Newswise — The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB) launches a new training institute whose purpose is to provide training in specific areas of diagnosis and symptom management for the adjunct or support staff in the practicing biofeedback clinician's office. The first endeavor in this exciting series will cover biobehavioral considerations in the diagnosis and treatment of primary headache disorders, taught by esteemed researchers and practitioners Frank Andrasik PhD and Steven Baskin PhD. The first course will occur Wednesday, May 14, and Thursday, May 15, at the 2008 AAPB 39th Annual Conference, Daytona Beach, FL.
The curriculum will include an in-depth clinical guide to the many advances in the diagnosis and management of migraine, cluster headache, tension-type headache, and their many variants. This workshop will first provide participants with a thorough overview of the basic headache diagnostic interview and ways to assess outcome. It will then explore the pathophysiology of the different disorders, integrating neurochemical, physiological, behavioral, and psychological perspectives. Pharmacological, psychophysiological, and behavioral treatment approaches will be reviewed in relation to both underlying pain mechanisms and their clinical efficacy. Tried and true behavioral and biofeedback treatments (Temperature, Muscle Tension, and Electrodermal Biofeedback, Relaxation, Cognitive Stress Coping) will be presented in depth, and new and evolving psychophysiological treatments (such as EEG and Blood Volume Pulse) will be reviewed in brief. Adaptations useful when working with children will be reviewed. This workshop will also review clinical studies on paradoxical effects of medication overuse in relation to treatment outcome. Chronic daily headache will receive special attention, including the transformation process from episodic to chronic headache. Issues of psychiatric co-morbidity will be explored. New migraine-specific medications will be reviewed as well. Issues related to reimbursement will be discussed.
Upon satisfactory completion of the course, attendees will receive a certificate verifying completion of this 20-hour course in Adjunctive Assessment and Interventions for Primary Headache Disorders. This institute program will include 16 hours of classroom instruction and four hours of home study, ideally completed prior to attending the workshop. Materials are included with registration. An exam will be administered at the conclusion of the course.
Successful attendees will be able to:1) Perform a headache diagnostic interview and make an informed diagnosis.2) Decide which measures to use to guide assessment and document clinical outcome. 3) Recognize the clinical symptoms and understand the pathophysiology of the different headache types.4) Understand behavioral, biofeedback, and pharmacologic treatment alternatives and recognize medication overuse problems secondary to immediate-relief medications.5) Understand the difficult issue of chronic daily headache and the transformation process from episodic headache.6) Learn how to adapt assessment and treatment approaches for children with headaches.7) Communicate better with their patients.8) Become familiar with basic billing practices.
About the presenters: Frank Andrasik, PhD is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of West Florida and a Senior Research Scientist with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. Dr. Andrasik was the 1992 recipient of the Merit Award for Long-Term Research and/or Clinical Achievements and the 2002 recipient of the Distinguished Scientist Award from AAPB. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (formerly Biofeedback and Self-Regulation). He was President of AAPB in 1993-1994. He has published over 250 articles and chapters, the majority of them addressing biofeedback and headache. He is co-author with Edward B. Blanchard, Ph.D., of Management of Chronic Headaches: A Psychological Approach, published in 1985 (also published in Spanish and German) and co-editor, with Mark S. Schwartz, Ph.D., of Biofeedback: A Practitioner's Guide (3rd ed.), published in 2003.
Steven M. Baskin PhD is the Director of the New England Institute for Behavioral Medicine in Stamford, Connecticut and an attending psychologist in neurology and psychiatry at Greenwich Hospital of Yale-New Haven Health. He is a past president of the AAPB, is a current member of the board of directors of the Headache Cooperative of New England and a past board member of the American Headache Society and the Connecticut Psychological Association. He is on the editorial board of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback and a frequent reviewer for the journals Headache and Cephalalgia. He has published extensively on primary headache disorders, most recently on co-morbid psychiatric factors that may chronify migraine and complicate treatment.
Who should attend: Physician's assistants, technicians, allied health care providers or anyone who has patient contact in the biofeedback practitioner's office; physicians and other professionals interested in adding biofeedback to an existing headache practice or in expanding their service offerings to include patients experiencing headaches.
Future courses offered by the Mind-Body Institute of AAPB will focus on diagnosis and treatment protocols for support or adjunct staff in the practice of other disorders.
To register for this important certificate program, visit http://www.aapb.org. Click on the 2008 AAPB 39th Annual Meeting and "Register Now" for pre-workshop WS11.
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