize the extraordinary challenges faced by PPD patients

  • Learn the strategies and plans for bringing PPD concepts to all who can benefit

Communicating Mind-Body Pain to the World: Lessons on Shifting the Paradigm from the LGBTQ Equality Movement

Nathaniel Frank, PhD

This presentation invites attendees to move beyond customary thinking about how to change public understanding of mind-body pain—one person at a time—and consider what a true, mass communications campaign could look like—as a social movement. It draws on decades of experience in the trenches of another “hearts and minds” campaign, the battle for acceptance of LGBTQ equality. Dr. Nathaniel Frank, an expert on both mind-body pain and strategic communications for issue-advocacy explains how to leverage research and media to bring about a successful paradigm shift in public awareness and truly change how the world thinks about pain at a mass level, not one doctor or patient at a time.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify key elements of a successful mass communications campaign

  • Understand the role of research and earned media in shaping public opinion

  • Develop effective ideas for how to shift the paradigm toward greater acceptance of mind-body pain theory

Talking to Your Patients and The Future of Mind Body Medicine

Brad Fanestil, MD

Dr. Fanestil will discuss the language and the attitude that clinicians can use with other clinicians to help them understand when to refer patients. He'll also give suggestions for how patients using these tools can talk to their own doctors, as well as to friends and family.

Learning objectives. 

  • For clinicians: gain confidence in your ability to help your colleagues understand what you are doing, with examples of scientific verbiage and references, and ideas for "elevator pitches."

  • For patients: get some ideas about how to get your own doctor on board - so that she can work with you when needed and so that she can start telling other patients about this new approach.

Perspectives on Mind Body Groups 

Dan Ratner, PsyD, Rebecca Tolin, BA, and John Stracks, MD

There are so many ways to run group sessions for anything, including mind-body treatment. This presentation explores some of the key factors mind-body practitioners use to make groups effective in symptom reduction and supporting sufferers. With one medical doctor, one psychologist, and one mind-body coach, the perspectives offered will be wide-ranging and a good representation of various ways groups can help symptom sufferers. We’ll discuss how to provide the right information, create a supportive environment, foster skills for the sufferer to make gains on their own, and more. 

Learning objectives:

  • Learn about different types of mind-body groups to consider the best factors for symptom reduction.

  • Learn about how to engage in groups to be most helpful for your healing journey.

  • Learn about the theories behind how each group is run to understand more fully why they are effective.


Ehlers Danlos Syndrome: Stretching our Understanding

Georgie Oldfield, MCSP

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a group of 13 inherited connective tissue disorders which are believed to be caused by genetic changes. Hypermobile EDS (hEDS) makes up 90% of all EDS cases and yet no gene has been found to be involved with this version. Interestingly, hEDS and also many mild forms of EDS are diagnosed clinically and therefore subjectively, rather than by a specific medical test.

Individuals with a diagnosis of Hypermobility or hEDS often present with a variety of painful and non-painful signs and symptoms and, in fact, many present with very little hypermobility, if any. Chronic pain and many other symptoms, when perceived through a medical lens, are believed to be due to EDS.  Some of these symptoms include fatigue, gut issues, headaches, dizziness, fast heart rate, anxiety and dysautonomia.

Joint pain is often blamed on hypermobility, yet sadly this is often even when movement is within the normal range. Acute pain following a dislocation can be understood however, how can a diagnosis of EDS cause chronic pain, as well as cause all these other symptoms? When we consider EDS through a PPD lens though, we can see how these symptoms are psychophysiological. 

We believe that hypermobility is often a normal variant, yet it is being medicalised. Just as with other PPD symptoms, when we stretch our understanding to consider psychophysiological factors and address the underlying causes, the individual has the chance to resolve these symptoms.

Learning Objectives

  • To understand: Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) from a psychophysiological perspective

  • To understand the difference between acute pain from a dislocation and chronic pain blamed on hypermobility

  • To understand why we can help so many of the signs and symptoms people with a diagnosis of EDS present with

Long COVID - The Embodiment of PPD

Rebecca Kennedy, MD and Nicole Sachs, LCSW

In this talk, Becca Kennedy, MD and Nicole Sachs, LCSW will be exploring the roots of Long COVID and why it is treatable in the same fashion as any other PPD condition. Becca will discuss her experience as the lead of Long COVID at Kaiser Permanente, and how science reinforces Long COVID as PPD. Nicole will build on this by highlighting stunning case studies of complete recovery from Long COVID, facilitated by the clinician's unwavering confidence in the PPD diagnosis and the use of concrete tools to excavate essential emotions and regulate the nervous system.

Learning Objectives:

  • Reconciling the scientific studies and Long COVID as PPD

  • LONG COVID IS PPD, Plain and Simple - Just a Set of Symptom Imperatives

  • The Cure for Long COVID as demonstrated in Client Case Studies

Functional Neurological Disorder: the “OG PPD” 

Dario Zagar, MD

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) has gone by many names over the years, including hysteria, conversion disorder, and psychogenic disease, and may be considered the prototypical psychophysiologic disorder. Advances in our understanding of FND have resulted in a new interest and enthusiasm in diagnosing and treating this common, yet challenging condition. 

 Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize some of the varied manifestations of Functional Neurological Disorder

  • Become familiar with factors involved in causing FND

  • Understand how making and delivering the diagnosis can impact acceptance and recovery

  • Learn about the importance of a team approach in the treatment of FND