4th Annual Clusterbusters Conference and AGM

The Clusterbusters will hold their 4th annual conference on September 18th - 20th 2009 at the
Hyatt Regency O'Hare, Chicago Illinois

or you can call 800-233-1234 and request the 'Cluster Busters' meeting for September 17-20 in order to receive the discounted group rate.

We have secured an incredible rate of $79 per night for the confernece hotel. Rooms at this rate will go quickly so I encourage you to book early. (especially for smoking rooms!!)

Accomodation:

All accommodations offer:

Agenda and Speakers:

Agenda:

A variety of current and useful information on Cluster Headache, ongoing research and entheognic substances will be presented by some world class speakers.

Speakers:

Confirmed speakers at this time are:

Dr. Larry Robbins:



http://www.headachedrugs.com/
Lawrence Robbins, M.D. is considered to be one of the top 10 experts in the country on management of headache medications. His books, Headache Help and Mangement of Headache and Headache Medications have been very well reviewed, and both are bestsellers. Dr. Robbins also discusses non-medication strategies, as well as alternative treatments (herbs, exercise, acupuncture, physical therapy, etc.).

Dr. Robbins has his practice in Northbrook, Illinois. The Robbins Headache Clinic has a reputation as being one of the top places in the United States to go for help with headaches.

Dr. Tom Roberts:



Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D.
Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations
Northern Illinois University

Thomas B. Roberts (Ph.D. Stanford) investigates mindbody states for the leads they provide for learning, cognition, intelligence, creativity, mental health, psychological processes, and abilities that may reside in them as described in his book Psychedelic Horizons. He specializes in psychedelics, particularly their entheogenic (spiritual) uses see Psychoactive Sacramentals: Essays on Entheogens and Religion. His online archive Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments www.csp.org/chrestomathy excerpts over 550 books, dissertations, and topical issues of journals. The 2-volume set Psychedelic Medicine extends this interest into health studies. He has taught Foundations of Psychedelic Studies at Northern since 1981; this is the first such catalog-listed course at a college or univeristy. He has lectured on psychedelics in Finland, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Switzer land, Mexico, and Canada and published over 100 articles, chapters, and book reviews. He originated Bicycle Day.

For more on his book Psychedelic Medicine see here:
http://www.cedu.niu.edu/lepf/edpsych/faculty/roberts/Psychedelic-Medicine-Praeger-flyer-Feb-22.doc

Bruce Sewick LCPC, CADC:


http://www.brucesewick.com/

Noted author, teacher and therapist, his interest in mental health started with exploration of altered states of consciousness in the 70's while an undergraduate at the University of Illinois (Chicago). He received a Bachelor's degree in Psychology in 1974 and a graduate degree in Clinical Psychology from Roosevelt University in 1997 and his LCPC licensure in 1999.

Bruce will be speaking on past and recent issues in Psychedelic Research occurring in various areas for a variety of purposes

His Master's thesis, "Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy for the Terminally Ill" is on-line at: http://www.maps.org/research/sewick.html.
It reflects his compassion about assisting the dying with the anxiety and fear they may be facing. He also uses EMDR to help alleviate traumatic symptoms http://www.emdria.org.

Frederick G. Freitag, D.O.,F.A.H.S. :


Co-Director
Diamond Headache Clinic
Chicago, Illinois
www.diamondheadacheclinic.com

Affiliate Instructor, Department of Family Medicine
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Downers Grove, Illinois

Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Chicago Medical School
North Chicago, Illinois

Lecturer, Department of Neurology
Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine
Maywood, Illinois

Doctor Frederick G. Freitag is Co-Director of the Diamond Headache Clinic. He is a 1974 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelors Degree in Biochemistry. He was awarded the D.O. degree at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1979, at which he serves as Affiliate Instructor in the Department of Family Medicine. Doctor Freitag completed a residency in Family Practice at Brentwood Hospital, Warrensville Heights, Ohio. He was a Fellow in the Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Headache, at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio in 1981. He is board certified by the American Board of Osteopathic Family Practitioners. He has also been awarded a certificate of added qualification by the National Board for Headache Management. Doctor Freitag is a receipt of the Subspecialty Certification for Headache Medicine from the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. He has been appointed a Fellow of the American Headache Society.

