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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Om: Meditation a Big Help for Emotional Issues


Science Codex posted this article/research summary a couple of days ago - it's not new information, as anyone who reads in contemporary psychotherapy knows. But it is a good reminder that we can befriend our tough emotional states through meditative processes.

Om: Meditation a big help for emotional issues

Posted On: March 28, 2012

Schoolteachers who underwent a short but intensive program of meditation were less depressed, anxious or stressed – and more compassionate and aware of others' feelings, according to a UCSF-led study that blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions.

Teachers who practiced meditation in a short yet intensive program were more calm and compassionate, according to a new study led by UCSF.

A core feature of many religions, meditation is practiced by tens of millions around the world as part of their spiritual beliefs as well as to alleviate psychological problems, improve self-awareness and to clear the mind. Previous research has linked meditation to positive changes in blood pressure, metabolism and pain, but less is known about the specific emotional changes that result from the practice.

The new study was designed to create new techniques to reduce destructive emotions while improving social and emotional behavior.

The study will be published in the April issue of the journal Emotion.

"The findings suggest that increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behavior," said lead author Margaret Kemeny, PhD, director of the Health Psychology Program in UCSF's Department of Psychiatry. "The study is particularly important because opportunities for reflection and contemplation seem to be fading in our fast-paced, technology-driven culture."

Altogether, 82 female schoolteachers between the ages of 25 and 60 participated in the project. Teachers were chosen because their work is stressful and because the meditation skills they learned could be immediately useful to their daily lives, possibly trickling down to benefit their students.


Study Arose After Meeting Dalai Lama
The study arose from a meeting in 2000 between Buddhist scholars, behavioral scientists and emotion experts at the home of the Dalai Lama. There, the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman, PhD, a UCSF emeritus professor and world expert in emotions, pondered the topic of emotions, leading the Dalai Lama to pose a question: In the modern world, would a secular version of Buddhist contemplation reduce harmful emotions?

From that, Ekman and Buddhist scholar Alan Wallace developed a 42-hour, eight-week training program, integrating secular meditation practices with techniques learned from the scientific study of emotion. It incorporated three categories of meditative practice:

  • Concentration practices involving sustained, focused attention on a specific mental or sensory experience;
  • Mindfulness practices involving the close examination of one's body and feelings;
  • Directive practices designed to promote empathy and compassion toward others.
In the randomized, controlled trial, the schoolteachers learned to better understand the relationship between emotion and cognition, and to better recognize emotions in others and their own emotional patterns so they could better resolve difficult problems in their relationships. All the teachers were new to meditation and all were involved in an intimate relationship.

"We wanted to test whether the intervention affected both personal well-being as well as behavior that would affect the well-being of their intimate partners," said Kemeny.

As a test, the teachers and their partners underwent a "marital interaction" task measuring minute changes in facial expression while they attempted to resolve a problem in their relationship. In this type of encounter, those who express certain negative facial expressions are more likely to divorce, research has shown.

Some of the teachers' key facial movements during the marital interaction task changed, particularly hostile looks which diminished. In addition, depressed mood levels dropped by more than half. In a follow-up assessment five months later, many of the positive changes remained, the authors said.

"We know much less about longer-term changes that occur as a result of meditation, particularly once the 'glow' of the experience wears off," Kemeny said. "It's important to know what they are because these changes probably play an important role in the longer-term effects of meditation on mental and physical health symptoms and conditions."

The study involved researchers from a number of institutions including UCSF, UC Davis, and Stanford University.

Source: University of California - San Francisco
Posted by william harryman at Saturday, March 31, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: Buddhism, Dalai Lama, emotions, meditation, mental health, Psychology, teachers

Dr. Adam Gazzaley - Exploring the Crossroads of Attention and Memory in the Aging Brain: Views from the Inside


From UCTV - Dr. Adam Gazzaley studies the neural mechanisms of memory and attention, how these processes change with normal aging and dementia, and how we might intervene therapeutically to alleviate memory and attention deficits. Series: "UCSF Osher Mini Medical School for the Public" [4/2012]


Posted by william harryman at Saturday, March 31, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: aging, attention, brain, dementia, memory, neurodegeneration, neuroscience, Psychology

Bloggingheads.tv - Robert Wright (The Evolution of God) and Jonathan Haidt (The Righteous Mind)


On this week's episode of The Wright Show on Bloggingheads.tv, Robert Wright speaks with Jonathan Haidt about his new book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.

These two people are the closest thing we have in the U.S. to public intellectuals who are developmentally oriented in how they view some of the crucial issues diving the country - religion and politics. Both men employ models of cultural evolution that are similar to Clare Graves' biopsychosocial "Emergent, Cyclical, Levels of Existence" model, although neither (to my knowledge) ever clearly defines the structures behind their models.

Graves on "Levels of Existence, Forms of Being"
        "I am not saying in this conception of adult behavior that one style of being, one form of human existence is inevitably and in all circumstances superior to or better than another form of human existence, another style of being. What I am saying is that when one form of being is more congruent with the realities of existence, then it is the better form of living for those realities. And what I am saying is that when one form of existence ceases to be functional for the realities of existence then some other form, either higher or lower in the hierarchy, is the better form of living. I do suggest, however, and this I deeply believe is so, that for the overall welfare of total man's existence in this world, over the long run of time, higher levels are better than lower levels and that the prime good of any society's governing figures should be to promote human movement up the levels of human existence."

        -- Dr. Clare W. Graves

In The Evolution of God, Wright suggests stages of cultural evolution almost identical to Graves, or even to Jean Gebser.
In characterizing the emergent consciousness as arational (as opposed to irrational) and aperspectival, Gebser sought to indicate that it transcended the dualistic, black-or-white categories of the rational orientation to life. Rationalism, for him, was by no means the pinnacle of human existence, but, on the contrary, an evolutionary digression with fatal consequences. He regarded it as a deficient of the inherently balanced mental structure of consciousness. In other words, Gebser did not reject reason, merely its inflation into the sole arbiter of our lives. As he recognized, the human being is a composite of several evolutionary structures of consciousness, and we must live all of them according to their intrinsic value. The individual who is dominated by the rational structure represses all other structures, which are viewed as irrational and hence dispensable. Thus the "reasonable" person is inclined to reject magic, myth, religion, feeling, empathy, and not least ego-transcendence.

