FUNCTIONAL PSYCHO-NEURO-BIOLOGY APPROACH to PSYCHOSOMATICS – in MENTAL HEALTH and EVERYDAY LIFE

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

This full-day workshop will explore a very needed, although sometimes controversial area of one’s life, practice and research, related to brain-mind-body connection, PSYCHOSOMATICS – through the lens of Functional Psycho-Neuro-Biology.

Sigmund Freud could be called the father of psychosomatics, as he brought to light the origins of psychosomatic phenomena in neuroses, war trauma, and hysteria (a modern conversion disorder). He also was the first one to talk about connection of organic symptoms to mental mechanisms of their origins, as well as utilizing psychoanalytic treatment for these conditions, saying: “The psychoanalytic treatment of obvious organic disturbances is not without a future, since it is not unusual for a psychic factor to play a role in the genesis and persistence of these affections” (Freud, 1923).

Later in the 20^th century, Object Relations psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall talked about “theaters” of the mind and of the body, borrowing the metaphor of a theater from Anna O, who mentioned that the free associations during her therapy (with Breuer and Freud) were her “private theater.” Joyce McDougall called the body theater “the psychosoma on the psychoanalytic stage.”

In her 1989 book, Theaters of the Body: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Psychosomatic Illness, McDougall wrote that “severe split between psyche and soma… was due to our patients’ unawareness of their emotional states in threatening situations. The curtains on the mind’s stage were tightly drawn, so to speak; no sound reached the outside ears, and yet a drama was being played out in this secret theater that threatened the very life of the theater owner himself.”

Neuroscience research of the last 20–30 years revealed some important mechanisms of the mind/brain-body/soma interactions. E.g., recently, neurobiological researchers identified three distinct brain networks that are involved in movement, cognition, and affect, which are linked to the function of internal organs and the adrenal medulla (responsible for production of stress hormones). Dysfunction of such networks’ communications are at the core of all psychosomatic conditions. Understanding these mechanisms allows practitioners from any educational background to create individualized plans for one’s psychosomatic health, when ideas from Functional Psycho-Neuro-Biology are employed.

Other examples of psychosomatics at play involve taking a placebo and getting positive, healing results. There are more examples of clinical observations done by physicians-internists about specific emotions (such as guilt, envy, and feeling resentment/upset), if chronic and unprocessed, correlating with the majority of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, cancerous and other serious medical conditions.

The contribution of the Functional Neuro-Psycho-Biology to the field of psychosomatics is about truly connecting the psyche/mind and the body/soma – through the “brain”/“neuro” part. The “neuro” part is represented by the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord), the peripheral neural system (the nerves and plexuses serving the skeleton-muscular organs, skin, and others), and the autonomic nervous systems (sympathetic and parasympathetic). Sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are partners: the first one helps us to deal with stress, fight-and-flight, and be on alert, while the second one helps us to rest, digest and eliminate. These two parts of the autonomic nervous system are also involved in hormonal production, so autonomic dysfunction leads to disbalance in the whole-body-machine. This way, Functional Neuro-Psycho-Biology can explain our life through a “wholistic” approach, as well as provide a platform for creative (and sometimes simple) solutions for health and healing. As double-blinded (placebo controlled) studies related to visualizations, breathing practices and meditative therapies – all point to bilateral connections between the psyche and the soma: top-down and bottom up processing (an important part of the Functional Neuro-Psycho-Biology system) that can make-or-break psychosomatic illness.

During this workshop, we will brush up our knowledge about utilization of Triune Brain theory of Paul MacLean, Polyvagal theory of Stephen Porges, Epigenetics, Attachment, as well as all processes and phenomena used in Functional Neuro-Psycho-Biology (brain laterality, “don’t use it – lose it,” “what fires together – wires together,” “regions connected together – grow up together,” and others), and we will integrate all of these into one comprehensive whole.

Case examples will include psychosomatic conditions related to respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiac, immune, allergy, metabolic and other systems.

We must recollect that all of our provisional ideas in psychology will presumably one day be based on an organic substructure. — Sigmund Freud, “On Narcissism”

The deficiencies in our description would probably vanish if we were already in a position to replace the psychological terms with physiological or chemical ones.…We may expect [physiology and chemistry] to give the most surprising information and we cannot guess what answers it will return in a few dozen years of questions we have put to it. They may be of a kind that will blow away the whole of our artificial structure of hypothesis. — Sigmund Freud, “Beyond the Pleasure Principle”

[S]evere split between psyche and soma … was due to our patients’ unawareness of their emotional states in threatening situations. The curtains on the mind’s stage were tightly drawn, so to speak; no sound reached the outside ears, and yet a drama was being played out in this secret theater that threatened the very life of the theater owner himself. — Joyce McDougall, “Theaters of the Body: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Psychosomatic Illness”

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this educational activity, its participants will be able to:

• Discuss and analyze the brain-mind-body paradigm shift.
• Discuss and analyze one of the main concepts of functional psychoneurobiology: neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, neurointegration, neurocircuitry, connectomes.
• Discuss and analyze one of the main concepts of functional psychoneurobiology: electrochemical conduction (and brain as an electro-chemical machine).
• Discuss and analyze brain-mind phenomena: fire together – wire together; born together – wire together, synaptic pruning.
• Discuss and analyze the Triune Brain theory of Paul McLean, Polyvagal theory of Stephen Porges, Biological Stress Response theory, Attachment theory, and Windows of Tolerance.
• Discuss, compare and analyze the top-down modulation and the bottom-up processing.
• Utilize the Triune Brain theory and understanding of the Autonomic Nervous System regulation in trauma-sensitive clinical practice.
• Utilize the Triune Brain Theory and the NEW Attachment theory of body regulation in clinical practice working with families, parents, children.
• Utilize the concepts of the top-down modulation and the bottom-up processing in clinical cases and in one’s life.
• Discuss the concept of mindfulness, placebo response, introspection, coregulation, and others, as well as their application in one’s life and practice.

SHORT BIO OF THE WORKSHOP LEADER:

REGISTRATION AND FEES:

Early Bird registration (before November 9th, 2022)
$65 regular/ $45 grad students & candidates/ $15 undergrad students.
If CEs are requested — please use the “regular” registration option. There is an additional fee of $25 (can be paid prior or on the day of the conference).

Regular registration (November 9th – until 6pm on Deceber 9th, 2022)
$75 regular/ $50 grad students & candidates/ $20 undergrad students.
If CEs are requested — please use the “regular” registration option. There is an additional fee of $25 (can be paid prior or on the day of the conference).

Registration ‘at the door’ (after 6pm EST/ NYC time on December 9th or December 10th, 2022)
$85 regular/ $55 grad students & candidates/ $25 undergrad students.
If CEs are requested — please use the “regular” registration option. There is an additional fee of $25 (can be paid prior or on the day of the conference).

SPECIAL SCHOLARSHIPS are available for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as for retired or disabled practitioners, or need-based or/and those who live outside of the USA.
To apply for your scholarship, please go to the registration form below.