2008-2009 Calendar
Thursday Professional Lectures
For further information, contact the Thursday Lecture Series Coordinator, Keo Miller.
October 2, 2008
Back to the Family for Treatment of Eating
Disorders - Tamara J. Hawk, MSW
This multi-case study reviews the family diagrams and clinical records of seventy families that presented with an eating disorder symptom, primarily anorexia and bulimia. The study addresses these symptoms using Bowen theory, especially the concept of nuclear family emotional system and the process of child focus. It also examines common patterns across several generations in each family and describes current trends in treatment.
November 2008
No conference is scheduled for November due to the Annual Symposium.
December 4, 2008
Reflections on the Triangle Concept:
Theory and Clinical Applications
Peter Titelman, PhD
Triangles are the web through which emotional process is transmitted and maintained at all levels of human functioning. This presentation will describe the historical evolution of the triangle concept. It will also present clinical applications of detriangling with an absent family member such as in single-parent families and families in which a significant member has died.
January 8, 2009
Is Caregiving Hazardous to One’s Health?
Aviad Haramti, PhD
Dr. Haramati, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University School of Medicine, poses the question of whether family members caring for an ill loved one, or professional caregivers are under enough stress to be at risk for becoming physically or emotionally ill themselves. This presentation will review some recent scientific evidence linking chronic stress to changes in cellular physiology and DNA components (telomeres and telomerase activity), as well as on function of the neuroendocrine and immune systems. The strategies to reverse or prevent those effects and maintain physical and emotional health may surprise you.
February 5, 2009
Bowen Family History as Reported by Murray Bowen, MD
Judith M. Bowen, MD
This presentation is about Murray Bowen’s carefully detailed research of the Bowen family as he recorded and reported it in letters to his family of origin. The details he observed informed his thinking about the multigenerational family emotional process. Bowen’s “data collection” included the facts of who, what, when, where, and how as best he could learn them.
March 5, 2009
Bowen Theory and the Quest for Forgiveness
Christopher East, PsyD
Anxiety in a family emotional system can become so absorbed into one member that this person becomes symptomatic. One expression of this process is the struggle that many people report in achieving forgiveness. This presentation will use Bowen theory, particularly the concept of the balance of individuality/togetherness forces and the concept of interlocking triangles to develop a more scientific approach to resolving this emotional attachment. This presentation will include a case study to illustrate the theory.
April 16, 2009
Climate Change and Human Health
Cindy L. Parker, MD, MPH
Dr. Parker, author of Climate Chaos: Your Health at Risk, will discuss the myriad ways climate change may affect human health not only through heat stress but also through malnutrition, increased exposure to new diseases, and cataclysmic events. Dr. Parker will also describe some ways to prevent the harm to human health that results from climate change.
May 14, 2009
The Case of John Forbes Nash, Jr:
System-Driven or Pathology-Driven?
Michael E. Kerr, MD
Dr. John Nash was psychotic for about thirty years. He eventually recovered without hospitalizations, psychotherapy, or medications. His case highlights the lack of usefulness of the label, “schizophrenia.” If brain pathology caused his symptoms of schizophrenia, where did the pathology go? Bowen theory’s concepts of “self,” anxiety-driven disturbances in relationship systems, and anxiety-binding mechanisms offer a refreshing look at the case of Dr. Nash. Drawing from several sources, particularly from the book A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, this presentation will describe how Bowen theory would explain John Nash’s descent into and recovery from chronic psychosis.
June 4, 2009
Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine
is Making Us Sicker and Poorer
Shannon Brownlee, MS
Shannon Brownlee, prominent medical journalist and Senior Fellow at the New American Foundation in Washington, DC, will discuss her book, Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer. Her book, rated the #1 book in economics by the New York Times for 2007, poses three questions: What drives unnecessary care? Why should we worry about it? And once we understand its pervasiveness in American medicine, how can we use that knowledge to create a better system? Ms. Brownlee’s penetrating analysis debunks the idea that most of medicine is based on sound science and shows how our health care system delivers vast amounts of care than is not only unnecessary and expensive but can actually imperil the health of patients.
Lectures are held at the Georgetown Family
Center at 7:30 pm on the 2007-2008 calendar dates shown below. The lectures are free
and open to the public. On-street parking is available.