One of the downsides for me, in hearing Haidt's views, is that he adheres to the current perspective dominating neuroscience that most of our actions and moral views are preconscious and outside of our rational control. There is considerable evidence for this, but the studies are looking at all people as occupying the same stage of development. However, there is also evidence that people who engage in meditation and mindfulness are more consciously able to examine their beliefs and not simply react from preconscious states.

I'm also a little uneasy with Haidt's assertions around conservative values vs. liberal values and that conservatives are more in-tune with the realities of human needs and values. He tends to reject liberal values almost wholesale, and that feels like an agenda to me.

Anyway, around the 8-9 minute mark, Haidt explains some elements of his cultural development model.





Robert Wright and Jonathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind

  • Jon's new book, "The Righteous Mind"   6:11
  • The different moralities of liberals and conservatives   7:34
  • Jon: The right gets the left better than the left gets the right   5:35
  • Are your politics in your DNA?   3:45
  • The psychologically astute way to debate politics   7:47
  • Politics as religion   5:55
Play entire video
Recorded: Mar 29 — Posted: Mar 30
Download:   wmv   mp4   mp3   fast mp3  
Posted by william harryman at Saturday, March 31, 2012 5 comments
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Labels: books, conservatives, cultural evolution, cultural values, liberals, morality, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology

Friday, March 30, 2012

Eat Tumeric (Curry) for a Healthy Brain

There were two articles from the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM) over the last two months on the benefits of tumeric (curcumin, or curry) for a healthy brain. I have been preaching the benefits of curcumin for a while now, for its actions as a COX-2 inhibitor (reduces inflammation and pain), anti-cancer benefits (has been found to cause apoptosis in some forms of cancer), for cholesterol and glucose control, and most recently there have been several studies of curcumin for preventing Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Improve Your Brain Health: Eat Curry

February 28, 2012 By Ruth 

I have to admit, I didn’t grow up eating curry. It just wasn’t a mainstay in the New England diet, and my parents still aren’t much into trying new foods.

And while this follows the whole “you can’t teach old dogs new tricks” thinking, anyone who doesn’t at least try curry, or more importantly, turmeric, is possibly missing out on some pretty spectacular health benefits.

Turmeric is a spice used in various dishes in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries. The reason that turmeric is so important is the derived chemical, curcumin. Curry can improve brain health Curcumin has been implicated in numerous studies as a booster of brain health.

In a recent study in the journal PLoS ONE, investigators led by Ina Caesar from Linköping University in Sweden looked at how curcumin affected transgenic fruit flies which developed Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) symptoms.

(If you’re wondering why we would care about fruit fly studies, fruit flies are increasingly used for research into neurodegenerative diseases like AD.)

The flies that received the curcumin lived up to 75% longer and maintained their mobility longer than the sick flies that did not receive the substance.

However, it should be noted that there was no decrease of amyloid in the brain or eyes (that’s the plaque normally associated with Alzheimer’s Disease).

So while curcumin didn’t dissolve amyloid plaque, the researchers still found that it reduced neurodegeneration.

Diet is just one way of influencing neuroplasticity – or the brain’s ability to rewire itself.
Would you like to learn more about the possibilities of neuroplasticity?

We are offering a Free Report featuring Norman Doidge, MD, where he talks about:
  • How to use the brain’s potential to change to achieve better patient outcomes

  • A closer look at how neuroplasticity is changing real peoples’ lives – a case study

  • How to rewire the brain to bring healing to patients with depression, PTSD, and chronic pain

  • The paradox of plasticity – what every practitioner needs to know about the “dark side” of neuroplasticity
You can find more right here.

What are your favorite health promoting strategies for the brain? Please leave a comment below.

* * * * * * *

Turmeric for a Healthy Brain: Part II

March 28, 2012 By Ruth 

Have you had your turmeric yet this week?

In a recent post, I talked about the neuroplastic possibilities of curcumin (a brain-boosting chemical in turmeric) for slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Did that convince you to start eating it? If not, consider this my second attempt.
Spice Display
Slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease isn’t the only benefit from eating turmeric.
We were curious and so did a PubMed search. We came across so many other important studies on curcumin that we had to share some of them with you.

Let’s start with some more brain benefits.

A randomized, controlled study published in the journal PLoS ONE looked at the neurogenetic potential of prolonged curcumin use.

Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are created in the brain, including in the hippocampus (one of the centers of neural learning).

Researchers led by Z. Zhao out of the Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Shanghai, China looked at performance and brain growth in rats after 6 and 12 weeks on a curcumin-fortified diet.

(I hope those sweet rats got something tasty.)

The result?

Curcumin enhanced memory (both spatial and non-spatial), as well as hippocampal cell growth compared to rats in the control group.

But in addition to brain health, curcumin has been linked to:
  • The slowing of prostate tumor growth (S. A. Shah et al. Cancer Research, 2012)
  • Prevention and treatment of tendinitis (C. Buhrmann et al. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2011)
  • Increasing the effectiveness of drugs used to fight colon, neck and head cancers (I. Aroch et al. Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, 2010 and W. M. Abuzeid et al. Archives of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, 2011)
Want to find out what else is good for the brain?

We have invited nine neuroscience experts to be a part of the New Brain Science 2012 series.

We’ll discuss not just new findings in neuroscience, but even more importantly, how to apply these findings for peak brain health.

It’s free to listen at the time of initial broadcast, you just have to sign up.


What have you recommended to your patients in order to change their brains? Please leave a comment below. And if you’ve got a recipe that includes turmeric, let us all know here.
Posted by william harryman at Friday, March 30, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: Alzheimer Disease, brain, cancer, curcumin, Health, neurodegeneration, nutrition

In Defense of the "Talking Cure"


Over at the New York Times, Benjamin Y. Fong posted a defense of old school talk therapy, an art that medicalized psychiatry is trying to make obsolete. There is considerable evidence (see Shedler, 2010; Shedler, 2006) that psychodynamic psychotherapy, of which post-Freudian psychoanalysis is one version, is more effective in the long-term than cognitive-behavioral models or psychopharmacology.

As the second Shedler article (2006) makes clear, what most people think of when they hear mention of psychoanalysis is pretty inaccurate. Post-Freudian theory is actually more precisely founded in Kohut's Self Psychology. And more than most models, it has adopted insights from attachment theory and neuroscience, not to mention philosophy, to make it more effective.

Anyway, here is Fong's article. For the record, few psychoanalysts still hold to Freud's drive theory (that neurosis is based in repressed instinctual drives) - and this if what Fong refers to with the primary and secondary processes in the article.

