William A Burkhart, PHD, ABN / Clinical Psychologist and Board-Certified Neuropsychologist
I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology in 1981. At Fuller I learned to rely on Clinical Psychology's foundation in science and research and left there with a strong commitment to evidence-based practice. My clinical training At Fuller equipped me with applied skills in evaluating, diagnosing, and treating a broad range of mood, behavioral, stress, and social coping disorders.
In 1982 I completed Post-Doctoral Residency at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center focused on medical consult-liaison, an integrated Medical Psychology and Psychiatry consultation service: evaluation and treatment of the behavioral aspects of physical illness and injury. My Residency there exposed me to large numbers of complex cases ranging from medical conditions presenting with psychiatric symptoms to stress and trauma disorders or conflicts presenting with medical symptoms. Medical psychology training at Wilford Hall impressed upon me the fact that psychological factors always affect medical conditions and that medical conditions (illness, injury, or genetics) always affect psychiatric conditions or psychological coping and behavior. It is always a mistake to assume that a patient’s physical symptoms are “all in the head’ or in the other direction, that choices and behaviors won’t make a difference in injury or illness recovery or symptom severity and level of functioning with chronic medical conditions.
In 1984 and 1985 I completed Post-Doctoral Fellowships at UW University Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. I was trained and mentored there by one of the founding experts and practitioners of Behavioral Pain Psychology, Wilbert Fordyce, PhD. And I was trained in Neuropsychology at UW by Sureyya Dikmen, PhD who had herself been trained at UW by Ralph Reitan, PhD and who has established herself as a prolific TBI researcher and is one of the most widely recognized experts on MTBI (her research focused on factors affecting MTBI recovery and treatment outcomes, also behavioral treatment protocols designed to maximize functional status and quality of life).
In 1999 I completed ABN Board Certification, this after rigorous peer review and examination ensuring that I am sufficiently knowledgeable about cognitive/behavioral dysfunction associated with brain injury or illness or congential learning/cognitive disabilities and skilled and experienced in applying standardized neuropsychological testing and other clinical neurodiagnostic methods and in consulting with referring neurologists or other medical professionals with regard to differential diagnosis and treatment planning.
Fellowship training at UW followed by program staff positions with Community Re-Entry (Head Injury Rehabilitation) Services of WA and UW-NWH’s Rehabilitation Unit launched me into an independent practice focused on brain disorder diagnostics: MTBI, Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI (rule out early dementia vs pseudodementia), Learning Disability (ADHD, dyslexia), CVA (stroke recovery prognosis), Parkinson’s (DBS screening evaluations and consultation at Swedish’s DBS Program), and Multiple Sclerosis. My Medical Psychology practice is also focused on neuropsychological and health rehabilitation counseling: behavioral treatment of chronic pain and industrial injury adjustment disorders along with consult-liaison with L&I medical treatment providers and vocational rehabilitation counselors; also, behavioral intervention to help patients recovering from and/or living with injury or illness conditions (helping patients process disability grief & loss and assisting them with skills and strategies to maximize everyday functioning, independence, and life enjoyment in the face of the 'new normal' imposed on them by their health losses).
Currently, I hold an affiliate-staff position at Swedish Medical Center Cherry Hill and I regularly take referrals from Neurologists, Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine physicians, Primary Care physicians, and Psychiatrists affiliated with the Swedish, UW Medicine, and Polyclinic provider networks, as well as from other healthcare providers.
In 1982 I completed Post-Doctoral Residency at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center focused on medical consult-liaison, an integrated Medical Psychology and Psychiatry consultation service: evaluation and treatment of the behavioral aspects of physical illness and injury. My Residency there exposed me to large numbers of complex cases ranging from medical conditions presenting with psychiatric symptoms to stress and trauma disorders or conflicts presenting with medical symptoms. Medical psychology training at Wilford Hall impressed upon me the fact that psychological factors always affect medical conditions and that medical conditions (illness, injury, or genetics) always affect psychiatric conditions or psychological coping and behavior. It is always a mistake to assume that a patient’s physical symptoms are “all in the head’ or in the other direction, that choices and behaviors won’t make a difference in injury or illness recovery or symptom severity and level of functioning with chronic medical conditions.
In 1984 and 1985 I completed Post-Doctoral Fellowships at UW University Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. I was trained and mentored there by one of the founding experts and practitioners of Behavioral Pain Psychology, Wilbert Fordyce, PhD. And I was trained in Neuropsychology at UW by Sureyya Dikmen, PhD who had herself been trained at UW by Ralph Reitan, PhD and who has established herself as a prolific TBI researcher and is one of the most widely recognized experts on MTBI (her research focused on factors affecting MTBI recovery and treatment outcomes, also behavioral treatment protocols designed to maximize functional status and quality of life).
