A 2-Part Continuing Education Seminar
with Inna Rozentsvit, MD, PhD
Saturdays, July 11 & 18, 2026 | Time: 12:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Virtual Live
Continuing Education: 9.0 CE Hours for APA, NYS Psychologists, NYS Social Workers; 6.5 Hours for Licensed Psychoanalysts
To Register for this seminar, please complete the Registration form
Aging is one of the most universally shared human experiences — and one of the least integrated into clinical training and practice. Most programs address aging primarily through a deficit lens: cognitive decline, memory loss, late-life depression, dementia. Yet contemporary neuroscience, psychodynamic theory, and clinical experience paint a far more nuanced picture — one of adaptability, reorganization, and the emergence of capacities that are biologically and psychologically distinct from those of youth.
The title of this seminar holds a deliberate tension. The brain ages. Hippocampal volume shrinks, synaptic transmission slows, white matter integrity frays, and the connectome — the brain’s structural wiring architecture — reorganizes in measurable ways.
A landmark 2025 study from Cambridge’s MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, analyzing MRI diffusion scans from 3,802 individuals aged 0–90, identified five distinct structural epochs of the brain across the lifespan, separated by turning points at approximately ages 9, 32, 66, and 83 (Mousley et al., 2025). The adult brain plateau — the longest era, spanning roughly age 32 to 66 — gives way to an early aging epoch around 66, and a late aging epoch around 83, each characterized by progressive reorganization of neural networks. Yet even within these epochs, something in the mind reaches toward timelessness — deepening in wisdom, consolidating in meaning, continuing to create and give.
Understanding both sides of this tension — aging and ageless, vulnerable and plastic, finite and generative — is not a philosophical exercise. It has direct implications for clinical assessment, formulation, treatment, and how we accompany people through the later chapters of life, including navigating our own aging as clinicians.
Consider: Eric Kandel, the Nobel Prize–winning neuroscientist, continues publishing and lecturing well into his 90s. Martin Bergmann, psychoanalyst and Holocaust survivor, was still leading analytic seminars past his 100th birthday. Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked through cancer treatments while writing landmark decisions into her late 80s. Edith Eger, Holocaust survivor and psychologist, published bestselling books in her 90s, still teaching and mentoring others. These individuals did not simply “age well” — they aged actively, exemplifying a form of neural and emotional agility rooted in purpose, discipline, and social contribution. Their lives are not exceptional outliers. They are windows into what the aging brain–mind constellation is capable of — and into what clinical work can help make possible.
This two-part seminar applies the Functional PsychoNeuroBiology® (FPNB) model to the aging brain and mind. It offers clinicians a scientifically current, clinically usable, and psychodynamically informed map for understanding what happens — neurobiologically, psychologically, relationally, and existentially — as we and our clients age.
Part 1 grounds participants in the neuroscience of the aging brain: what changes structurally and functionally, how different memory systems age differently, what neuroplasticity and connectome reorganization actually mean across the lifespan, and how the Triune Brain Plus™ model illuminates the reorganization of survival, emotional-associative, and higher cognitive processing in late life. Part 2 ascends from the neurobiological to the existential: the emergence of wisdom and crystallized intelligence, the psychoanalytic dimensions of late life, the role of meaning-making and purpose in longevity, the neurobiology of social connection and loneliness, gender differences in aging, the challenges of late-life transitions, and the dimension of the aging mind that does not decline — and how to cultivate it, clinically and personally.
Participants will leave with a coherent, clinically applicable framework for recognizing what is happening in the aging brain–mind in real time — and for expanding the range of possible responses for both clinician and client.
Functional PsychoNeuroBiology® (FPNB): The Organizing Framework
Functional PsychoNeuroBiology® is an integrative clinical and conceptual model developed by Dr. Rozentsvit that bridges contemporary neuroscience, psychoanalytic theory, developmental science, and trauma-informed care. Rather than viewing brain and mind as separate domains, FPNB treats them as continuous: the biological always expressing itself psychologically, and the psychological always enacted through biology. Rather than focusing on diagnostic categories, FPNB focuses on processes — how functioning develops, is maintained, becomes disrupted, and can be reorganized.
Central to the FPNB model is the Triune Brain Plus™ — an extension of Paul MacLean’s formulation that explicitly includes the body as a continuous participant in brain–mind functioning. This model distinguishes among survival-based processing, emotional-associative processing, and higher-level cognitive and reflective processing, and illuminates how these levels integrate — or fail to integrate — in real time.
Two organizing concepts run throughout the seminar:
Vertical integration — when survival, emotional-associative, and higher cognitive systems work together fluidly — is the neurobiological goal of clinical work and of healthy aging. When an older adult is able to reflect on loss, regulate affect, and act with purpose simultaneously, vertical integration is present. When behavior is driven by habit, survival circuitry, or emotional-associative patterns — bypassing reflective capacity even when it is intact — this is horizontal processing, which the FPNB framework makes clinically legible and addressable.