Freud’s Radical Talking

By BENJAMIN Y. FONG
 
The Stone

The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless.

Death is supposed to be an event proclaimed but once, and yet some deaths, curiously enough, need to be affirmed again and again, as if there were a risk that the interred will crawl back up into the world of the living if fresh handfuls of dirt are not tossed on their graves. One such member of the living dead, accompanying the likes of God and Karl Marx, is Sigmund Freud. How often one hears, thanks recently to the fetishization of neuroscience, that psychoanalysis is now bunk, irrelevant, its method decadent and “dangerous,” as the recent David Cronenberg film, “A Dangerous Method,” informs us.
Over the years, the “talking cure” — so dubbed by Bertha Pappenheim, a.k.a. “Anna O.,” who became Freud’s first psychoanalytic case study — has received quite a bit of ridicule and reworking. With countless children and adults taking behavior-altering drugs, many are again tolling the bell for psychoanalysis. Who wouldn’t choose fast-acting pills over many years on the couch, health insurance companies most of all? Perhaps, after surviving scandal, revision and pop characterization, drugs and money will definitively put old Sigmund to rest.

If psychoanalysis were simply a way of “curing” certain individuals of socially unwanted behavior, then I would have no problem with its disappearance. Similarly, if psychoanalysis were just a way for wealthy individuals to talk to one another about their lackluster existences, it might as well continue on its way to the dustbin of history. And if, God forbid, psychoanalysis has devolved into just another addition to the theory toolkit of academics in the humanities, someone ought to put it out of its misery now.
radical talking
That said, I think there is something of great worth in the “talking cure” that would be troubling to see succumb to a cultural death. That something has to do with the relation between two realms of psychic activity that Freud called the “primary” and “secondary” processes. The former domain is instinctual and relentless, a deep reservoir of irrational drives that lie just beneath the apparently calm façade of our civilized selves. The latter is the façade itself, the measured and calculating exterior we unconsciously create to negotiate everyday life. Although these two terms are somewhat obscure, the basic divide between them is familiar to the point of obviousness.

We know all too well, for instance, that the secondary process often fails to contain the depths below, which sends envoys to the surface in the form of anxiety, depression, prejudice and hypocrisy. The more we devote ourselves to the dominant cultural norms, the more those drives begin to fester within us, until eventually they seep through the cracks in most unexpected ways. It is, therefore, necessary to confront the “problem” of the primary process, which has in recent times received two “answers.”

The first stresses the need for the secondary process to conquer the primary by means of an “education to reality.” From a very early age, we are asked to recall facts, to support our statements, to string together arguments, to anticipate counter-arguments, to make decisions, and, if our teachers and parents are sufficiently sensitive to the ways of our pluralistic society, to remain respectful towards those who disagree with us. Some social critics would have us believe that the only thing wrong with this picture is its disjunction with reality: if only our schools and our families were better training our youth in the public use of reason, our democracy would not be in the decrepit state it is in.

No doubt there is some truth here, but this general attitude blinds us to how crippling the exercise of our reasoning faculties can often be. In professional settings, of course, this kind of objective problem-solving and collective decision-making is needed and rewarded in turn. When problems have a clear and precise answer, the gears of production can keep spinning. Nothing, however, could be more detrimental to the sort of understanding required by our social existence than the widespread belief that all problems have answers (or, for that matter, that all problems are problems).

The second “answer” calls for the liberation rather than the repression of the primary process. We all need, so the logic goes, to appease our inner selves. So we may take vacations, pop pills, go to the movies, drink, smoke or shop. And when we are done caring for our “self,” that uniquely American preoccupation of the 20th century, we may resume our rational behavior all the better, unencumbered temporarily by that pesky inner turmoil that makes us human.

Freud himself suggested neither of these alternatives. Rather, he proposed that we engage in a particular kind of conversation that runs something like this: one person talks without worrying about whether his words are “right,” in the sense of their being both correct and appropriate, and the other listens without judging any disclosure to be more important than another. In contrast to most conversations, which have certain culturally-defined limits and rhythms of propriety, this exchange has no such rigid rules. It ventures to awkward places. It becomes too intense. And more often than not, it is utterly boring, reducing both partners to long bouts of silence.

From an outside perspective, the conversation is pointless. And indeed, most of the time it appears to be a waste. But in its disjunction with routine human interaction, it opens a space for our knotted interiors, so used to “having a point,” to slowly unravel. As each piece flakes off, it is examined and seen in relation to other pieces. After a long while, we gain what might be called, to borrow a term from Martin Heidegger, a “free relation” to these parts of ourselves and our world, such that the unmovable density they once comprised becomes pliable and navigable. Some key pieces appear and others vanish, but the puzzle is never complete. The aim of the conversation, however, is not completion, which short of death itself is an illusion, but the ability to change. This change involves neither the victory of the secondary process nor the liberation of the primary process but rather the opening of lines of communication between them.

We have become accustomed to temporarily putting aside our knotted interiors only to return to them as they were. “Reality will always be what it is; we can only hope for breaks every once in awhile.” This is a dogma both psychological and political. What Freud proposed, and what remains revolutionary in his thought today, is that human beings have the capacity for real change, the kind that would undo the malicious effects of our upbringings and educations so as to obviate the need for “breaks from real life,” both voluntary and involuntary.

What is paradoxical in his proposal is that this revolution requires less “work,” not more. There is a premium today on “doing,” as if we are now suffering, amidst astounding productivity, from an essential passivity. Freud’s conversation is, of course, a kind of work that is often very taxing. Yet it is always and inevitably what the classical economists called “unproductive labor.”

Against our culture of productivity and its attendant subculture of “letting off steam,” Freud hypothesized that the best way to refashion our world for the better is to adopt a new way of speaking to one another. Above all, this radical way of talking is defined by what appears to be extended pointlessness, something we are increasingly incapable of tolerating as the world around us moves ever faster. There are books to read, mouths to feed, meetings to attend, corporations to fight or defend, new places to visit, starving children to save…who has the time? And yet it is precisely in not allowing ourselves the time to be “unproductive” that reality is insured to remain rigid and unchanging.

