The February 5th meeting addressed “The Mind-Body Approach to Chronic Pain” with David Clarke, MD.
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 16 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 7,000 patients whose symptoms were not explained by diagnostic testing. 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.
Our topic was inspired by an October 17, 2021, article in The Washington Post titled Chronic Pain’s Secret Off Switch. The author, Nathaniel Frank, stated that “it’s increasingly clear that chronic pain is often ‘neuroplastic’–generated in the brain in a misbegotten effort to protect us from danger.” This concept is certainly of interest to those of us with PN involving chronic pain. The article can be found at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/15/chronic-pain-brain-plasticity/
Dr. Clarke has provided us with a self-assessment tool that can help determine if a mind-body connection “is contributing significantly to your symptoms.” The questionnaire can be found at:
Psychophysiologic Disorders Self-Assessment Questionnaire