DAY 1 BIOMEDICAL

MIGRAINE HEADACHES: HOW AND WHEN TO SELECT PATIENTS FOR PPD TREATMENT

David Schechter, MD & Sari Eitches, MD - 30 minutes

Are Migraine Headaches a PPD?  How do we treat them?

Learning Objectives:

  1. Learn about the impact and costs of migraines

  2. Learn about evidence for a connection between emotions and migraines

  3. Review the treatment approaches to migraines as a PPD that work

Complex Spinal Cases

David Hanscom MD - 30 minutes

Spine surgery is effective for identifiable structural abnormalities with matching symptoms. Back pain is a non-specific symptom and disc degeneration has been documented to not be a source of chronic back pain. We are performing surgery on normally aging spines without any data to support it. Implementing a multi-pronged non-operative approach has been documented to be effective.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand the definition of a complex spine case.

  2. Become familiar with the data regarding surgery for pain in the axial neck, thoracic, or lumbar spine

  3. Understand the data regarding vertebral disc degeneration as a cause of pain.

  4. Become familiar with why certain spinal surgical procedures are done despite poor outcomes

CHALLENGES IN TREATING PELVIC ISSUES

Terri Nishmoto, PT, CLT, PRPC  - 30 minutes

Pelvic health diagnoses are very commonly linked to PPD. The pelvic area is already a sensitive area that can be shrouded in embarrassment and shame. Terri will discuss some of the challenges of treating pelvic pain. She will also share some of the research that is showing the paradigm shift regarding the critical importance of a biopsychosocial approach to health care.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe some of the challenges faced in the diagnosis and treatment of pelvic pain syndromes

  2. Understand the importance of a biopsychosocial approach especially with pelvic health conditions

CHALLENGES IN TREATING DIGESTIVE ISSUES

David Clarke MD & Jennifer Franklin PhD - 30 minutes

Certain gastrointestinal conditions known collectively as Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction, DGBI, could also be classified as digestive PPD. This presentation offers a medical perspective on digestive PPD from David Clarke MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist with 40 years of experience, and a psychological perspective from Jennifer Franklin PhD, a licensed psychologist with twenty years of clinical experience, including working closely with some leading gastroenterologists, with patients who have digestive PPD.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand the many types of DGBIs

  2. Recognize which conditions have a significant contribution from PPD

  3. Learn how to assess for early developmental trauma as part of a comprehensive assessment for psychosocial stressors

  4. Understand the important role of relational factors in the treatment of digestive PPD

MINDBODY RESEARCH: PRESENT & FUTURE

Michael Donnino, MD - 30 minutes

Research into Psychophysiologic disorders has progressed greatly in the last few years though many gaps remain. This session will review the current status of research into PPD and explore the challenges and obstacles that face investigations in this area. The session will share some pending trials and future paths for ongoing investigation into PPD.

Learning Objectives:

  1. To review the current status of research in psychophysiologic disorders

  2. To evaluate challenges in the research into psychophysiologic disorders

DAY 2 PSYCHOLOGICAL

 
 

What To Do When Progress Stalls

David Clarke MD & Christie Uipi LCSW - 30 minutes

Presenters will review the psychological issues that lead to chronic pain, focusing on the issues that most often lead to mindbody treatment stalling. Presenters will discuss the connection between how patients relate to themselves and how they relate to their symptoms/recovery at large.

Learning Objectives

  1. Understand which issues to look for when a patient is not making progress or is having a significant relapse
  2. Understand the connection between how a patient relates to themselves and how they relate to their symptoms
  3. Learn tools to help patients reduce feelings of fear and guilt and increase their feelings of self-worth (so that treatment progress may resume)

A TRAUMA RESPONSIVE APPROACH TO PATIENTS PRESCRIBED OPIOIDS

Bennet Davis, MD - 30 minutes

Many patients have been treated symptomatically for chronic pain, including opioid analgesics. Many of these had undiagnosed trauma that increased the risk of accidental overdose and poor pain treatment outcomes. These patients are still out there and Dr Davis will discuss strategies to identify and address the trauma component, along with barriers which need to be systemically addressed to facilitate effective treatment.
Learning Objectives

  1. Explain how to distinguish pain for psychological reasons from nociceptive and neuropathic pain
  2. Describe how unrecognized trauma has contributed to the opioid crisis
  3. Outline effective strategies for treatment of patients using opioids as a psychotropic medication