According to Hannah Arendt, the world, as opposed to the earth, is something man-made. It is planned out with the ideas from our heads and composed of the work of our hands. But without deep human relatedness, it is but a static “heap of things,” a hardened reality that we run around while remaining in the same place. What lends pliability to reality, she claims, as Freud did decades earlier, is taking the time to talk with one another without any predetermined purpose, without hurrying from one topic to another, without seeking solutions, and without skirting the real difficulty of actually communicating with one another. It is here that the continuing value of Freud’s discovery asserts itself. If psychoanalysis is dead — that is — if we no longer care about Freud’s problems, then so too is the human capacity to enact change.

Benjamin Y. Fong is a doctoral candidate in philosophy of religion at Columbia University, and an affiliate scholar at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. His dissertation is a reevaluation of the psychoanalytic concept of the death drive.
 


Posted by william harryman at Friday, March 30, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: Freud, Philosophy, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, Psychology, psychotherapy, Self Psychology, talking cure

Assignment Compassion: Join Adrian Grenier to tell your story on video

The Charter for Compassion has a new project . . . .

Assignment Compassion: Join Adrian Grenier to tell your story on video

Has an act of compassion changed your life? Share your story — and join the Charter for Compassion in a brand-new video initiative: Assignment Compassion.

In the video above, actor Adrian Grenier gives the first assignment: Share a moment of compassion that changed your life.

Record your video response to Adrian’s assignment and share it on our Facebook wall. You can share the assignment with friends and family too.

And head over to the Charter for Compassion website to join the tens of thousands who’ve read and “affirmed” the Charter, a document with a simple idea: restoring the Golden Rule — to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself — to the center of world discourse. Adrian and 85,000 others have affirmed the Charter for Compassion and pledge to use it to make a better world. You can too! Learn to recognize compassion — and practice it every day in every way you can.




Charter for Compassion - The 1st Assignment with Adrian Grenier

Adrian Grenier wants you to get reacquainted with compassion - and to practice it every day in every way you can. He's affirmed the Charter for Compassion and committed to making a better world.

Now it's your turn. We want to know how an act of compassion has changed your life. It's that simple. Learn to recognize compassion and resolve to practice it. First, record your video response to Adrian via YouTube (http://goo.gl/VF88y). Post your response video on our Facebook wall (https://www.facebook.com/CharterforCompassion), and share your assignment with friends & family. We'll continue to curate and share our favorite stories from you. Post your response video on our wall, and share your assignment with friends & family. We'll continue to curate and share our favorite stories from you. You can also take part in the "Compassionate Game" on the right to activate your compassionate act even further! (http://goo.gl/FHwKu)

And don't forget to head over to the Charter for Compassion website and join the tens of thousands who've already affirmed the Charter. Live it.
Posted by william harryman at Friday, March 30, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: Charter for Compassion, compassion, Golden Rule, life changing, personal growth

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Film: The Crisis of Civilization

This film is strangely entertaining and depressing at the same time - some weird hybrid of mash-ups and facts that disturbs as it captivates. Or maybe I just need more sleep.




The Crisis of Civilization

The Crisis of Civilization is a documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system.


Weaving together archival film footage and animations, film-maker Dean Puckett, animator Lucca Benney and international security analyst Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed – author of A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It – offer a stunning wake-up call proving that ‘another world’ is not merely possible, but on its way.


Like the book on which it is based, the film consists of seven parts which explore the interconnected dynamic of global crises of Climate Catastrophe; Peak Energy; Peak Food; Economic Instability; International Terrorism; and the Militarization Tendency – with a final section on The Post-Peak World.

The film reveals how a failure to understand the systemic context of these crises, linked to neoliberal ideology, has generated a tendency to deal not with their root structural causes, but only with their symptoms. This has led to the proliferation of war, terror, and state-terror, including encroachment on civil liberties, while accelerating global crises rather than solving them.


The real solution, Nafeez argues, is to recognise the inevitability of civilizational change, and to work toward a fundamental systemic transformation based on more participatory forms of living, politically, economically and culturally.

Also featuring clowns, car crashes, explosions, acrobats, super heroes, xylophones and much, much more!
The links from the video on YouTube:
A dark comedy remix mash-up bonanza about the end of industrial civilization.
Support us! Get the DVD http://crisisofcivilization.com/buy
Listen to our response to some of the your comments here http://crisisofcivilization.com/podcast2/
Based on the Book by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed - http://crisisofcivilization.com/book/
Directed by Dean Puckett
Animations by Lucca Benney
http://www.facebook.com/thecrisisfilm
http://twitter.com/crisisfilm
Posted by william harryman at Thursday, March 29, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: civilization, crisis, documentary, ecology, films, financial debacle, globalization, natural resources

Dalai Lama wins Templeton Prize as more than 'simple Buddhist monk'

As reported in the Christian Science Monitor . . .

Dalai Lama wins Templeton Prize as more than 'simple Buddhist monk'

The Dalai Lama has won the Templeton Prize for exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension by spreading his message of compassion worldwide.

By Ron Scherer, Staff writer / March 29, 2012



Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama greets a Tibetan on his way to deliver spiritual teachings to a gathering in New Delhi March 23. Manish Swarup/AP

He calls himself a “simple Buddhist monk.”
In Pictures: The Dalai Lama's career
 
Related stories
Dalai Lama set to resign. What role will he play then?

But his biographers and religion experts say the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is way more than that. A monk, yes. But, also an exiled spiritual and temporal leader of 6 million Tibetan Buddhists, a philosopher-scientist, an author, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

And, on Thursday, the Dalai Lama received yet another honor: the 2012 Templeton Prize, which honors a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.

IN PICTURES: The Dalai Lama's career

“I think he has become the best known Buddhist in the world,” says John Berthrong, former academic dean at Boston University’s School of Theology.

The award has been given to other high-profile religious leaders in the past, such as Mother Teresa and the Rev. Billy Graham. The Dalai Lama’s story is compelling for its own reasons.
Read the whole article.
Posted by william harryman at Thursday, March 29, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: awards, Buddhism, Dalai Lama, spiritual leaders, Tibet

Public Voices: Steven Pinker and Robert Jay Lifton at The New School for Social Research

Back in January, Robert Jay Lifton and and Steven Pinker had an exchange in the NY Times (included below the video) when Lifton wrote a letter the editors in response to the review of Pinker's new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Lifton is the author of Witness to an Extreme Century: A Memoir, a book that takes a very different perspective than Pinker's. The New School of Social Work invited them to have a public discussion, moderated by William Hirst, Professor of Psychology in the New School for Social Research.

