Medical Articles by Category

Medical Psychologist’s Approach Merges Worlds of Medicine and Psychology (Winter 2006)

Targeted Testing Provides Strong Support to Medical Psychologists (Winter 2006)

Clinic Leads the Way in Treating the Whole Patient The Houston Headache Clinic is a leader in making the mind/body connection for the treatment of headache patients. Monica Tweel, PsyD, clinical psychologist at the clinic, uses the MBMD assessment and cites its many benefits.

Headache Program Focuses on Knowledge as Key to Effective Management A case study illustrating how psychologist Lorna London, PhD, and her colleagues at the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago gather detailed data and how they use the data in providing patients with a comprehensive education on management techniques. They use the MMPI-2™, MMPI-A™ and MBMD assessments to help structure individualized patient education.

The MBMD Assessment: A Tool for Chronic Medical Populations The MBMD assessment provides information that helps healthcare providers develop treatment and management plans individualized to the needs of patients with chronic medical conditions requiring major lifestyle changes.

The MBMD Test at Core of Evaluation of At-Risk Candidates for Organ Transplant Robert Harper, PhD, includes the MBMD test in the battery of tests he uses in presurgical evaluations to help understand patients’ coping skills, which help him identify patients who will need additional encouragement from the medical team.

MBMD Test Helps People Navigate Through Life Transitions A Baltimore psychologist uses the information he gains through the MBMD test to help his clients learn how to make behavioral changes. The MBMD test is at the centerpiece of his testing protocol because the test includes specific scales related to health issues and coping styles. The test helps clients learn more about themselves so that they can better adapt to life changes.

MBMD Test Receives Favorable Reviews Two separate reviews in the Fifteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook (Buros, in press) comment positively on the MBMD instrument, noting its broad scope, its psychometric characteristics, and its role in helping healthcare providers understand and treat the “whole patient.”

Medical Psychology: Practical Support for Differing Medical Needs
25-year medical psychology veteran Robert L. Gant, PhD, FAPM, discusses how psychological assessments help him assess patients in three different groups: chronic pain patients, bariatric surgery candidates, and brain trauma patients who have entered litigation.

New Millon™ Inventory Helps Clinicians Treat the Whole Patient Michael Antoni, PhD, one of the developers of the MBMD test, provides an introduction to the test, its uses, research base and scales.

Nurses Report Psychological Testing Helps Them Provide Better Patient Care Three nurses who work in varied medical settings, report that the use of psychological assessments in their centers help to validate “gut feelings” with objective data, which in turn helps them frame patient expectations. The data is also used to alert medical staff when certain issues appear, and customize care to patient needs, which the nurses believe ultimately result in improved outcomes.

Psychological Screening Offers Benefits for Chronically Ill Patients James R. Zabora, ScD, of the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Baltimore, explains the value of psychological screening in the diagnostic process, and the BSI^® 18 assessment. The article also discusses managed care and billing.

Pain management practitioner recommends P-3^® test to psychologists and medical professionals Dr. Vera Gonzales, PhD, shares her insights as a health psychologist in the pain management arena and how she uses the P-3 assessment to evaluate patients for depression, somatization, and anxiety.

P-3^® Test Fills Need in Clinic’s Approach to Patient Care (Fall 2006)

A Rural Practice Helps Fill the Need for Multidisciplinary Care of Chronic Pain Patients (Fall 2006)

Chronic Pain Sufferer Completes Cross Country Walk to Raise Awareness (Fall 2006)

Assessment and Treatment of Chronic Pain: A Physician's Guide Practical Pain Management article by Daniel Bruns, PsyD, John Mark Disorbio, EdD and Giancarlo Barolat, MD. The purpose of this article is to focus on the psychological and social dimensions of chronic pain and offer suggestions as to how these two dimensions can be combined with the medical dimension to improve care.

Psychology and Medicine: Working Together to Unlock the Puzzle (Winter 2006)

American Academy of Pain Management Accreditation Helps Pain Organizations Meet JCAHO Standards An overview of the credentialing program of AAPM, benefits of accreditation, and how accreditation can help pain clinics meet JCAHO standards.

BBHI™ 2 Assessment Helps Increase the Science of Pain Management Three leading pain management physicians discuss how they have addressed the changes that have evolved in pain management, and how the BBHI 2 (Brief Battery for Health Improvement 2) has helped them improve patient care. They have found the test helpful in several ways, including: providing documentation of treatment effectiveness for insurance companies, discovering need for psychological treatment, and comparing patients’ pain data with the protocol.

BBHI 2 Test Helps Psychologists Improve Outcomes in Work Hardening Program The work hardening program at Aurora Rehabilitation Centers, Milwaukee, takes an interdisciplinary approach. A psychologist is involved with every patient right from the onset and throughout the treatment process. Aurora psychologists administer the BBHI 2 assessment to every client at intake.

