About this course

Learning Objectives

• Assess pain symptoms for a structural or neuroplastic basis.
• Identify what fuels neuroplastic pain.
• Explain the neuroscience behind chronic pain in a clear and compassionate manner.
• Prepare clients to overcome barriers in accepting a diagnosis of neuroplastic pain.

Learning Levels

• All levels

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Daniella Deutsch, LCSW

  Daniella Deutsch, LCSW received her master’s in social work from the University of Southern California. Daniella individualizes her treatment approach to meet the needs of each patient. She encourages her patients to relate to themselves with self-compassion while using evidence-based practices to achieve pain reduction and mind and body wellness. Daniella trains all new clinicians to the Pain Psychology Center in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, demonstrating a holistic and actionable approach to overcoming chronic pain.

• 

  Alan Gordon, LCSW

  Alan Gordon, LCSW is a psychotherapist in Los Angeles, CA, specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and other physical symptoms. He developed Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), a cutting-edge protocol for treating chronic pain, and completed a large neuroimaging study on the efficacy of PRT in conjunction with the University of Colorado Boulder. Alan was featured on CBS’s The Doctors, where he conducted the first fMRI case study of a patient eliminating chronic pain. He is an adjunct assistant professor at USC and has presented on the topic of pain treatment at conferences and trainings throughout the country.

Disclosure

References

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• Castro, W.H., Meyer, S.J., Becke, M.E., Nentwig, C.G., Hein, M.F., Ercan, B.L., et al. (2011). No stress – no whiplash? Prevalence of ‘whiplash’ symptoms following exposure to a placebo rear-end collision. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 114, 316-322.
• Cherkin, D.C., Sherman, K.J., Balderson, B.H., et al. (2016). Effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction vs cognitive behavioral therapy or usual care on back pain and functional limitations in adults With chronic low back pain: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA, 315(12), 1240–1249. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.2323
• Cherkin, D.C., Anderson, M.L., Sherman, K.J., et al. (2017). Two-year follow-up of a randomized clinical trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction vs cognitive behavioral therapy or usual care for chronic low back pain. JAMA, 317(6), 642–644. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.17814
• Derbyshire, S.W., Whalley, M.G., Stenger, V.A., Oakley, D.A. (2004). Cerebral activation during hypnotically induced and imagined pain. Neuroimage 23(1), 392-401.
• Ferrari, Robert, and Anthony S. Russell. "Epidemiology of whiplash: an international dilemma." Annals of the rheumatic diseases 58, no. 1 (1999): 1-5.
• Hashmi JA, Baliki MN, Huang L, et al. (2013). Shape shifting pain: chronification of back pain shifts brain representation from nociceptive to emotional circuits. Brain, 136(Pt 9), 2751-2768.
• Kleinstück, F., Dvorak, J., Mannion, A. (2006). Are “structural abnormalities” on magnetic resonance imaging a contraindication to the successful conservative treatment of chronic nonspecific low back pain?." Spine, 31(19), 2250-2257.
• Kirwilliam, S. S., Derbyshire, S.W. (2008). Increased bias to report heat or pain following emotional priming of pain-related fear. PAIN, 137(1), 60-65.
• Lumley, M.A., Schubiner, H. (2019). Psychological therapy for centralized pain: An integrative assessment and treatment model. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81, 114-124.
• Obelieniene, Diana, Harald Schrader, Gunnar Bovim, Irena Misevičiene, and Trond Sand. "Pain after whiplash: a prospective controlled inception cohort study." Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 66, no. 3 (1999): 279-283.
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• Ashar, Y. K., Gordon, A., Schubiner, H., Uipi, C., Knight, K., Anderson, Z., ... & Wager, T. D. (2022). Effect of pain reprocessing therapy vs placebo and usual care for patients with chronic back pain: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA psychiatry, 79(1), 13-23. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2669
• Ashar, Y. K., Lumley, M. A., Perlis, R. H., Liston, C., Gunning, F. M., & Wager, T. D. (2023). Reattribution to mind-brain processes and recovery from chronic back pain: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Network Open, 6(9), e2333846-e2333846. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.33846