THEORIES & APPROACHES TO PATIENTS WITH DOUBT

Dan Ratner, PsyD - 30 minutes

This presentation will help attendees consider the large role doubt can play, as pain and symptom sufferers work to recover from PPD/mindbody issues. Many of the experiences mindbody sufferers find, as they try to figure out how to address their issues, focus more on how emotions lead to symptoms and how they must become aware of these aspects of their emotional lives to get better. While this is entirely true – and incredibly helpful to them when it works – there are times when emotionally driven symptoms lead to a longer process of symptom struggle because the fear, confusion, lack of certainty, or unanswered questions each sufferer has to perpetuate or exacerbate the symptoms all by themselves. The presentation will map out a conceptualization of mindbody experience through my columns system of dealing with mindbody issues and, in so doing, the attendees will be able to see, among other things when emotions, trauma, or the thought processes involved in doubt are leading the charge. By identifying different sources of PPD experience, we can better understand what types of interventions might be most helpful to the sufferer at different points in their process and become more adept at resolving a wider range and presentation of symptoms as a result.

Learning Objectives

  1. Distinguish between an emotionally driven mindbody symptom and a doubt-driven one
  2. Understand the different forms of doubt and the three different levels of doubt so that they will be better equipped to articulate doubts with the people with whom they work
  3. Understand some methods to combat doubt effectively to begin to shift and alleviate seemingly chronic symptoms

TRAUMA & CHRONIC PAIN

Jennifer Huggins, PsyD - 30 minutes

The association between childhood trauma and adult chronic illness, which includes chronic pain, has strong research support. Chronic stress greatly impacts our physiological, and of course mental, health. In the case of childhood trauma, the stress response remains activated for extended periods of time, which can lead to neural connections in the brain that become highly sensitized, sometimes leading to chronic pain. Trauma in adulthood can lead to similar problems notwithstanding.

Learning Objectives

  1. Understand the link between childhood trauma and the onset of chronic pain/PPD as a child or an adult
  2. Understand the link between adulthood trauma and the onset of chronic pain/PPD
  3. Understand the best treatment approaches for trauma and PPD

Pain Reprocessing Therapy: Safety is a Privilege

Vanessa Blackstone, ACSWS - 30 minutes

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a system of psychological techniques that break the cycle of chronic pain symptoms by retraining the brain to properly interpret and respond to sensory input. When working with marginalized communities, barriers in implementing PRT may arise as accessing a sense of safety while using the techniques is not privileged to all. This presentation offers a clinical perspective from Vanessa Blackstone, ACSW, Executive Director of the Pain Psychology Center, in applying PRT with marginalized populations.

Learning Objectives

  1. Understand Pain Reprocessing Therapy
  2. Discuss why marginalized communities are at a higher risk for chronic pain
  3. Identify strategies that increase safety perception while using PRT mindfulness techniques

PPD IN CHILDREN & ADOLESCENTS

Michele Kinderman, PhD & Kelly Yanek, PsyD - 30 minutes

This presentation will outline effective treatments for Psychophysiologic Disorders (PPD) in children and adolescents. Common childhood medical diagnoses that benefit from a PPD approach will be discussed. Attendees will learn how to identify psychological, familial, and situational triggers of symptoms, provide age-appropriate psychoeducation to clients and caretakers, and adapt somatic tracking and other mindbody approaches to a younger clientele. Case studies will highlight the use of effective PPD treatments in this population, as well as methods for overcoming common treatment challenges.

Learning Objectives

  1. Identify common presentations of PPD in children and adolescents
  2. Adapt current mindbody approaches for work with youth
  3. Learn methods for involving caretakers in treatment
  4. Understand the challenges of working with children and adolescents and how to overcome them

DAY 3 SOCIAL


ACCEPTANCE OF MINDBODY AT A LARGE HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION

Les Aria, PhD - 30 minutes

The Cartesian dualism, a view that the mind and body are separate entities, continues to be taught at various medical professional educational, training systems, and at various large healthcare systems throughout the United States. This presentation discusses the reasons why healthcare systems continue to propagate dualism, despite its limitations and self-defeating consequences, coupled with the arguments against dualism in the 21st century in service of promoting wellness and well-being, especially in treating persistent pain syndrome.

Learning Objectives

1. Define substance dualism and provide 2 examples of dualism.
2. Identify the 3 reasons why Cartesian dualism is still promoted through the healthcare systems.
3. Discuss 3 arguments against Carteasian dualism.

QUEERNESS & PAIN: DIFFERENCES IN TREATING LGBTQ INDIVIDUALS

Daniel G. Lyman, LCSW, MPA - 30 minutes

This presentation will examine the unique needs of the LGBTQ population and how to work with them from a PPD-treatment perspective.