This article presents the program at Aurora and the benefits Aurora psychologists have found from using the BBHI 2 assessment.

Behavioral Consultants Use the BHI™ Test as Prescriptive Tool The psychologists at Michigan Behavioral Consultants use the BHI test to help determine which patients will need more psychological resources and get straight to the issues which have direct impact with someone in chronic pain.

The Bottom Line on Using Psychological Evaluations in Treating Work-Related Injury and Illness John Charbonneau, MD, has a private practice occupational medicine clinic at the Ramazzini Center in Greeley, CO. He recognizes the critical role that psychosocial factors can play in a patient’s recovery from injury or illness.

Change Theory and Psychological Assessments Help Move Pain Patients Toward Self-Management An overview of evaluation and treatment of patients at the Pain Service in Sacramento, CA, a service of the Kaiser Permanente healthcare system.

Chronic Pain and Biopsychosocial Disorders Practical Pain Management article by Daniel Bruns, PsyD and John Mark Disorbio, EdD. Illness, injury, psychological and social factors interact over the course of time to produce distinctly different types of biopsychosocial disorders. Effective treatment requires that the clinician not only identify the biological, psychological and social aspects of a condition, but also understand how each component interacts. The BHI 2 assessment was designed to assess biopsychosocial disorders in general, with particular attention being paid to chronic pain disorders. This article explains the biopsychosocial vortex and the BHI™ 2 (Battery for Health Improvement 2) approach to classification and assessment.

Clinic Addresses Pressing Need for Multidisciplinary Pain Management Services A health psychologist administers the BBHI 2 test to every patient during the initial visit at the pain treatment center where he works. He uses the test results to assess to what degree the behavioral medicine specialists should be involved in the patients’ care. If there are significant subscale elevations, he will administer the BHI 2 test as part of a more extensive evaluation. The clinicians have found that the BHI 2 test’s Symptom Dependency Scale helps predict whether or not the patient is going to respond to treatment.

Denver Pain Management Forges New Frontiers in Treatment of Chronic Spinal Pain After using the BBHI 2 assessment for outcomes measurement in three clinical trials, the staff at Denver Pain Management realized the test would be beneficial for clinical applications and now administers the test to all new patients.
Expanding the Horizon for Chronic Pain Patients: Advanced Spinal Cord Stimulator Technology Offers New Hope Advanced Bionics Corporation, developer of an advanced spinal cord stimulator, launched a benchmark study to determine the efficacy of the device in relieving primary or secondary low back pain. The study designers selected the BHI 2 and BBHI 2 assessments for measuring outcomes. Some pain practitioners involved in the study found the tests so beneficial, they administer them to many of their other chronic pain patients.

Information Is Power: Practitioners Present Evidence Based Results to Promote Use of Psychological Assessments With WC Patients Patrick Waring, MD administers the BBHI 2 to all his Workers Comp patients. He says the test “helps provide objective information on a number of issues that are particularly relevant in the diagnosis and treatment of WC patients, such as perceived disability, pain fixation, satisfaction with the treating physician, and compensation focus.”

It’s Not Just the Pain An exploratory study led by Robert Freedenfeld, PhD, at the Texas Pain Medicine Clinic found five significant relationships that may affect rehabilitation outcomes.

MBMD™ Test: The Preferred Choice for Health Psychologist Denver Health Psychologist Ron Carbaugh, PsyD, administers the MBMD (Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic) test to all his chronic pain patients to help determine if further psychological treatment is recommended, to learn how the medical problem affects the patient’s functioning, and to learn about the patient’s personality style. Carbaugh uses the MBMD data to help determine how the patients will likely respond to their doctors and how they will cope. He also uses the data to prepare the doctor for the patient’s personality type and likely behavior, and to help advise the physician on patient management.

The MBMD Test at Core of Evaluation of At-Risk Candidates for Organ Transplant Robert Harper, PhD, includes the MBMD test in the battery of tests he uses in presurgical evaluations to help understand patients’ coping skills, which help him identify patients who will need additional encouragement from the medical team.

National Pain Foundation Spotlights Test Author The National Pain Foundation spotlighted test author J. Mark Disorbio, EdD, on its website www.NationalPainFoundation.org. The site is an educational and support community for persons in pain, their families and physicians. Articles written by Disorbio on the site discuss the psychological factors related to pain and the role of assessments for chronic pain patients.

New JCAHO Standards Require Pain Assessment Protocol A review of the JCAHO-published book, Pain Assessment and Management: An Organizational Approach, which provides an overview of JCAHO pain management standards that became effective in 2001.

