Multiple Sclerosis: 9 Things Every Psychologist (and Neuropsychologist) Needs to Know

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3 Continuing Education Hours

Workshop Description:

Multiple Sclerosis is a common neurological disease which often presents differently from patient to patient, with symptoms impacting coordinated movement, vision, pain, fatigue, sleep, mood, and cognition. Though periods of acute illness can flare up and cause disability, they often remit to a new baseline, especially with attentive medical and psychological intervention.

Psychotherapists, neuropsychologists and behavioral health researchers can be important allies in mitigating MS in the following ways:

• Stress (including trauma) is often a trigger for relapse, indicating an important role for behavioral health professionals to support patients to reduce risk and intensity of relapse, and help build resilience in the face of chronic uncertainty.
• Support healthy adjustment to changing skills, changing relationships, and changing roles (professional, community, family).
• Disease modifying therapies have significantly changed disease trajectories, but choosing a course of treatment is cognitively complex as patients must weigh the risk of developing serious conditions and side-effects with possible improvement in MS symptoms. With an empathic problem-solving approach, we can help patients articulate their values and preferences, and encourage deeper understanding of risks and benefits to improve shared-decision-making with their neurologists.

Course Objectives:

Dr. Garrett will facilitate this half-day workshop for a broad audience to include therapists, neuropsychologists, and health/rehabilitation psychologists; from the graduate student to seasoned clinician and scientist-practitioner. At the close of this workshop, participants will be:

1. Conversant in common psychological and cognitive sequelae of MS
2. Increase knowledge of medical and behavioral treatments for MS
3. Become aware of local, regional and US-based resources for MS care

Outline of Workshop

1. Phenomenon of MS: from myelin to mind
2. Who is impacted by MS?  Epidemiology & Demographics
3. The (years-long) road to diagnosis, MS subtypes, and their prognoses
4. When it is not quite MS (isolated syndromes, conversion disorder)
5. Overview of disease-modifying treatments, and symptom management (including cannabis)
6. Psychological Issues (identity, depression, anxiety, sex, fatigue, trauma, family)
7. Neuropsychology (cognitive profiles, sleep, endurance)
8. Vocational rehabilitation and disability
9. Resources available in the US, Utah & the Mountain West

Presenter Biography: Kelly Davis Garrett, PhD, Rocky Mountain MS/Neurology Clinic

Dr. Kelly Davis Garrett is a graduate of Lewis and Clark College (1995), and Drexel University where she earned a Master of Science degree in 1999 and a PhD in 2002. She completed an internship in neuropsychology at Brown University and fellowship in neuropsychology at Utah State University at the Cache County Study on Memory, Health and Aging. Since 2004, she has worked at Intermountain Healthcare, specializing in neuropsychological assessment and cognitive care planning with adults in neuro-rehabilitation, geriatrics, and internal medicine/integrated primary care settings. She was one of the architects of Intermountain’ s care process model for Mild Cognitive Impairment and dementia, as well as its Late Career Physician program, which supports the credentialing of medical staff who are in their 70s and beyond. In 2014, she became a certified evaluator of health care professionals and later served as a faculty examiner for candidates for the that certificate from the California Public Protection & Physician Health. In 2018, she joined the Rocky Mountain MS/Neurology clinic, located on the LDS Hospital campus. She is a co-developer of the Philadelphia repeatable verbal learning test-- English, Mandarin, Czech, and Farsi versions-- as well as the cognitive vital signs tracker on the MS Care Connect app.

Fees

UPA Members

Non-members:

Students:

Zoom link will be sent two days prior to the event.

Online Event Registration

Mail payment to:

Utah Psychological Association
5442 South 900 East, Ste. 512
Salt Lake City, UT 84117

Phone: Teresa Bruce at 801-410-0337

Cancellations with full refund accepted one week prior to the event.

Disability requests must be made 7 days in advance