The connectome — the brain’s structural and functional wiring architecture — is the neurobiological substrate through which both aging and neuroplasticity express themselves. fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging studies show that the aging connectome reorganizes in characteristic ways: recruiting bilateral networks where younger brains rely on unilateral activation (HAROLD model), widening networks under cognitive load (CRUNCH model), and building scaffolding structures that support function as primary systems change (STAC model) (Park & Reuter-Lorenz, 2009). Understanding connectome reorganization in aging is not merely academic — it explains why an older adult may be slower but wiser, why certain cognitive strengths deepen while others fade, and why the clinician’s relational attunement remains a powerful lever for supporting neural reorganization at any age.
This model has been applied across Dr. Rozentsvit’s previous ORI seminars to addiction, ADHD, trauma, spiritual experience, intuition, and play. Its application to aging brings the FPNB series full circle — from early development through the complete arc of the lifespan.
Part 1 — Saturday, July 11, 2026 | 12:00–3:30 PM EDT (with 15-minute break)
The Aging Brain: Vulnerability, Plasticity, and the Architecture of Change
Topics:
The aging brain, honest and whole: structural changes — hippocampal volume, white matter integrity, synaptic transmission — alongside the brain’s capacity for compensation and adaptation. HAROLD (Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults) as an adaptive phenomenon: the aging brain recruiting the “wisdom function.”
The connectome in aging: how the brain’s wiring architecture reorganizes across the lifespan. Five structural epochs of the brain — turning points at ages 9, 32, 66, and 83 — and what the shift from global to local connectivity in late aging means clinically. HAROLD, CRUNCH, and STAC models as clinically useful frameworks.
Neuroplasticity across the lifespan: beyond the myth of childhood as the only plastic window. Synaptogenesis, neurogenesis, and dendritic dynamics in older adults. The Synapse Project: what sustained novel engagement demonstrates. Self-directed neuroplasticity — mindfulness, journaling, goal-setting, and reflective dialogue as active brain-reshaping practices with measurable biological effects.
Memory: decline or reorganization? Why different memory systems age differently — episodic, semantic, procedural, emotional. The emotional memory advantage in older adults and its clinical significance. Cognitive reserve, twin study evidence, and how environmental enrichment can buffer against genetic risk for dementia.
The Triune Brain Plus™ in aging: how survival-based, emotional-associative, and higher cognitive processing reorganize across the decades. Vertical vs. horizontal processing — when behavior is driven by integrated reflection versus habitual or survival-based response, and why insight alone does not always translate into change.
Regulation and co-regulation as the neurobiological foundation of relational safety: how a regulated nervous system in the clinician actively supports nervous system regulation in the aging client, and why the therapeutic relationship becomes an increasingly vital co-regulating resource as primary attachment relationships are lost to death, distance, and institutional transition.
Normal aging vs. pathological decline: a functional process-based approach to distinguishing age-associated cognitive change, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. The role of depression, chronic stress, polypharmacy, social isolation, and sleep deprivation in accelerating apparent decline.
Clinical vignettes and discussion.
Required Readings for Part 1:
Recommended Readings for Part 1:
Part 2 — Saturday, July 18, 2026 | 12:00–3:30 PM EDT (with 15-minute break)
The Ageless Mind: Wisdom, Meaning, Resilience, and What Endures
Topics:
Wisdom: what it is neurobiologically. The shift from fluid to crystallized intelligence — reframing slowing down as deepening. What centenarian research reveals about purpose, social ties, physical activity, and spiritual engagement. “Neurons that fire together, wire together”: how pleasurable engagement sustains vitality and buffers against decline.
Creativity, generativity, and the meaning-making brain: the default mode network and its role in narrative, self-reflection, and purpose. Oliver Sacks in his final works — Gratitude and Sabbath — as models of meaning-making toward the close of life. Howard Stein’s poetry of “quiet resistance,” composed from an assisted living facility, as a literary and clinical lens into institutional aging. What it means to remain a creator, witness, and teacher in late life.
Psychoanalytic dimensions of late life: Erikson’s integrity vs. despair — gathering a life into coherence rather than fracture. The life review as neurobiologically grounded (autobiographical memory, emotional integration). Legacy, mentoring, and the generativity motive as protective against despair. Working with countertransference toward aging clients — and toward one’s own aging.
Loneliness, social isolation, and the aging brain: loneliness as a neurobiological cascade — stress circuits, inflammatory markers, accelerated cognitive decline. The COVID-19 pandemic as a global experiment in forced isolation and what it revealed. The neurobiology of belonging and group conformity in late life: why social affiliation activates reward pathways even when the group — whether a family system, an institutional culture, or a grief community — reinforces narratives that constrain rather than expand. Clinical strategies for supporting authentic connection and relational flexibility in aging clients.