New Millon™ Inventory Helps Clinicians Treat the Whole Patient Michael Antoni, PhD, one of the developers of the MBMD test, provides an introduction to the test, its uses, research base and scales.

New Service Creates Ready Access to Psychological Care Introducing Collaborative HealthCare, Inc., founded by clinical psychologist Rick Harris, PsyD, to help physicians set up behavioral health programs.

Nurses Report Psychological Testing Helps Them Provide Better Patient Care Three nurses who work in varied medical settings, report that the use of psychological assessments in their centers help to validate “gut feelings” with objective data, which in turn helps them frame patient expectations. The data is also used to alert medical staff when certain issues appear, and customize care to patient needs, which the nurses believe ultimately result in improved outcomes.

P-3 and VIP^® Assessments Provide Solid Empirical Support for Disability Evaluations Barry Friedman, PhD, focuses his work on disability evaluations. His battery of tests provides empirical evidence to support his conclusions and includes the P-3 and VIP assessments.

P-3^® Assessment Fits New Pain Patient Protocols Explains why Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, Medical Director of the Pain Management Center of Paducah, is a strong proponent of psychological assessments and why he believes the P-3 test is probably the best tool presently available to meet the JCAHO and ASIPP criteria for psychological assessment of pain patients.

P-3 Test Helps Treat the Whole Pain Patient How and why The Pain Center at Western Baptist Hospital, Paducah, KY, uses the P-3 test with all patients.

P-3 Test Supports Pain Clinic’s Multidisciplinary Approach Anesthesiologists Saini and Patel of Advanced Pain Management in Milwaukee, WI, use the P-3 test because it helps screen for depression, anxiety and somatization––the factors most frequently associated with chronic pain––and because its reference population can help compare their patients to average pain patients.

Pain Center's Protocols Meet JCAHO Criteria A case study illustrating the protocols of the Pain Management Center of Paducah.

Pain Clinic Protocols Integrate the BHI Assessment This case study illustrates how Robert Freedenfeld, PhD, psychologist at the Texas Pain Medicine Clinic, uses the BHI test in his assessment protocols.

Physicians and Psychologist Team Up on Pain Management - case study A case study illustrates the benefits a psychologist, C. David Tollison, PhD, brought to the chronic pain management medical practice of Eugene Mironer, MD.

Physicians and Psychologists Team Up on Pain Management - article J. Mark Disorbio, EdD, and D. Bruns, PsyD, offer an overview of standardized psychological testing in the evaluation of chronic pain patients, including details on 12 commonly used tests.

Protect Yourself! What Physicians Must Do When Prescribing Opioids Psychological assessment is an important component of evaluations of patients being considered for prescriptions for opioid analgesics. Psychological testing can help detect psychological disorders and addictive potential, and provide objective documentation to help support physicians’ treatment decisions.

Psychologists in a Pain Clinic: Should We Be Psyched About It? Written for physicians considering partnering with a psychologist, this article details benefits of a multi-disciplinary approach and the qualifications to look for.

Research Demonstrates P-3 Test’s Utility to Pain Patients The P-3 test meets nearly all the psychological assessment needs of interventional pain physicians, according to Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD. While many pain clinics have found the psychology costs outweigh revenue, the short, inexpensive and focused P-3 test may help promote psychological assessment of chronic pain patients.

The Role of Psychological Assessments in the Treatment of Chronic Pain An introduction to this subject, based on the Handbook of Pain Assessment, Dennis C. Turk and Ronald Melzack, Editors.

Screening Chronic Pain Patients for Mental Health Referrals Robert Freedenfeld, PhD, and R. Sanford Kiser, MD, of the Texas Pain Medicine Clinic explain why primary treating physicians should screen their chronic pain patients for mental health issues and suggest tools to use, including the P-3 and HSQ^® assessments.

Targeted Testing Provides Strong Support to Medical Psychologists

Technology to the Rescue: Real-Time Information Helps Physicians Make the Mind / Body Connection Hand-held devices have become the preferred method for administering psychological screening tests at Denver Pain Management for their ease and nearly immediate reports. The BBHI™ 2 and BSI^® 18 tests are currently available on hand-helds, with the P-3^® assessment soon to be added.

www.painconnection.com: New Educational Resource for Pain Patients and Clinicians An overview of an online resource written for chronic pain patients to help them become educated about chronic pain and treatment options.

Whiplash-associated disorders abstract on clinical findings, collision parameters and psychological factors.

Screening Chronic Pain Patients for Mental Health Referrals Robert Freedenfeld, PhD, and R. Sanford Kiser, MD, of the Texas Pain Medicine Clinic explain why primary treating physicians should screen their chronic pain patients for mental health issues and suggest tools to use, including the P-3 and HSQ^® assessments.

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