Back in Control with David Hanscom, MD

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Dr. Sue Carter, the former director of the Kinsey Institute and a world renowned scientist. She discusses the evolutionary history of oxytocin and its important role in human bonding. She underscores the fact that oxytocin affects every tissue of the body and is the physiologic basis for pair bonding and relationships. In a sense, it defines who we fee...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with semi-retired business owner Tom Sullivan.  He describes how, after becoming seriously ill from sustained anger over an incident with a neighbor, he “flipped the switch” on his anger. He was able to calm his mind, get perspective on the situation with his neighbor and release his anger so he could heal. He shares how as a result of th...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Tom Sullivan, a semi-retired business owner who had made a remarkable recovery from a decades long series of medical setbacks and intense chronic pain. He shares how he had to confront his “addiction to anger” to begin the healing process. Then he describes how recently sustained anger over an incident with a neighbor overtook him and tipped him from h...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with physiatrist and pain management specialist David Clawsen, MD.  He discusses how the immune response works and the toll it can take on the body over long periods of time. He explores the physiologic, genetic and emotional factors that govern the threat response. He explains how chronic threat in our lives, which continually activates...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with physiatrist and pain management specialist David Clawsen, MD. He explains how the body’s many defenses against threats evolved from the cellular to the organism level. He details the redundant signaling systems the body uses to coordinate a threat response, and how the immune system provides both defense and healing / repair. Dr. David Clawsen is a Phy...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Orthopaedic Traumatologist, Certified Professional Coach, and CEO/Founder of SurgeonMasters, Jeff Smith, MD.  He discusses large and serious problem of physician / surgeon burnout and the principles his team uses to help surgeons avoid and heal from burnout. His approach is customized to the client, focusing on their specific challen...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Orthopaedic Traumatologist, Certified Professional Coach, and CEO/Founder of SurgeonMasters, Jeff Smith, MD. He shares his own experiences with burnout, anger, emotional exhaustion and chronic pain that led him to become a professional coach and form SurgeonMasters so he could help other surgeons avoid and heal from physician burnout. Dr. Jeff Smith is...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with world renowned surgeon and best-selling author, Bernie Siegel, MD.  He discusses the relationship between emotions and physical health, and how fear can destroy the body if it is persistent. He shares stories that illustrate the insights that can be found in patient drawings that can help with understanding a patient’s emotional land...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with world renowned surgeon and best-selling author, Bernie Sigel, MD. He shares stories that illustrate the importance of the relationship between physician and patient. He stresses the key role of understanding the patient’s life situation, challenges, motivations and fears to the healing process, and how patient drawings can often reveal important insigh...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Lisa Goodpaster, founder of the Stephood Project and a Parental Alienation Survivor, Childhood Trauma Educator.  She explains how parental alienation happens following divorce when the mother and father are unable to co-parent. This can create extreme anger in the affected children and result in the formation of deep triggers that le...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Lisa Goodpaster, founder of the Stephood Project and a Parental Alienation Survivor, Childhood Trauma Educator. A child of divorce, she broke her neck, and suffered for years with over 22 physical symptoms and intense chronic pain. She shares that by reading Back in Control, going through the Hoffman process and working with somatic therapist Kendra Bl...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Lois Prinz, Certified Hypnotherapist and Hypnotism trainer.  She shares the approach she uses to help clients train their brains to create a better outcome when confronted with any type of pain. She explains that hypnosis is really self-hypnosis and her approach focuses on repetition of thoughts to help create change. This is done th...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Lois Prinz, Certified Hypnotherapist and Hypnotism trainer. She explains that hypnosis is a type of “guided mindfulness” that can be used as a shorter term intervention to help patients heal from chronic pain. She discusses the evolution of her approach to treating chronic pain and the addition of nutritional hypnotherapy to her practice because of its...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Dan Hindsley and Penny George, chronic pain sufferers who used a mind-body approach to heal from chronic pain.  They share how they met and teamed up to launch the website www.mindbodymedicineinfo.org in January 2021. It is designed to help raise the awareness of clinicians in the UK about the mind-body approach to treating chronic p...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Penny George and Dan Hindsley, based in Fife, Scotland and Lancashire, England, respectively. Penny shares her story of battling and overcoming Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  Dan talks about his struggle with and recovery from severe sciatica and back pain for over a decade. They met (virtually) in mid-2020 after both participating in online recovery inter...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with psychiatrist Dr. Allan Abbass, founding Director of the Center for Emotions and Health at Dalhousie University in Canada.  Dr. Abbass shares details of his approach—short-term dynamic psychotherapy—to treating chronic pain which includes: helping patients become aware of the emotions they have around their physical symptoms; understa...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with psychiatrist Dr. Allan Abbass, founding Director of the Center for Emotions and Health at Dalhousie University in Canada. Dr. Abbass shares his personal experience dealing with chronic pain, how he studied the mind body approach to treating pain developed by Drs. Sarno and Schubiner, and the discoveries he made that led him to using short-term dynamic...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Dr. Dan Ratner, a nationally known pain psychologist.  He shares details of his approach to treating chronic pain which includes: helping patients understand the emotions they have around their symptoms, articulate and challenge their doubts and getting them to learn they have the power to heal themselves. Dr. Dan Ratner is a nationa...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Dr. Dan Ratner, a nationally known pain psychologist, about his own experience dealing with chronic pain, and the discoveries he made that led him to a career helping others heal from their chronic pain. He describes the importance that the work of Dr. John Sarno played in the evolution of his own treatment approach based on a mind-body perspective. Dr...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Dr. Jen Souders. She shares details of her approach to treating chronic pain which include: establishing a strong doctor patient relationship; understanding the patient’s beliefs and values; conducting motivational interviews; and focusing on helping patients build autonomy, competence and relatedness as part of their healing.  She a...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Dr. Jen Souders about the evolution of her career from anesthesiologist, to clinical practitioner specializing in addiction medicine and chronic pain treatment, and most recently to serving in a coaching capacity for individuals in Dr. Hanscom’s weekly group sessions. She discusses how the desire to work more directly with patients in the healing proce...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Dr. Joe Tatta, author of the best-selling book Radical Relief, about the details of his approach to treating chronic pain. He uses a combination of patient education, mindfulness and Acceptance Commitment Therapy. He stresses the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and understanding the patient's values and motivations as p...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Dr. Joe Tatta, a global leader in integrative pain care and author of the best-selling book Radical Relief, about his 5 step framework for treating chronic pain based on Acceptance Commitment Therapy. He focuses on helping patients develop psychological flexibility as a way to change behavior and give up their struggle with pain so they can heal. Learn...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom discusses the essence of chronic illness and an approach to understanding it as the body's response to sustained threats in our environment. He outlines strategies for treating it based on developing coping strategie that allow our nervous systems to cope effectively with these threats. He reiterates his beifef that if applied, these could eliminate much of the i...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Dr. Frances Sommer Anderson, a licensed psychologist and psychoanalyst specializing in the treatment of pain. She explains the specifics of her approach to treating pain which include: understanding the patient’s background; getting the patient to talk about their feelings; developing a timeline that connects symptoms with feelings a...