Public Voices: Steven Pinker and Robert Jay Lifton



A conversation between two distinguished social researchers and commentators,Steven Pinker and Robert Jay Lifton, about whether we live in a more or less violent time. Pinker's most recent book is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined and Lifton is author of, most recently, Witness to an Extreme Century: A Memoir.

This discussion follows from an exchange between Pinker and Lifton published recently in the New York Times, "Sunday Dialogue: Do We Live in a Less Deadly Time, or Not?". William Hirst, Professor of Psychology in the New School for Social Research, will moderate. The event will close with audience Q&A.
Here is the whole discussion as published in the NY Times:

Sunday Dialogue: Do We Live in a Less Deadly Time, or Not?

Published: January 7, 2012 Robert Jay Lifton, Steven Pinker and readers discuss violence in this and other eras. 

Eleanor Davis

The Letter

To the Editor:
I have been studying violent events for several decades, so I was deeply interested in Steven Pinker’s new book, “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” which claims that violence has long been declining and that this may be our most peaceful era in our species’ existence. Dr. Pinker argues that, over centuries, human beings have become less prone to kill and engage in torture and other cruel and sadistic behavior. 

I have not experienced the 20th and 21st centuries that way. My work has taken me to Auschwitz and Hiroshima, and I have come to see these two dreadful events as largely defining our era. 

Our subsequent development not only in nuclear but also chemical and biological weapons, and our pollution of the planet with our wastes, suggest further directions of mass killing and dying. 

The deaths over the last two centuries reflect a revolution in the technology of killing. During the 20th century we saw the emergence of extreme forms of numbed technological violence, in which unprecedented, virtually unlimited numbers of people could be killed. Those who did the killing could be completely separated, geographically and psychologically, from their victims. 

Millions of people were also killed during the 20th century in more old-fashioned, low-tech ways during genocides, induced famines and wars. 

There is a terrible paradox here. Dr. Pinker and others may be quite right in claiming that for most people alive today, life is less violent than it has been in previous centuries. But never have human beings been in as much danger of destroying ourselves collectively, of endangering the future of our species. 

We are not helpless about our fate. There could not be a more crucial moment to draw upon our gradual taming of individual violence, along with our growing awareness of the grotesque consequences of numbed technological violence, to achieve lasting forms of what can be called peace. 

ROBERT JAY LIFTON
New York, Jan. 3, 2012
The writer is a psychiatrist and the author of, most recently, “Witness to an Extreme Century: A Memoir.”

Readers React

Robert Jay Lifton has profoundly illuminated the human dimension of the 20th century’s most destructive events. Yet precisely because he has singled out the worst events of one century, his observations cannot speak to the prevalence of violence in the world as a whole, or to its trajectory over history. Only quantitative comparisons can do that, and they suggest that Hiroshima and Auschwitz do not, fortunately, define our era. 

Contrary to decades of predictions that nuclear world war was inevitable, no nuclear weapon has been used since Nagasaki, and today’s threats, as terrifying as they are, cannot compare to the now-defunct prospect of all-out war between the United States and the Soviet Union. 

Nor did the mid-20th-century genocides become the new normal. While the world has seen some horrific mass killings, the global rate of death from genocide has plummeted over the decades, and may now be at an all-time low. 

Estimates of the carnage wreaked by the swords, pikes and arrows of earlier centuries (and by the machetes of the past one) show that remote-control technologies are not necessary for high-volume killing. 

As fellow students of the human mind, Dr. Lifton and I might agree that the causes of violence lie not so much in the machinery of killing as in the psychology of killers: in the balance between tribalism, vengeance, sadism, amoral predation and toxic ideologies on the one hand, and compassion, self-control, fairness and reason on the other. 

The fact that the balance can change (and, I argue, has changed) over time is perhaps the firmest ground for another shared conviction: that we are not helpless about our fate. 

STEVEN PINKER
Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 4, 2012
The writer is a professor of psychology at Harvard and the author of “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.”
  

Steven Pinker and Robert Jay Lifton may be talking at cross-purposes. 

Dr. Pinker may be correct that the actual number of killings has declined over the centuries, which implies that any given person today stands less of a chance of dying violently than just a few centuries ago. But Dr. Lifton focuses on concentrated instances of mass killing in the 20th century, like Auschwitz and Hiroshima. He rightly implies that humanity’s capacity to kill has increased exponentially with the rise of industrialized technology. 

But these are two different analyses. Dr. Pinker’s is a statistical description of actual killings. Dr. Lifton’s is an appraisal of humanity’s potential to increase that number almost beyond imagining.
Perhaps the moral to be drawn from this comparison is that we can continue the encouraging trends that Dr. Pinker notes only if we’re wise enough to heed Dr. Lifton’s blood-chilling advisory.

MARK PACKER
Spartanburg, S.C., Jan. 5, 2012
The writer is a professor of interdisciplinary studies at the University of South Carolina, Upstate.
 

Robert Jay Lifton, picking up on Steven Pinker’s book “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” calls attention to the fact that most of the world’s people today experience less mass killing than in previous eras but endure the modern danger of “numbed technological violence.” Citing the horrific events in Auschwitz and Hiroshima in the 20th century, Dr. Lifton rightly acknowledges yet understates the perilous conditions facing marginalized peoples in our times. 

Having lived and worked in Africa and Southeast Asia for many years, I have observed structural violence there as a combination of human indignities and entrenched poverty. For the marginalized, systemic violence is a spiral of widespread rape, legalized and other forms of homophobia, chronic hunger and environmental degradation, often worsened by collusion among local elites and external interests in resource grabs. 

Lasting peace requires measures for controlling technologies of violence, plus achieving human dignity and alleviating poverty. 

JAMES H. MITTELMAN
Bethesda, Md., Jan. 4, 2012
The writer is a professor of international affairs at American University and the author of “Hyperconflict: Globalization and Insecurity.”
  

To judge whether the human species is more or less violent at different times in history, one requires a definition of violence. I have defined violence in my studies as acts and/or socially maintained conditions that inhibit human development by interfering with the fulfillment of universal human needs, including biological/material, social/psychological, productive/creative, security, self-actualization and spiritual needs. 

Using this concept of violence when examining global realities, one is forced to conclude that large segments of the global population of seven billion are victims of violent acts and conditions. They experience hunger, malnutrition, material and psychological poverty, widespread unemployment, lack of health care, including family planning, lack of meaningful education and adequate social supports, and lack of a sense of security. Moreover, they are subjected to economic and sexual exploitation. Their human development is consequently severely obstructed. 

