It’s been a while since I returned from the Psychophysiological Disorders Association (PPDA) conference in Boulder, Colorado. It opened with a summary of Dr John Sarno’s work and the current PPD research taking place locally. The highlight of the conference for me was a pre-recorded video from psychologist Arlene Feinblatt PhD, who talked about her work with Dr Sarno. I met Arlene six years ago in New York to discuss her relationship with Dr Sarno and the psychological contribution she made to PPD, or Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) as it was called then. She is a very special woman, and was an enormous asset to Dr Sarno in my opinion. We’ve kept in touch by email, and it was wonderful to see her again on video at the conference.

Me and Dr David Clarke MD at the conference

The following two days were packed with presentations during the day and good food with friends in the evenings. It was a pleasure to see colleagues who I’ve known for many years again after a hiatus due to Covid, as well as meeting some people I’ve corresponded with in person for the first time. Most attendees were based in the US, but there were some from Israel, Canada, the UK, and several other European countries. Since the conference I’ve been in touch with many of those new contacts and will bring their expertise to you in time.

With Jeffrey Axelbank PsyD at the conference

One subject that came up repeatedly was the difficulty of communicating the concept of stress illness and the links to physical pain or anxiety and or low mood, which is difficult to convey to both patients and healthcare practitioners. A filmmaker was also resident at the conference interviewing us about our experience. In addition to those live interviews, some of the people I currently teach kindly contributed to the mini videos that the filmmaker will use to create snapshots of this process and the healing experience. It’s an ambitious project and will take time to materialise I suspect. I’ll keep you posted.