In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with gastroenterologist Dr. David Clarke, a gastroenterologist who teaches graduate courses in psychophysiologic medicine at Arizona State University.  He explains the nature of psychophysiologic disorders and his approach to diagnosing them. His approach involves building a timeline of physical symptoms, exploring current and past stresses, and correlating these with signs of depression, PTSD and anxiety disorder. He explains that the most challenging aspect of treating patients with psychophysiologic disorders is dealing with suppressed emotions. For more information, visit https://ppdassociation.org.

David D. Clarke, MD is President of the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association. He is also Assistant Director at the Center for Ethics and Clinical Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology Emeritus both at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon, USA.  He teaches graduate courses on Psychophysiologic Medicine at Arizona State University and at the Cummings Graduate Institute. His book for patients, They Can’t Find Anything Wrong! He is board-certified in Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine and has diagnosed and treated over 7,000 patients whose symptoms were not explained by diagnostic testing.