These conditions, in addition to constant local and trans-local wars, suggest that the human species may be on a suicidal course rather than a course of declining violence. 

DAVID G. GIL
Lexington, Mass., Jan. 4, 2012
The writer is emeritus professor of social policy at Brandeis University and the author of “Violence Against Children: Physical Child Abuse in the United States.”
  

Robert Jay Lifton’s description of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare as well as environmental pollution provides him with ammunition for his argument that the 20th and 21st centuries reflect continuing fratricide. 

We need more Dr. Liftons. We need curbs and restraints, whether sponsored by the United Nations or promoted by individuals, states or nations. We need a United Nations with sanctions to halt violence. We need to be hailed as the decade that defined peace and made war obsolete. 

NANCY M. DAVIS
Avon, Conn., Jan. 4, 2012
  

Both Steven Pinker and Robert Jay Lifton left out of their observations what can be referred to a as “structural violence,” a system placing profit over human need resulting in social problems like extreme poverty, lacks of security in old age, access to health care, and socially useful work at reasonable wages. 

By and large, we have become dulled to such violence, which is something like the “banality of evil” that Hannah Arendt spoke about. These growing economic and social inequalities within and among countries can easily lead to full-scale wars, as former President Jimmy Carter suggested upon accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. Fortunately, movements like Occupy Wall Street may have awakened some of us to such inequities, which are socially violent. 

JOSEPH WRONKA
Springfield, Mass., Jan. 4, 2012
The writer, a professor of social work at Springfield College, is permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva for the International Association of Schools of Social Work.
  

Robert Jay Lifton’s critique of Steven Pinker’s thesis brings to mind the usefulness of the adage that not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. 

Dr. Pinker’s argument depends on statistics, but Dr. Lifton’s rejoinder depends on the historical sense that modernity has been permeated by violence in ever-diversifying forms. 

We have come to accept a permanent state of war as the “new normal.” Societies throughout the world, including our own, suffer from the structural violence of poverty, inequality, pollution, hunger, racism and so on. And now we read daily reports of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder — invisible violence that is often overlooked by the statistics. 

MARK HUSSEY
Nyack, N.Y., Jan. 4, 2012
  

I side more with Robert Jay Lifton than with Steven Pinker. My recent book looked at war frequency and fatalities since 1816. Sadly, the number of wars remains about the same. 

For instance, in the period 1816 to 1825, there were eight wars continuing in the world; in 1996 to 2005, there were twice that — a rate of 17 a year. 

In the last five years, there have been eight wars a year, the same number as two centuries ago. Forty-two civil wars started in the 1990s, more than in any previous decade in the last two centuries.
Not surprisingly, the number of civil wars has gone down in the first decade of the 21st century. Statistically, something that’s been the worst ever will tend to improve at the next measuring point. This also happens if one compares current death rates to World War II. 

Meanwhile, as Dr. Lifton indicated, millions can die with the push of a button. We continue to live in an age of great power, great insecurity and, alas, war. 

FRANK WAYMAN
Dearborn, Mich., Jan. 4, 2012
The writer, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, is co-author of “Resort to War: 1816-2007.”
  

I couldn’t agree more with Robert Jay Lifton. He knows history. He knows humanity. His books about Hiroshima and nuclear war are a testimony to a human being who cares about the survival of the species. 

His statement that “we are not helpless about our fate” points to a future where “occupiers of the Progressive mind” will bring the nation’s power brokers to their knees, and their deadly game of nuclear roulette will become a dim memory for generations to come. 

DAVID ROTHAUSER
Brookline, Mass., Jan. 5, 2012


The Writer Responds

My concern is with the new dimension of violence at this moment in human history. The lethal technologies of Hiroshima and Auschwitz have vastly improved since the mid-20th century. Nuclear weapons can be made in various sizes, can continue to proliferate to other countries and possibly terrorist groups, and now enable us to do what in the past only God could do: destroy the world.
This capacity for killing in numbers nothing short of the infinite cannot be adequately grasped by statistics concerning past war-making and killing. 

Nor can we simply say, as Dr. Pinker does, that “the causes of violence lie not so much in the machinery of killing as in the psychology of killers.” Rather, I would point to the dynamic of mind and technology, in which the technology creates a psychological attraction to ultimate power and protection from painful feelings associated with more direct forms of killing. 

People who construct nuclear weapons or plan their possible use do not have to be angry. They need only be socialized to the ideology of nuclear necessity, whether for “national security” or “deterrence” or other plausible purposes. 

Of course there has been more to the 20th and 21st centuries than Auschwitz and Hiroshima. But they are nonetheless defining events in that they brutally displayed this new killing potential and created the imagery of extinction that continues to haunt us. 

I agree with Drs. Mittelman, Gil and Wronka and Mr. Hussey about the more insidious and widespread effects of structural or systemic forms of violence. As for Ms. Davis’s generous sentiment that “we need more Dr. Liftons,” I have to say that there are those who think that one is more than enough. 

I’m also in full agreement with Dr. Pinker and the other letter writers about our capacity to take constructive steps to diminish the dangers we face. Indeed, much protest over the years has sought to do that, whether as 1960s and 1980s opposition to war and weaponry or today’s Occupy movement. We would do well to channel more of this protest into combating all violence, but especially the numbed technological variety. 

ROBERT JAY LIFTON
New York, Jan. 5, 2012
Posted by william harryman at Thursday, March 29, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: books, cultural evolution, debate, history, human nature, Psychology, sociology, violence

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

George Dyson at Edge - A Universe of Self-Replicating Code

From Edge, George Dyson, an historian among futurists, author of Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence and Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe. talks about a universe of self-replicating code - according to Dyson, "there really is a universe of self-reproducing digital code. When I last checked, it was growing by five trillion bits per second. And that's not just a metaphor for something else. It actually is. It's a physical reality."


Maybe all of that singularity talk is not so far off-base after all.

A UNIVERSE OF SELF-REPLICATING CODE

George Dyson [3.26.12]


What we're missing now, on another level, is not just biology, but cosmology. People treat the digital universe as some sort of metaphor, just a cute word for all these products. The universe of Apple, the universe of Google, the universe of Facebook, that these collectively constitute the digital universe, and we can only see it in human terms and what does this do for us?
 
