“All of us need that ability to put ourselves on the list of people we take care of.” -Dr. David Clarke

In episode 164, we hear part two of Dr. Jen Barna’s fascinating interview with Dr. David Clarke. In the second part of this interview, Dr. Clarke explains why self care is so very important in our lives. He also highlights the importance of processing our feelings in order to prevent and/or treat stress induced illness. Then, he answers Dr. Barna’s question on how to explain the Boulder Back Pain Study to people who have questions about it. He speaks about the paradigm shift in pain management due to the effectiveness of Pain Reprocessing Therapy and its implications in healthcare. 

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 Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy with tremendously successful results.

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. Dr. Clarke’s websites are Stressillness.com and PPDAssociation.org.

If you are interested in learning to diagnose and treat PPD patients, here is Dr. Clarke’s advice:

There are numerous options now for any physician (even a psychiatrist) to become skilled at PPD diagnosis and treatment including books, online courses and recorded or live conference presentations.  The http://EndChronicPain.org/ website has access to many of these. As one Family Physician put it, "these ideas put the joy back into my practice." 

Some references related to Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy and Pain Reprocessing Therapy:

They Can’t Find Anything Wrong!,(Sentient Publications, 2007) 

Psychophysiologic Disorders (KDP Publishing, 2019) 

Stressillness.com 

PPDAssociation.org

http://EndChronicPain.org/

The Curable App: https://www.curablehealth.com/

A documentary 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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