Survey Response: Ilene Donin, PhD
This survey was last updated in January 2020.
Degrees/Licenses Held: PhD counseling psychology. Fordham University
Contact Information:
Ilene Donin
357 Almeria Avenue. Suite 903
Coral Gables, Florida 33134
9144509379
idonin@aol.com
Number of years in practice: 30
Number of patients you have seen who have had TMS: Hundreds
What is your association to the TMS community? I have a network of associates who all trained together and am listed in a PPPD website
Have you ever suffered from TMS? If so, how did you recover? Yes. I did the exercises and had 100% belief in my diagnosis
What insurance plans do you currently accept? Medicare
Do you have a sliding scale of payment for people who are not covered by insurance? I do
Are you able to conduct sessions over the phone and/or via internet video services (i.e. Skype or FaceTime)? I am and I do
What have you done to educate yourself about TMS, and what plans do you have for further education about TMS? Reading, clinical work, I look at the various Tms websites
What mind-body books do you recommend to your patients? In particular, do you recommend Dr. Sarno's books? Mind Body prescription. The Divided Mind.
Tell us about yourself:
I have been a psychologist for over 30 years, trained by Dr. John Sarno, treating individuals with psychophysiologic disorders and those with cognitive disorders resulting from TBI’s Up until 2018 my practice was located in New York City where I maintained ongoing relationships with other TMS therapists. In fact, I still do. I moved to coral Gables where I have maintained a clinical relationship with many of my New York clients. In addition, I have been working with Floridians who have TMS diagnoses. While much of my work is with those carrying the TMS diagnosis, I see individuals with the range of mood disorders and those undergoing stressful life transitions and associated emotional reactions.
I’m addition to my clinical work, I taught as an adjunct professor at Fordham university for 6 years.
Additional Questions for Therapists
What is your general psychotherapeutic treatment approach?
My approach is psychodynamic and when necessary, I can and will use cognitive behavioral techniques
How does your approach to treating TMS differ from your general psychotherapeutic treatment approach?
As those with TMS are typically not aware of their underlying emotions, I am more inclined to point out discrepancies between their words and their body language and verbal affect, as an example. Further, there is a tendency among those with TMS to be highly intellectualized when discussing and dealing with their emotions. I see my role as helping them to connect more with feelings and less with rational thinking.
Please walk us through one or more examples of what happens during a session, and how that changes over the course of working with a client.
Often, the early stages of therapy are met with resistance to the TMS diagnosis. It is not my place to convince them that they do. I encourage them to read as much as possible, to look at You Tube presentations by Dr. Sarno, and then let’s talk. An early history is taken where I’m looking at Indicators of trauma, neglect, abandonment or other extreme experiences. I listen to their self narrative and point out discrepancies between words and emotional expression. I do this in the moment. When they are speaking in a highly rational way about painful moments or events in their lives, I point this out to them. Typically, TMS individuals have very harsh superegos. Over the course of therapy, their words and emotions are more in synch. How long this takes is mostly a function of how well defended they are at the start. And during the course of treatment there are reports of diminished symptomatology which further reinforces their belief in their diagnosis.
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