We're missing a tremendous opportunity. We're asleep at the switch because it's not a metaphor. In 1945 we actually did create a new universe. This is a universe of numbers with a life of their own, that we only see in terms of what those numbers can do for us. Can they record this interview? Can they play our music? Can they order our books on Amazon? If you cross the mirror in the other direction, there really is a universe of self-reproducing digital code. When I last checked, it was growing by five trillion bits per second. And that's not just a metaphor for something else. It actually is. It's a physical reality.

Introduction
In June of 1998, Edge published two pieces in an attempt to get at the big issues behind the news in the technology world: the then current Microsoft-Justice Department litigation. "Code" was a conversation between science historian and third culture thinker George Dyson and myself. Dyson argued that "turning this into a political issue-Government versus Microsoft-is diverting attention from something much more significant: the growth of multi-cellular forms of organization on the Net. ... The development of multi-cellular operating systems is a separate issue from the question of whether what Microsoft does is fair or legal in a business sense".

"The analogy with biological organisms is highly tenuous—as Edge readers will be flooding your inbox to point out. It's just the beginnings of something, in a faintly metazoan sense. The operating system used to be the system that operated a computer. Now it is becoming something else."

"Now, there are moves afoot to get the same code - Windows, or Windows CE, or Windows NT or whatever, not to mention underlying protocols-running everywhere. Running on your desktop, running on your network, running in your car, running in your toaster, running on the credit card you have in your wallet - it's all going to run this same code. And if it's not Windows it'll be something else. The thing is, it's happening. Which is very much what's gone on in the world of biology. In biology there is one operating system, and it's the one we're stuck with-the DNA/RNA operating system. All living organisms, with very rare exceptions, run that same system. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but ..."

This was followed by "Code II", a debate between complexity researcher J. Doyne Farmer of the Santa Fe Institute, and computer scientist Charles Simonyi, the chief software architect at Microsoft which addressed subjects such as monopoly as well as the effect of corporate control of society's replication machinery for ideas.

What has changed in the past fourteen years is that the analogy with biological organisms is no longer highly tenuous. In fact, this conversation is at the forefront of some of the most interesting intellectual conversations today. I am pleased to note that in this regard, Edge is leading the way. And, in this regard, nobody is thinking about these issues more deeply than George Dyson.

For a rich background on these topics, revisit the following Edge Features, Seminars, and Master Classes and browse through the videos and texts...

"Rethinking "Out of Africa": A Conversation with Christopher Stringer (2011)
"A Short Course In Synthetic Genomics", The Edge Master Class with George Church & Craig Venter (2009)
"Eat Me Before I Eat You! A New Foe For Bad Bugs": A Conversation with Kary Mullis (2010)
"Mapping The Neanderthal Genome
" A Conversation with Svante Pääbo (2009)
"Engineering Biology": A Conversation with Drew Endy (2008)
"Life: A Gene-Centric View" A Conversation in Munich with Craig Venter & Raichard Dawkins (2008)
"Ants Have Algorithms": A Talk with Ian Couzin (2008)
"Life: What A Concept", The Edge Seminar, Freeman Dyson, J. Craig Venter, George Church, Dimitar Sasselov, Seth Lloyd, Robert Shapiro (2007)
"Code II" J. Doyne Farmer v. Charles Simonyi (1998)

John Brockman

Video



You can also read the talk at the Edge site.
Posted by william harryman at Wednesday, March 28, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: artificial intelligence, computer code, computers., information, singularity, technology

The Chronicle Review - Is Free Will an Illusion?



The Chronicle Review (from The Chronicle of Higher Education) brought together a group of philosophers and neuroscientists to discuss the nature and even the possibility of free will in the new  reality of brain processes beyond our control.

This post is timely considering the recent publication of Sam Harris's new book, Free Will - an attack (the article calls it a polemic) on the notion that we have control of our individual thoughts and actions - and Michael S. Gazzaniga's Who's In Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain - a cogent argument against positions, such as the Harris presents, that our lives are wholly determined by physical processes and we are therefore not responsible for our actions.

What Harris lacks in academic reputation he more than makes up for in cultural popularity, but Gazzaniga is a heavyweight in the world of neuroscience. Harris is likely to win the popular argument, but I'm betting on Gazzaniga to offer the more nuanced and complete perspective. I look forward to reading each of these books.

Is Free Will an Illusion?

Free will has long been a fraught concept among philosophers and theologians. Now neuroscience is entering the fray.

For centuries, the idea that we are the authors of our own actions, beliefs, and desires has remained central to our sense of self. We choose whom to love, what thoughts to think, which impulses to resist. Or do we?

Neuroscience suggests something else. We are biochemical puppets, swayed by forces beyond our conscious control. So says Sam Harris, author of the new book, Free Will (Simon & Schuster), a broadside against the notion that we are in control of our own thoughts and actions. Harris's polemic arrives on the heels of Michael S. Gazzaniga's Who's In Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain (HarperCollins), and David Eagleman's Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain (Pantheon), both provocative forays into a debate that has in recent months spilled out onto op-ed and magazine pages, and countless blogs.

What's at stake? Just about everything: morality, law, religion, our understanding of accountability and personal accomplishment, even what it means to be human. Harris predicts that a declaration by the scientific community that free will is an illusion would set off "a culture war far more belligerent than the one that has been waged on the subject of evolution."

The Chronicle Review brought together some key thinkers to discuss what science can and cannot tell us about free will, and where our conclusions might take us.
  • You Don't Have Free Will - Jerry A. Coyne
  • The Case Against the Case Against Free Will - Alfred R. Mele
  • Free Will Is an Illusion, but You're Still Responsible for Your Actions - Michael S. Gazzaniga
  • Want to Understand Free Will? Don't Look to Neuroscience - Hilary Bok
  • The End of (Discussing) Free Will - Owen D. Jones
  • Free Will Does Not Exist. So What? - Paul Bloom
Posted by william harryman at Wednesday, March 28, 2012 3 comments
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Labels: brain, consciousness, free will, mind, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, Philosophy