In 1999 I completed ABN Board Certification, this after rigorous peer review and examination ensuring that I am sufficiently knowledgeable about cognitive/behavioral dysfunction associated with brain injury or illness or congential learning/cognitive disabilities and skilled and experienced in applying standardized neuropsychological testing and other clinical neurodiagnostic methods and in consulting with referring neurologists or other medical professionals with regard to differential diagnosis and treatment planning.
Fellowship training at UW followed by program staff positions with Community Re-Entry (Head Injury Rehabilitation) Services of WA and UW-NWH’s Rehabilitation Unit launched me into an independent practice focused on brain disorder diagnostics: MTBI, Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI (rule out early dementia vs pseudodementia), Learning Disability (ADHD, dyslexia), CVA (stroke recovery prognosis), Parkinson’s (DBS screening evaluations and consultation at Swedish’s DBS Program), and Multiple Sclerosis. My Medical Psychology practice is also focused on neuropsychological and health rehabilitation counseling: behavioral treatment of chronic pain and industrial injury adjustment disorders along with consult-liaison with L&I medical treatment providers and vocational rehabilitation counselors; also, behavioral intervention to help patients recovering from and/or living with injury or illness conditions (helping patients process disability grief & loss and assisting them with skills and strategies to maximize everyday functioning, independence, and life enjoyment in the face of the 'new normal' imposed on them by their health losses).
Currently, I hold an affiliate-staff position at Swedish Medical Center Cherry Hill and I regularly take referrals from Neurologists, Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine physicians, Primary Care physicians, and Psychiatrists affiliated with the Swedish, UW Medicine, and Polyclinic provider networks, as well as from other healthcare providers.
Stress and Trauma Disorders often present with MTBI, spine injuries (chronic pain), and other physical injuries and illness. And so over many years of providing behavioral treatment for these kinds of medical patients, I developed a strong working knowledge of PTSD and other kinds of severe stress reactions and have continually expanded my training and skills to effectively treat them. Also the last 30 some years, I have maintained a general practice with specialty focus on generalized anxiety and depressive disorders, including bipolar II depression. And I have had particular exposure to traumatic death grief & loss and have a special interest in helping patients survive unnecessary or wrongful deaths of loved ones.
My treatment approach is balanced between nondirective listening (facilitating emotional processing and providing validation and insight) and action-oriented skills training and application. My experience is that successful treatment outcomes require a commitment to both insight and action and that one without the other is ultimately ineffective. I am broadly trained in evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatment protocols (CBT) and I draw heavily from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and other reality and action-oriented treatment models (interpersonal skills and communication training, problem-solving & goal-setting, and stress management training, the latter including breath control and mindfulness meditation). I have certified training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and combined with my cognitive-behavioral training, I treat Stress & Trauma Disorders with a flexible protocol, one that integrates the best of EMDR and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT, which in addition to EMDR, has been proven effective in treating PTSD and other traumas).
Whether evaluation only (to help with differential diagnosis and to help guide a referring physician’s or other healthcare provider’s treatment or work rehab planning vs. disability determination) or evaluation scheduled solely for the purposes of follow-up treatment (help with anxiety-depression, PTSD, traumatic grief & loss or adjusting to neuropsychological conditions or other life stressors), I do not consider the evaluation process complete until I have thoroughly communicated with my patients what my findings mean for their everyday functioning and future prognosis; also what treatment options are available to them and how those treatments work and what they need to do to pursue them, as well as whatever else they may be able to do to best cope with or eliminate their symptoms or problems resulting from their symptoms.
My treatment approach is balanced between nondirective listening (facilitating emotional processing and providing validation and insight) and action-oriented skills training and application. My experience is that successful treatment outcomes require a commitment to both insight and action and that one without the other is ultimately ineffective. I am broadly trained in evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatment protocols (CBT) and I draw heavily from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and other reality and action-oriented treatment models (interpersonal skills and communication training, problem-solving & goal-setting, and stress management training, the latter including breath control and mindfulness meditation). I have certified training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and combined with my cognitive-behavioral training, I treat Stress & Trauma Disorders with a flexible protocol, one that integrates the best of EMDR and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT, which in addition to EMDR, has been proven effective in treating PTSD and other traumas).
Whether evaluation only (to help with differential diagnosis and to help guide a referring physician’s or other healthcare provider’s treatment or work rehab planning vs. disability determination) or evaluation scheduled solely for the purposes of follow-up treatment (help with anxiety-depression, PTSD, traumatic grief & loss or adjusting to neuropsychological conditions or other life stressors), I do not consider the evaluation process complete until I have thoroughly communicated with my patients what my findings mean for their everyday functioning and future prognosis; also what treatment options are available to them and how those treatments work and what they need to do to pursue them, as well as whatever else they may be able to do to best cope with or eliminate their symptoms or problems resulting from their symptoms.
