Psychosis

Psychosis is the subject of our dialogue on Thursday July 30th. Since attending the Making Sense of Psychosis conference in february I have been reading Richard Bentall's "Madness Explained Psychosis and Human Nature" .
You can follow this link to his page at Bangor university. In my talk I will briefly present some of his central ideas:

~the artificial boundary between madness and sanity, neurosis and psychosis that was inherited through the DSMIII from nineteenth century psychiatrists Kraeplin, Jasper et al.

~the cultural nature and occurrence in otherwise healthy citizens of some symptoms of psychosis such as hallucinations, hearing voices and Bentall's thesis that madness is part of a spectrum of human nature and human behaviour and there is no clear dividing line between mental health and mental illness.

~the view of serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder as biological in origin and the impact this has had in denying such patients access to therapeutic interventions.

~some research findings on therapeutic interventions including the importance of: empathy and respect, normalizing, working with "complaints" of patient rather than "symptoms", modality match between patient and therapist, efficacy of various therapeutic modalities, therapeutic alliance, educating and working with families.

~I'll provide a hand-out with Bentall's models of 'pathways to different kinds of madness', depression and paranoid thinking. I'll briefly mention the role of 'self' attribution in depression and 'other' attribution in paranoia; source monitoring and theory of mind.

~we may get time to hear about recent research by John Read of Auckland University on sexual and physical abuse and attachment difficulties and the development of psychosis. Read stresses the importance of asking every patient about trauma history and addressing the post traumatic stress aspects through listening education and empathy.

Map of the Soul: conscious & unconscious

I'm beginning Psyche Matters Dialogues on Thursday July 16th with a quick look at the history of psychoanalytic thinking about the human mind, more contemporary neuro-scientific discoveries about our brains, and most importantly how this information is applied in counselling and psychotherapy and in general relating.

I'll begin with an introduction to Freud's pioneering work on hypothesizing a part of the mind which is not under our conscious awareness or control, the unconscious.
Freud came to this conclusion after working initially with hypnosis and later with directing his patients to follow their associations. As his hysteric patients remembered traumatic childhood events and spoke about them Freud noticed that their symptoms reduced.

Many people consider that the existence of the unconscious has been debunked by contemporary psychologists and scientists but it remains a useful concept for psychotherapists who use it to explain incongruence in their patients, the sudden arrival of repressed memories and who notice in themselves and others the tendency to act differently than our conscious intention.

Freud suggested that we defend against primitive wishes and urges (id) that oppose the internalized 'civilizing messages' of our parents and teachers (superego) by repressing such thoughts and feelings but that these revisit us through slips of the tongue, our reaction to others, our behaviour and so on.
I will briefly look at his structural and topographical models, Jung's addition to the model of the collective unconscious, and Assagioli's egg diagram which contributes the idea of superconscious, the potential in us that is repressed.

I will also do a quick dive into the work of contemporary neuroscientists and their work on explicit and implicit memory, our new understandings of the structure of the brain, the neocortex and the limbic system. My sources for this is a great book: A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon
Vintage Books, 2001



Other Dialogue themes follow this link: psyche matters

Psyche Matters

Short talks and professional development seminars for Taranaki counsellors, therapists, mental health workers, people who work in pastoral care and anyone interested in psychology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and psychosynthesis.

A winter series of lunch hour talks and conversation that introduce themes to further our understanding about what it means to be human. The contributions of some psychoanalytic and psycho-spiritual thinkers will be explained in everyday language to provide inspiration for your own thinking. After a centring exercise Lynne will present some thoughts on the theme and then invite participants to contribute their fresh thinking on ageless subjects.

This is an opportunity for low cost sampling of my style of presentation for those involved in the helping professions
and interested members of the public. Entry is by donation to SF Taranaki, Supporting Families in mental illness. Tea and Coffee are available. Bring lunch if you wish.