Rick Hanson at Spirit Rock Meditation Center


Rick Hanson was at Spirit Rock Meditation Center a few days ago, speaking on the neural factors in mindfulness and an embodied mindfulness. As always, he is an interesting speaker and teacher.
Rick Hanson
Rick Hanson, PhD began meditating in 1974 and has practiced in several traditions. A neuropsychologist, writer, and teacher, he co-founded the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom (see www.WiseBrain.org) and edits the Wise Brain Bulletin. First author of Mother Nurture (Penguin, 2002), his latest book is Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom (with Rick Mendius, MD; Preface by Jack Kornfield, PhD and Foreword by Dan Siegel, MD). He started sitting at Spirit Rock in 1993 and recently completed a nine-year term on its Board. A graduate of the Community Dharma Leader training program, he leads a weekly meditation group in San Rafael.
2012-03-25 Brought to Singleness 2:58:31
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2012-03-25 Steady Mind, Quiet, and Happy 16:22
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2012-03-25 Mindfulness of the Body as a Whole 16:52
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2012-03-25 Neural Factors of Mindfulness 29:15
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Posted by william harryman at Wednesday, March 28, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: Buddhism, meditation, mind, mindfulness, neuroscience, Psychology

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Trauma Recovery - The 20 Most Influential Papers on Posttraumatic Stress


Trauma Recovery is a site dedicated to exactly what you might guess, recovery from trauma. Eva Alisi, Ph.D. is the blogger and trauma therapist who has created this blog for "psychologists, researchers, and other professionals working with children & adolescents" - and I might add, those who work with survivors of childhood incest and sexual abuse.

Recently she posted a collection of the 20 most influential papers on posttraumatic stress, a collection that I find very useful because my readings have been in a whole other realm. Few of the authors in this list were familiar to me - and she only knew about half of them (which makes me feel better). I hope you will find some useful material here as well. There will be a discussion on Twitter tomorrow on this topic - see the info in her article.

And by the way, she is currently soliciting suggestions for the 20 most inspiring/enthusiasm-producing papers. A few of mine are below.

The 20 most influential papers on posttraumatic stress

Posted on 22 March 2012
 
 

Which papers have shaped your thoughts on traumatic stress and recovery? Which articles do you often refer to? These questions will be the starting point for the next #traumaresearch chat on Twitter in exactly a week (March 28th in the US, 29th in Australia; see your local time).

Meanwhile, I have had a look at which publications have been most influential in terms of citations. For the methods (e.g., I have excluded articles focused on measures), see below. These are the most cited papers, with links to free full-text pdfs or abstracts:
  1. Kessler et al. (1995) Posttraumatic stress disorder in the national comorbidity survey. Archives of General Psychiatry. 3437 citations
  2. Breslau et al. (1991) Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder in an urban population of young adults. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1181 citations
  3. Kendall-Tackett et al. (1993) Impact of sexual abuse on children: A review and synthesis of recent empirical studies. Psychological Bulletin. 981 citations
  4. Ehlers & Clark (2000) A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 978 citations
  5. Brewin et al. (2000). Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 976 citations
  6. Hoge et al. (2004). Combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health problems, and barriers to care. New England Journal of Medicine 351. 965 citations
  7. Resnick et al. (1993). Prevalence of civilian trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a representative national sample of women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 887 citations
  8. Breslau et al. (1998). Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in the community: The 1996 Detroit area survey of trauma. Archives of General Psychiatry. 824 citations
  9. Sapolsky (2000). Glucocorticoids and hippocampal atrophy in neuropsychiatric disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry. 806 citations
  10. Bremner et al. (1995). MRI-based measurement of hippocampal volume in patients with combat- related posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 798 citations
  11. Ozer et al. (2003). Predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder and symptoms in adults: A meta-analysis Psychological Bulletin. 726 citations
  12. Galea et al. (2002). Psychological sequelae of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. New England Journal of Medicine. 713 citations
  13. Campbell (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. Lancet. 689 citations
  14. McEwen (2000). The neurobiology of stress: From serendipity to clinical relevance. Brain Research. 661 citations
  15. Heim et al. (2000). The potential role of hypocortisolism in the pathophysiology of stress-related bodily disorders. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 627 citations
  16. Nolen-Hoeksema (1991). A Prospective Study of Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms After a Natural Disaster: The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 615 citations
  17. Foa et al. (1991). Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in rape victims: A comparison between cognitive-behavioral procedures and counseling. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 571 citations
  18. Helzer et al. (1987). Post-traumatic stress disorder in the general population: Findings of the epidemiologic catchment area survey. New England Journal of Medicine. 564 citations.
  19. Bremner et al. (1997). Magnetic resonance imaging-based measurement of hippocampal volume in posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood physical and sexual abuse – A preliminary report. Biological Psychiatry. 549 citations
  20. Rauch et al. (1996).  A symptom provocation study of posttraumatic stress disorder using positron emission tomography and script-driven imagery. Archives of General Psychiatry. 534 citations
I knew only about half of this list…so I’ll have to catch up on some reading  A number of articles describe the epidemiology of posttraumatic stress, while others are more theoretical in nature or review a body of literature. For me, I think the second and third types have been more influential than the first. I’ll do a specific search for papers on children and adolescents, and compare them with my personal list next week.

(Method: I did a search in Scopus (“posttraumatic stress” OR “post-traumatic stress” OR “traumatic stress” OR “post-trauma stress” OR “traumatised” OR “traumatized” OR ”PTSD” in the title or abstract), had them listed according to number of citations and selected the papers that focused on posttraumatic mental health, excluding articles on instruments.)
For what it's worth, here are a few of the most "inspiring" articles for me (in no particular order).
  1. van der Kolk, BA, Pelcovitz, D, Roth, S, Mandel, FS, McFarlane, A, and Herman, JL. (1996). Dissociation, Affect Dysregulation and Somatization: The complex nature of adaptation to trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153(7), Festschrift Supplement, 83-93.
  2. Shore, AN. (2001). The Effects of Early Relational Trauma on Right Brain Development, Affect Regulation, and Infant Mental Health. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22; 201-269.
  3. Tedeschi, RG, and Calhoun, LG. (2004). Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence. Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 15, No 1; 1-18.
  4. Porges, SW. (1995). Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage. A Polyvagal Theory. Psychophysiology, 32; 301-318. 
  5. Lamagna, J and Gleiser, KA. (2007). Building a Secure Internal Attachment: An Intra-Relational Approach to Ego Strengthening and Emotional Processing with Chronically Traumatized Clients. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, Vol. 8(1); 25-52. doi:10.1300/J229v08n01_03
This last one is an excellent combination of relational, intersubjective psychoanalytic techniques with parts work (ego states or subpersonalities). Very useful model that I would love to be fully trained to use.

Posted by william harryman at Tuesday, March 27, 2012 0 comments
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Labels: affect regulation, brain, counseling, dissociation, neuroscience, post-traumatic growth, Psychology, psychotherapy, PTSD, therapy, trauma
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