On this episode of the Hypermobility Happy Hour, Kerry interviews Dr. Richard Barnum. Dr. Barnum is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist who directed the Boston Juvenile Court Clinic for more than twenty years. In that role, he conducted psychiatric evaluations of thousands of children and families in the Massachusetts courts and also provided consulting services to the Massachusetts Departments of Mental Health and Youth Services, regarding cases involving complex legal and clinical problems. He has also consulted with the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division regarding psychiatric care provided to incarcerated juveniles in other states. He was also formerly an Assisted Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and was affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Barnum also contributed a chapter to the book Disjointed.

Dr. Barnum discusses the appropriate treatment of patients with hEDS, the issues in getting proper diagnoses, and what to do when you’ve been misdiagnosed with a psychiatric condition and/or undertreated for their physical ailments and conditions.

Barnum, Richard, “Problems with diagnosing Conversion Disorder in response to variable and unusual symptoms.” Adolescent, health, medicine and therapeutics vol. 5 67-71. 17 Apr. 2014, doi: 10.2147/AHMT.S57486. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4000178/

Dr. Richard Barnum, Psychiatrist, discusses EDS & Psychiatric illness misdiagnoses, EDS Awareness Educational Series, 17 September 2014, https://chronicpainpartners.com/webinar/free-webinar-19/

Article on misdiagnosis mentioned by Dr. Barnum:

https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-correct-medical-record-errors-2615506