By not looking at brain function in complex psychiatric cases, physicians often miss important information, which leads to erroneous diagnoses and missed opportunities for effective treatment. This lecture will explore how using functional brain imaging tools improves diagnoses and opens a new world of understanding and hope for many patients.
Dr. Minuchin will show segments from a first session he conducted with a family, highlighting the concepts that underlie the techniques; the ways that he, as the therapist, assess his interventions; and the impact the family has on him.
Ms. Ackerman will be speaking about love in a time of illness, something she has lived with for many years, and has written about in her most recent book, One Hundred Names for Love. One day, Ackerman’s 74-year-old husband, a gifted author and professor, suffered a savage stroke. When he regained awareness he was afflicted with “global aphasia”—total loss of language—and could utter only a single syllable: “mem.” The standard therapies yielded only frustration. Diane soon found, however, that by harnessing their deep knowledge of each other, and her understanding of language and the brain, she could guide Paul back to the world of words.
Prevalent views of higher brain functions are based on the notions of computation and information processing. Various lines of evidence appear to be incompatible with this position and suggest instead that the brain operates according to a set of selectional principles. A theory addressing these principles, called Neural Darwinism, will be discussed. This theory has a direct bearing on our understanding of the neural basis of consciousness, a key issue in psychotherapy.
Dr. Minuchin will be interviewed by Dr. Zeig about key concepts in his approach to family therapy. We will compare and contrast approaches. We will discuss developments in family therapy.
Dr. Yalom will discuss those aspects of therapy that he has discussed in his stories and novels, especially focusing on group therapy and existential issues in therapy. He will focus on the content of his new novel, The Spinoza Problem. Dr. Yalom will read and discuss two of his new psychotherapy teaching tales.
The discussion will center on the evolution of the cognitive model of psychopathology and psychotherapy since its earlier stage. The expansion of therapy has included all of the common disorders and many of the medically related disorders will be explored. Finally, we will focus on the future of cognitive therapy and psychotherapy in general. Special attention will be paid to the relationship of other psychotherapies.
Positive Psychology measures and attempts to build PERMA: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. I present recent findings from individuals, the clinic, organizations, and nations, as well as evidence-based techniques for building PERMA.