July 16: A map of the soul: unconscious and conscious
July 30: Psychosis: latest findings, a role for psychotherapy?
August 6: Anxiety and feeling: taking charge of your experience
August 13: Can Love last? Romantic and maturing love
August 20: Narcissism: Cinderella in 2009-06-30
August 27: Dreams and working with your dreams
Sept 3: Depression and creativity
Sept 10: Guilt and forgiveness


Dialogues take place on Thursdays 12.30 -1.30 at Lynne’s rooms, third floor, BNZ building.
Places are limited to 20. Either phone 06 7696050 or email lynneholdem@mac.com to confirm your place.

Psychosynthesis

An elegant transpersonal psychology which attempts to address the levels of human existence; the unconscious, conscious and superconscious. Psychosynthesis therapists are interested as much in what is emerging as potential in a client's life as they are in understanding his or her past and what has shaped them. Relationship in the here and now between the therapist and the client is observed with heart and used as a vehicle for opening more self awareness, alignment with values and choice for the client.

Psychsosynthesis was first formulated by Roberto Assagioli, a contemporary of Jung's who became very interested in Will as the integrating and directing function of the psyche.

Assagioli was born in Venice in 1888. He studied psychiatry and

was interested in the intersection of spirituality and psychology. One of the few psychiatrists to participate in the first pioneering wave of enthusiasm for Freud's new science of psychoanalysis and the second wave of humanistic psychology in the 1960s and 70s. he published two books one of which is till used in many Psychosynthesis training today and is called The Act of Will. In it Assagioli charts aspects, dimensions and levels of will.

A Matter of Heart

Working with Trauma:

• assessing clients needs and strengths
• pacing trauma exploration and safely balancing this with building self capacity
• working with body feelings and mind in the context of trauma

The seminar aims to:

• familiarise participants with some recent discoveries in trauma therapy
• assist the development of a practice of self-care
• increase awareness of counter-transference and develop deeper understanding of the emotional communication of the client

Learning will be supported by handouts and will visit the theories of John Brierre, Judith Herman, Babette Rothchild and contemporary psycho-analytic writers in the trauma field.

This day will include case material, time to reflect on your own practice and to integrate the days learning in a practical way.

When: Friday, September 4, 9am - 4pm
Cost: $100

Psychology with Soul

An introduction to seeing the client's presentation with a psycho-spiritual lens: a mindfulness practice for yourself and your clients, maps and models that can be integrated into your current theoretical knowledge and practice, and experiential exploration from the Psychosynthesis framework as formulated by Italian psychiatrist, Roberto Assagiolo early last century and developed further by his followers.

Psychosynthesis emphasizes working in the present and honouring the uniqueness and common humanity in ourselves and in those that seek help from us. We can acknowledge the past that has helped shaped our experience of ourselves and also our future, the emergence of what we might be if we align with our values and co-operate with the evolution of our potential.

Read more about psychosynthesis at
www.psychosynthesis.co.nz

When: Friday, October 16, 9am - 4pm
Cost : $90

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

Albert Einstein

Psyche's Mirror

Working with dreams, images and imaginal process.

This seminar aims to give practitioners practical tools for working with their own and clients' dreams and spontaneous images; understanding of the contra-indications of working with images; Assagioli's psychological laws and their application to integrating images in service of being and becoming.

There will be an opportunity to work with your own dreams or images through self-reflection, in dyads, or within the group.

When: Friday, November 6, 9am - 4pm
Cost: $90

Learning and Supervision Group

You can also register for a small monthly learning and supervision group that will begin in 2010 to further develop your heights and depths of focus as a practitioner.
This group will meet once a month for two hours and will include a monthly reading, a teaching session and supervision time.

Learning takes place over the whole life of the councillor field worker psychologist or psychotherapist. Developing our practice of sitting with ourselves and with others requires us to develop "an internal supervisor" , to stay open to finding more of what we don't know of ourselves, of the client and the process between us.

Learning together in a small group (4‐6 practitioners) allows for deeper reflection,

multiple viewpoints and further integration of theory and practice. This group could offer an opportunity to be supported as you work towards your goals related to your professional development: NZAC or NZAP membership, ACC registration or perhaps an informal and self directed learning goal coming out of your observation of your learning needs, such as more confidence to work with trauma, with groups or understanding of transference and counter‐transference.