Gender differences in aging: differential rates of brain volume loss; hormonal influences and neuroprotection; connectome architecture differences — intrahemispheric vs. interhemispheric connectivity — and their implications for social functioning in late life. Why men often face steeper declines post-retirement or post-widowhood. Gender-sensitive clinical approaches.
The ageless dimension: synthesis and clinical guidelines. What does not age — and how to cultivate it clinically and personally. Six evidence-based clinical guidelines: honoring mortality, fostering purpose and engagement, teaching neuroplasticity practices, supporting physical vitality, challenging echo chambers, embracing integrative care.
Clinical vignettes and discussion.
Required Readings for Part 2:
Recommended Readings for Part 2:
This seminar is built around a single organizing question: what is happening in the aging brain–mind — and what does that mean for the clinician in the room?
By the end of this two-part seminar, participants will be able to:
Who Should Attend
This seminar is designed for mental health professionals who work with adults across the lifespan and who want a neurobiologically grounded, psychodynamically informed framework for understanding the aging brain and mind — not as a specialty topic, but as foundational clinical literacy.
It will be of particular value to:
Inna Rozentsvit, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, MSciEd is a neurologist, neurorehabilitation specialist, and psychoanalytically trained clinician whose work bridges neuroscience, depth psychology, and meaning-making across the lifespan. She is the founder of Functional PsychoNeuroBiology® (FPNB), an integrative clinical framework that she has developed and taught at ORI since 2012, applying it to addiction, trauma, ADHD, neurodiversity, spiritual experience, and — most recently — the neurobiology of aging.
Dr. Rozentsvit serves as Scientific Faculty Member and Programs Director at the Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (ORI) in New York City. She is the founder and Executive Director of Neurorecovery Solutions, Inc., a nonprofit supporting neurologically impaired individuals and their families — work that has brought her into direct clinical contact with older adults navigating illness, institutional transitions, and end-of-life decisions, including serving as health-care proxy and trusted confidant in complex late-life situations.
Her published work on aging includes “The Neurobiology of Aging: Clinical Wisdom, Psychodynamic Depth, and the Adaptive Mind” 2025 article in The Clinician, as well as “Still Becoming: Psychohistorical Notes on Aging, Neuroplasticity, and Life’s Meaning” in Clio’s Psyche.
Dr. Rozentsvit is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MindConsiliums, a peer-reviewed transdisciplinary journal, and an associate editor of Clio’s Psyche. She is co-director of the Psychohistory Forum and founder of MindMend Publishing Co. and the ORI Academic Press.
Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis
2026 ORIPP The Aging-Ageless Brain–Mind Constellation: From Neuroplasticity
and Connectome to Clinical Wisdom – Inna Rozentsvit, MD, PhD
July 11, 2026 & July 18, 2026
Online
Joint Accreditation Statement
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Amedco LLC and Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis. Amedco LLC is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Professions in scope for this activity are listed below.
Amedco Joint Accreditation Provider Number: 4008163
Psychologists
This course is co-sponsored by Amedco and Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis. Amedco is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Amedco maintains responsibility for this program and content. Maximum of 9.0 hours.
The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for Psychologists/Counselors: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA (LEP ONLY), MD, ME, MN, MO, NC, ND, NH, NE, NJ, NM, NV, OH, OK*, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WY
MI: Accepts courses from APA for Psychologists. No general CE requirement for Counselors.
OK: Accepts APA credit for live, in-person activities but not for ethics and/or online courses.
The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for MFTs: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, MD, ME, MO, NE, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NV, OH, OK*, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WDC, WI, WY
AL MFTs: Credits authorized by NBCC or any other state licensing agency will be accepted. MA MFTs: Participants can self-submit courses not approved by the MAMFT board for review. MI MFTs: There are no CE requirements for MFTs in MI.
The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for Addictions Professionals: AK, AR, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IN, KS, LA, MD, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NY (held outside NY ONLY), OK*, OR, SC, UT, WA, WI, WY
The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for Social Workers: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, ID, IN, KY, ME, MN, MO, NE, NH, NM, OR, PA, VT, WI, WY
New York Social Workers
Amedco SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0115. 9.0 credit hours.
New York Psychologists
Amedco is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0031. 9.0 hours.
National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an Approved Provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychoanalysts. #P‑0019. 6.5 hours.
Early Bird registration (before June 20, 2026)
$100 regular / $60 grad students & candidates / $20 undergrad students
Regular registration (June 20 – July 10, 2026, before 6pm ET)
$140 regular / $80 grad students & candidates / $25 undergrad students
Registration ‘at the door’ (after 6pm ET on July 10, 2026)
$150 regular / $90 grad students & candidates / $30 undergrad students
Please Note:
a) IF CEs ARE REQUESTED — please use the “regular” registration (not a “student”) option.
b) There is an additional fee of $25 for CE certificate processing (can be paid on the day of the seminar or in advance).
SPECIAL SCHOLARSHIPS are available for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as for retired or disabled practitioners, or need-based.