Learning Objectives

  1. Why safety is imperative for healing
  2. How to provide a safe environment for LGBTQ people
  3. The importance of language within the LGBTQ community

RACISM AS A PAIN SOURCE: A PROVOCATION ON PSYCHOSOMATIC PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL CONTEXT

Benita Jackson, PhD, MPH - 30 minutes

This presentation will be a provocation for audience members to consider multiple perspectives on racism as a pain creator; evidence in support of this claim and what we have yet to scientifically test; ways of conceptualizing racism at multiple levels; mechanisms for linking racism and chronic pain; and implications for interventions. Audience members will be invited to consider their own roles–including as practitioners and researchers, family and colleagues–and how the notion of racism as a pain creator might be productively applied to their own professional and personal lives. We will consider the costs we all incur from not addressing this issue and the possibilities for benefit by next right imperfect action.

Learning Objectives

  1. Identify the direction of disparities in rates of chronic pain by race
  2. List 4 levels of racism that are linked to chronic pain
  3. Describe how the brain plausibly connects racism and chronic pain

ADDRESSING PPD CHALLENGES THROUGH APPS & ONLINE GROUPS (pt 1)

Laura Seago MBA (Curable) - 10 minutes

The presentation is an informational walk through the tools and resources available to clinicians in the Curable world. Participants can expect to learn about:

Learning Objectives

  1. Benefits of supplementing in-office care with an app like Curable
  2. Alternate care options for patients who need more support and guidance
  3. Various types of free resources available to clinicians and their patients

ADDRESSING PPD CHALLENGES THROUGH APPS & ONLINE GROUPS (pt 2)

Arun Nijhawan & Kartik Shastri (Menda Health) - 10 minutes

Mindbody treatments will revolutionize health care, however, one challenge is the shortage of trained clinicians. Menda is on a mission to tackle this obstacle within the healthcare ecosystem.

Learning Objectives

  1. Understand the scalability and effectiveness of a Group-Based Recovery program
  2. Understand using technology to personalize and augment care

ADDRESSING PPD CHALLENGES THROUGH APPS & ONLINE GROUPS (pt 3)

Howard Schubiner MD (OVID Dx) - 10 minutes

An introduction of OvidDx, a mobile-first, CME/CE-approved, educational program for doctors, psychotherapists, physical therapists and other health professionals to learn how to understand, diagnose and treat chronic primary pain and other Psychophysiologic Disorders. You will learn the neuroscience underpinning these conditions, how to diagnose them, how to communicate effectively with your patients about their symptoms and how to treat them or refer for treatment.

Learning Objectives

  1. Understand the unique benefits of mobile-first educational platforms for health professionals
  2. Understand OvidDx's approach to educating health professionals about Psychophysiologic Disorders
  3. Understand OvidDx's program of education and community building, including the app learning program and the OvidDx certification process

Creating a Mind-Body Membership to Support Healing

John Stracks, MD & Lisa Stracks - 30 minutes

An important question in the care of clients with psychophysiological disorders is how to do it effectively and efficiently in a primary care office, especially when it can be time consuming for each patient and also involves very large numbers of people. Dr. Stracks and Lisa Stracks will present on how they and their team created Cormendi Academy, an online membership that brings together multiple aspects of mind-body methods of healing.

Learning Objectives

  1. Learn details of researching best practices, and choosing a platform
  2. Understand how to organize a curriculum
  3. Learn about ongoing management strategies
  4. Understand online classroom management

A Filmmaker's Perspective on PPD

  1. Mitch Dickman, Lauri Polisky, Tim Kaminski (Pain Brain) - 10 minutes
  2. Michael Galinsky (All The Rage) - 10 minutes
  3. Kent Bassett (This Might Hurt) - 10 minutes

Learning Objectives

  1. Gain insight into how a patient acquires information about PPD via the intense process of making a documentary film about PPD.
  2. Gain insight into how a person with no prior PPD experience acquires information about PPD via the intense process of making a documentary film about PPD.
  3. Gain insight into how a PPD patient uses this information to improve their understanding of their personal PPD.

MINDBODY HIGHER EDUCATION

Douglas Guiffrida, PhD - 30 minutes

The presenter will describe the Advanced Certificate Program he developed and directs in Mind/Body Healing and Wellness. The program teaches psychophysiologic approaches to understanding and healing chronic pain to students from a variety of healthcare fields.

Learning Objectives

  1. Learn how the program was developed
  2. Learn details about the training that students receive
  3. Learn information about applying and enrolling in the program

Q&A Panel #1 - David Clarke MD (Host) & Speakers

 
 

DAY 4 Q&A SESSION

 

Q&A Panel #2 - David Clarke MD (Host) & Speakers

 
 

DAY 5 Q&A SESSION

 

Q&A Panel #3 - David Clarke MD (Host) & Speakers