Education

Lectures, Seminars and Workshops available to the business and professional community.

Education: Currently Available Topics

• Psychological Aspects of Work-Related Injury
• Mood Disorders Affecting Physical Pain
• Personality Types in Medical Management
• Overcoming Fear of Re-Injury
• Catastrophic InjuriesSomatoform Disorders - Somatoform Pain and Conversion
• Factitious disorders
• Depression and Anxiety Complicating Recovery from Work Injury
• Factors in Lumbar, Cervical & Carpal Tunnel Injuries
• Posttraumatic and Acute Stress Disorders
• Pre- and Post Surgical Cases: Psychological Complications and Solutions
• The Aging Injured Worker
• Personal Injury: Exacerbated, Exaggerated or Fabricated

Seminars are typically scheduled on Friday mornings, although alternate accommodations can be made for regional, annual, lunch and learn, or other special presentation needs.

To arrange a seminar, call Atlanta Medical Psychology at 404-252-6454 to determine date availability and coordinate media needs. Past audiences include:

• The Georgia Board of Workers' Compensation
• Institute of Continuing Legal Education
• Georgia Association of Occupational Medicine
• Georgia Nursing Association
• Risk management associations
• Nurse case management companies
• Employers and insurers

Case Management Update

This Week's Topic: “Treatment Boundaries and Limitations"  

Question: “Why is 10 visits a magic number?” 

Dr. Adams replies: “When a private patient is referred, the limitation on the number of visits may be set by the health insurance carrier, but most often is unlimited.  Approval is diagnosis-dependent and includes both situational (marital, occupational) problems and the emergence of enduring long term problems (major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, addictive disorders, etc). 

In the case of workers’ compensation, the patient is often someone who would have never elected to seek psychological care had it not been for the injury.  Some of the problems are uniquely different:  enduring physical limitations, chronic pain, anger/frustration, financial problems or discord in the family regarding the changing roles. Obviously, these problems also occur in the private patient population, but the difference is that treatment is spontaneously sought by private patients, who do not perceive the need for care as a social stigma. 

There is no co-pay in workers compensation, and to a great extent, there is no accountability to the treating psychologist.  Rather than weekly visits, the injured worker is seen every 2-4 weeks, and treatment for non-injury problems, although needed, is not provided.   

In workers compensation, there are two agenda apart from resolving symptoms and conflicts:

a. Does this patient, who ordinarily would not seek psychological care, have the capacity to benefit from treatment 

b. Are the (very real) psychological problems arising from injury being offset by secondary gain (decreased responsibility or increased value of their claim).   

If we prescribe 10 initial visits (and many complete in 4-6), then the clinician can assess whether the patient can make, and has made, reasonable progress. It may then be recommended that the patient remain in care toward the time of settlement of their workers’ compensation claim. 

If it is, from the onset, left open-ended, and care is frequent and extends indefinitely, there is a blurring of the boundaries.  Is this truly injury related care or has it become a dependent relationship or justification for non-recovery? 

As with physical therapies, there is an observable point at which the patient can benefit further or is at MMI.  The MMI patient may demonstrate this by forgetting appointments, arriving late, canceling appointments, or simply failing to reschedule unless prompted by case manager or counsel.   

It is far preferable, and clinically appropriate, to put limits on initial care until it is clear that treatment is structured and productive.

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website: https://psychological.com

Online Self-Referral: https://psychological.com/appointment/

Online Professionals' Referral: https://psychological.com/consultation-form/

Blog: https://psychological.com/blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-David-B-Adams-Atlanta-Medical-Psychology/125163154184131

Linkedin: Dr. David B. Adams

Twitter: @doctoradams

Google Places: https://plus.google.com/+PsychologicalDoctorAdams/posts

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Bio

Dr. David B. Adams is Board Certified in Clinical Psychology (ABPP) and specializes in the treatment of mood, anxiety and pain disorders in adults.

In addition to his private practice, Dr. Adams consults to physicians, attorneys, employers and insurers in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder, disability determination and psychological complications in work-related injuries. He performs stimulator-implant-candidacy evaluations.

Dr. Adams is a Distinguished Practitioner in the National Academy of Practice in Psychology, a member of the American Psychosomatic Society, and a platinum member of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.

He is Fellow of the Academy of Clinical Psychology and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and it's Division of Psychologists in Independent Practice, the Division of Psychotherapy; the Society of Clinical Psychology, and the Academy of  Consultation Liaison Psychiatry.

Dr. Adams is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, and the University of Alabama with a postdoctoral fellowship from the Institute of Clinical Training of the Devereux Foundation (Philadelphia).

Dr. Adams is the author of greater than sixty articles on the impact of psychological functioning upon claims of disability. He is a well-known presenter of seminars and regional workshops, addressing the psychological aspects of physical disease and injury.

His practice is located in The Medical Quarters, adjacent to Northside, Scottish Rite and Emory Saint Joseph's Hospitals in north Atlanta.

Atlanta Medical Psychology
5555 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, N.E.
The Medical Quarters - Suite 251
Atlanta, GA 30342-1703.
404.252.6454
404-851-9286 Fax
psychological.com
AtlantaMedicalPsychology@gmail.com