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Integrating Hypnosis into the Treatment of Chronic Daily Headache and Temporomandibular Disorder (TMJ): Unlocking the Secrets of Internal Self

Mark Weisberg, PhD, ABPP and Al Clavel, Jr., MD

Chronic Daily Headache and Temporomandibular Disorder (TMJ) are two very common problems presenting in the primary care setting. Over the past three decades, several emerging areas of investigation have provided evidence on the important impact that stress, mood, and psychophysiological states can have on the development, course and outcome of medical and dental conditions such as headache and temporomandibular disorders. New discoveries of pain mechanisms such as brain plasticity, pain modulation, neurogenic inflammation and mind-body interactions are challenging our traditional approaches to the treatment of these chronic conditions. Initially from empirical observation and currently from molecular and physiologic evidence, we are rapidly discovering the neurobiological mechanisms that constitute the channels of interaction between mind and body. Hypnosis provides the tools and the language to help unlock the secrets of inherent internal self-healing resources that are so crucial for successful rehabilitation. In this workshop, participants will discover an effective model for conceptualizing these disorders in a manner that leads to using specific, powerful hypnotic techniques for successful treatment.

Participants will improve patient care by learning both a more effective model for conceptualizing these disorders, doing a better assessment, and learning specific hypnotic techniques for successful intervention that are particularly effective for reducing the frequency, intensity and intrusiveness of headache pain and TMD symptoms. The presenters have over 40 years of combined experience working in an integrative head and neck pain clinic. Many attempts at treatment for these conditions are limited because they are overly mechanistic. Dr Weisberg (a clinical health psychologist) and Dr. Clavel (a neurologist with specialization in pain treatment) will provide a conceptual model synthesized from the latest developments from the fields of psychoneuroimmunology, central sensitization research, and brain plascticity. Participants will benefit by using this expanded conceptual model to do a more concise and effective assessment of their patient's condition, leading to more efficacious interventions. More specifically they will learn hypnotic strategies which have been shown to be particularly effective for the patient with chronic daily headache and TMJ.

A clinician may be more likely to alter their assessment protocol to account for these above-mentioned variables. A clinician will likely utilize different and more effective types of hypnotic interventions with the headache or TMJ patient than they did before.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to do the following in their practice: • Understand fundamental background information for conceptualizing conditions such as Chronic Daily Headache and
Temporomandibular Disorder as examples of dysregulation syndromes (also known as Central Sensitization Syndrome) and learn why knowledge of these syndromes are so important in patient care;
• Identify why many traditional treatments for these disorders have been ineffective or insufficient;
• Formulate at least 3 effective applications of clinical hypnosis as part of the integrative treatment of these
conditions;
• Identify signs of central sensitization syndrome in headache or TMJ patients;
• Explain the effects of central sensitization syndrome to patients in a manner which provides a useful rationale for adding clinical hypnosis as part of their treatment;
• Construct new, useful hypnotic interventions for treating patients with these conditions; and
• Differentiate how to choose direct versus indirect hypnotic interventions for the complex pain patient.