Doctor Freitag joined the staff of the Diamond Headache Clinic in 1983, after serving in general practice at Brentwood Hospital, Warrensville Heights, Ohio. He currently serves on the attending staff of St. Joseph Hospital, Chicago. He is also Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago. Doctor Freitag has served on numerous committees of the American Headache Society. He serves as Coordinating Editor of Headache Quarterly: Current Treatment and Research, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Headache Foundation. He is also a member of the Headache Guideline Project and chair of the Inpatient Treatment Guidelines. He is co-editor of the National Headache Foundation's Standards of Care. He has been an invited faculty member at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) on several occasions.

Doctor Freitag was named one of the "Top Doctors" in Chicago Magazine for 2004, 2006 and 2007. He has contributed over 100 articles to the medical literature on various headache subjects. Doctor Freitag has lectured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe on headache issues. He has been the lead investigator on numerous basic science and clinical research studies at the Clinic.

Dr. Halpern, M. D.


Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Director of the Laboratory for Integrative Psychiatry, McLean Hospital

Doctor Halpern completed his Psychiatry Residency at Harvard Longwood and a 3-year Fellowship in Drug and Alcohol Abuse Research at McLean’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center. Dr. Halpern’s work focuses primarily on the effects and consequences of the use of hallucinogens, and he has published extensively on a variety of topics within the field. He has completed a National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) K23 Career Development Award with the primary project of evaluation of neurocognitive consequences from long-term peyote use amongst Native Americans and currently is the recipient of a multi-year R01 from NIDA investigating the neurocognitive consequences from long-term illicit MDMA use. Dr. Halpern is Board Certified in General Psychiatry, teaches on addiction psychiatry within various HMS-affiliated training programs, and is also the Associate Director of Substance Abuse Research of McLean's Biological Psychiatry Laboratory. He has direct clinical research experience administering controlled substances, including now leading MDMA-assisted experimental psychotherapy sessions for patients with severe anxiety related to advanced-stage cancer diagnosis. Dr. Halpern has been working closely with Clusterbusters for 4 years plus now and this collaboration has led to the first publication on the use of psilocybin and LSD for CH, the first cluster headache specific headache diary (available for free at the home page of Clusterbusters), and the discovery of Bromo-LSD (BOL) as a potential non-hallucinogenic treatment of CH.

Bob Wold


Bob Wold is founder and President of Clusterbusters, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization dedicated to the research of cluster headache and to support people with cluster headache and their families. Based in greater Chicago with his wife and 4 children, Mr. Wold has talked to 1000s of cluster sufferers. In fact, over 25 years of his adult life was burdened with severe cluster headache that was resistant to all standard treatments. That all changed after he tried psilocybin, which has helped regain control over this illness for him... and now hundreds to perhaps thousands of other cluster headache patients all over the world.

Larry Schor, PhD


Larry Schor, PhD is a psychology professor at the University of West Georgia and a licensed professional counselor. He is also a cluster headache patient. In addition to being involved in the training of psychotherapists, Dr. Schor has been a Disaster Mental Health counselor with the American Red Cross since 1997 and has published numerous articles about working with trauma. His latest project, www.georgiadisaster.info is the official disaster mental health website for the State of Georgia.

Cluster Headache is, perhaps, the only non life threatening condition in which people with no underlying clinical depression have been known to kill themselves simply to stop the pain. As Dr. Peter Goadsby, Professor of Clinical Neurology at University College London and a leading researcher on the condition has commented, “Cluster headache is probably the worst pain that humans experience. I know that’s quite a strong remark to make, but if you ask a cluster headache patient if they’ve had a worse experience, they’ll universally say they have not” (Goadsby, 2001).

The psychological and emotional impact often goes untreated in Cluster Headache patients and their loved ones. Moreover, Cluster Headache patients may be reluctant to seek psychological counseling and support fearing mental health professionals may not understand the feelings of despair and consequent behavior associated with their condition.

Dr. Schor will present a brief description of the psychological aspects of this condition. He will then facilitate a group discussion aimed at identifying psychotherapeutic interventions that may be helpful. Ultimately, he seeks to develop a clinician’s guide to understanding cluster headache patients.

Please note this presentation will occur on Saturday during the conference and the group discussion will likely be held later that evening. Everyone is welcome to attend and participate.

*Click here to go to registration page!!*

For anymore information please contact Doug

Sponsorship opportunities - Click here for details