Survey Response: Jim Prussack, MPT, MMT
This survey was last updated in June 2019.
Degrees/Licenses Held:
Masters Degree in Physical Therapy (PT)
Contact Information:
Encinitas, CA (North San Diego County)
Email: jim@thepainpt.com
Phone: 760-271-3850
web: www.thepainpt.com
Number of years in practice helping people with TMS: 20 years as a physical therapist, last 5 years focusing exclusively on TMS conditions
Number of clients you have seen who have had TMS: I have seen hundreds of patients with TMS over my career. My understanding and knowledge has grown over the years to where it is now, treating only chronic health conditions.
What is your association to the TMS community?
I have been an advocate of Dr. Sarno’s work for many years after reading his books. I communicated with Dr. Sarno years ago when I was starting down this path of changing my practice, He connected me with Dr, Schechter, who I went up to L.A. to see his work. I then connected with Dr. Schubiner and went to Detroit to learn from him. I have since been to 3 of Howard’s TMS/PPD courses- acting as an assistant to him on the last one in Santa Cruz this January. I also traveled to the UK and trained with Georgie Oldfield years ago and am a SIRPA practitioner. I also attended the Emotions and Pain conference in the UK a few years back where other leaders in the field (Dr. Clarke, Dr. Hanscom, Dr Schubiner, etc.) were there to speak. I am an active poster on 2 of the TMS Facebook groups and have started a YouTube education channel this year for TMS and chronic health conditions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5pzU-xL78NVCOvZfuaB_HQ/videos?view_as=subscriber
Myself, an osteopath and another TMS recoverer have put on four meet up groups here in San Diego in relation to TMS, with more to come.
Have you ever suffered from TMS? If so, how did you recover? (optional)
I have suffered in the past from chronic sinus infections, knee pain, cervical pain, anxiety, and dairy sensitivities. I have overcome them with this work- starting with Dr. Sarno’s and other’s books, somatic experiencing, meditation ( starting meditating in 2002), brain retraining (though/beliefs) and emotional awareness and expression work.
What insurance plans do you currently accept?
Private pay sessions. I can bill out of network insurance in San Diego area for in-person mobile visits, but do most of my work now via Skype.
Do you have a sliding scale of payment for people who are not covered by insurance? I will offer a sliding scale for those who are having some financial hardship.
Are you able to conduct sessions over the phone and/or via internet video services (i.e. Skype or FaceTime)?
Yes absolutely. I do most of my work this way now.
What have you done to educate yourself about TMS, and what plans do you have for further education about TMS?
A lot as mentioned above. I have read all the books and studied pain science in Australia with some the guys in the PT field like Lorimer Mosely, David Butler, and Peter O’Sullivan. I have currently been training in ISTDP ( a few courses) and doing some Skype training with Allan Abbass with another PT here.
What mindbody books do you recommend to your patients? In particular do you recommend Dr. Sarno's books?
First of all- Dr. Sarno books, then all the other leaders in the field- you can see a partial list here: http://www.thepainpt.com/read-books-articles-chronic-pain/
Can add in The Great Pain Deception as well, and Back in Control- not sure I listed it on my website.
As we are going to post your answers on the TMS Wiki, feel free to write some text to introduce yourself.
Hi everyone I am licensed physical therapist practicing for over 20 years. I am passionate about extending the work of Dr. Sarno and his amazing insights. I currently specialize in treating chronic pain and other chronic health disorders (TMS/PPD). My first goal is to assess the patient to confirm a diagnosis of TMS and to essentially rule out any structural issues. Then we work together to set-up a specific TMS plan of treatment using many mind-body principles of the brain and nervous system. Things like emotional awareness and expression therapy, working with negative catastrophizing thoughts and self-sabotaging beliefs, pain science education, somatic experiencing, mindfulness and self-awareness training, body relaxation training, confidence building to move forward in life, and support in returning to all physical activities.
Questions Specific to Additional Practitioners:
What sort of services do you provide?
I offer pain coaching consulting sessions for anyone suffering from TMS/PPD type conditions. Many of the principles of my treatment are listed above, which are conducted in one on one sessions. Patient’s are given specific homework to do between sessions.
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.
The first session is to get know who the patient is, and to get a complete and detailed history to put the pieces of the TMS puzzle together. Subsequent sessions are going to target the brain and nervous system. For example, I will spend some time going over mental filtering and reframing and looking at the specific thoughts and beliefs the patient carries with them throughout the day. We will work on identifying these thoughts and learning to build mindfulness/self-awarness to catch these thoughts and learn to let go and reframe. I am also always trying to build the patient’s confidence in the TMS diagnosis by pointing out specific examples of when the structural doesn’t make sense and conversely how the mind affects the body. Personal examples are needed so it comes from their own experience- the best teacher. After working on the mental side, I want to get many patients out of their minds and into their bodies so they are not just thinking, but also feeling. Feeling is healing and as we know it is at the heart of TMS with unconscious emotions. I start with the physical symptoms (somatic tracking) and then moving to learning to feel emotions in the body and identifying these. Over sessions we are working together as a team with the patient to discover unfelt feelings and start to link them back to current and past stressful or traumatic events and adverse childhood experiences. The work of ISTDP is so helpful because it identifies how anxiety works through different pathways in the body and how we can work with it and go deeper to other emotions. So we are exploring emotions and linking them back to their lives and piecing together an understanding of why this happened and how it happened via the mind and body. I then spend some time looking at physical activities, hobbies, and exercises the patient has avoided and we work to get the patient moving again in the right direction over the sessions. It is a multi pronged approach targeting the mental, emotional, and physical. The core work in sessions is looking at the emotional piece, as that is the underlying cause of the physical problems, as Dr. Sarno put so well in his books.
| DISCLAIMER: The TMS Wiki is for informational and support purposes only and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. See Full Disclaimer. |
