“One physician who learned these ideas told me at a conference that it had put the joy back into her work. So, it really can turn a practice around to learn how to do this.” -Dr. David Clarke

In episode 163, Dr. Jen Barna welcomes Dr. David Clarke to the podcast! Dr. Clarke is a gastroenterologist, President of the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association and author of They Can’t Find Anything Wrong! Psychophysiologic disorders are somatic illness symptoms induced by hidden stressors. When he began his practice as a GI doctor, Dr. Clarke noticed a large number of his patients had symptoms, some so severe they resulted in multiple hospitalizations, with no identifiable underlying cause. This observation was the beginning of his journey toward identifying these patients and connecting their physical illness with hidden stressors, and then treating them with what is known as Pain Reprocessing Therapy with tremendously successful results. 

In the first half of this episode, Dr. Clarke shares the reasons that psychophysiologic disorders can be common in healthcare workers, and how they are also very common among patients. He tells us the five different types of stress he looks for in the systematic process he uses to evaluate patients, to identify the different kinds of stresses that can commonly produce physical symptoms. He also shares success stories of patients he has treated. This is a fascinating field and according to Dr. Clarke, “When you are aware of it and know to look for it, that is how you achieve the best outcomes.” This is a two-part interview, so please join us for Episode 164 on Thursday for the continuation of this conversation! 

David D. Clarke, MD is President of the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association. He is also Assistant Director at the Center for Ethics and Clinical Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology Emeritus both at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon, USA.  As Faculty Associate at Arizona State University and at the Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies, he teaches graduate courses on Psychophysiologic Medicine. His book for patients, They Can’t Find Anything Wrong!,(Sentient Publications, 2007) was praised by a president of the American Psychosomatic Society as “truly remarkable.”  He was also the lead editor for the professional textbook Psychophysiologic Disorders (KDP Publishing, 2019) which has sixteen contributors from five countries.

He is board-certified in Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine and practiced Gastroenterology in Portland from 1984 to 2009.  During that time he diagnosed and treated over 7000 patients whose symptoms were not explained by diagnostic testing.

Dr. Clarke is a graduate of Williams College (Phi Beta Kappa) and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine where he received the Mosby Award for Clinical Excellence.  He completed internship and residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Gastroenterology at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.  He has been a Visiting Professor at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane, Australia and at Oxford University in England.  Dr. Clarke has lectured extensively on Psychophysiologic Disorders to health care professionals and the public across North America and in Europe. He has appeared on over 100 television and radio broadcasts throughout the U.S. Websites are Stressillness.com and PPDAssociation.org.

Some additional references related to Pain Reprocessing Therapy:

A film about a radical cure for chronic pain

THIS MIGHT HURT

https://www.thismighthurtfilm.com/

How therapy, not pills, can nix chronic pain and change the brain

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2021/09/29/how-therapy-not-pills-can-nix-chronic-pain-and-change-brain

Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Yoni K Ashar et al. JAMA Psychiatry. 2022.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34586357/

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