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Conference & Training > Kradin: Healing of the Mind/Body Interface

5-6 May 2017: Healing of the Mind/Body Interface

Seminar, Helsinki, Finland, 5-6 May, 2017
Healing of the Mind/Body Interface
The Placebo Response and the Power of Unconscious Healing

Dr. Richard Kradin, USA & Prof. Seppo Vainio, FI

Hotelli RosendahlThe Ossian auditorium at Folkhälsan in central Helsinki is recently reconditioned, offering spectacular premises for a well-connected conference. The spacious auditorium is equipped with state-of-the-art presentation and connection technology.

In this 2-day seminar Professor Richard Kradin will begin by offering an explanatory model for the placebo response. Much of this discussion will be based on recent findings in developmental neurology and psychology that have attempted to elucidate what happens in the mind-brain during early infantile attachment relationships. He will examine how effectively the mind can heal the body and the extent to which this is an innate ability. We will consider whether and how practitioners can contribute to that process.

On Day 2, we will examine the role that developmental stress and attachment disorders appear to play in increasing the risk of developing psychosomatic symptoms, somatization and conversion disorders. From the dual perspectives of medicine and psychoanalysis, the seminar will offer an integrated mind-body overview of aetiology and treatment, paying reference to the work of Janet, Freud, Klein, Bion, Winnicott, Bowlby and Schore.

Objective To learn how developmental stress and attachment disorders appear to play a role in increasing the risk of developing psychosomatic symptoms, somatization and conversion disorders; to combine the perspectives of medicine, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in order to achieve an integrated mind-body approach to attachment disorders, illness and healing.

Target group Medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychologists, nurses and professionals who are interested in the mind/body interface.

Program

Fri 5 May, 2017  |  The Placebo Response and the Power of Unconscious Healing

8.30–9.15 Registration and coffee
9.15–9.45 Opening
Pirjo Tuovila, Specialist in developmental and educational psychology
9.45–10.45 The Mechanisms of the Placebo Response
Dr. Richard Kradin & Prof. Seppo Vainio
  • Placebo responses are automatic and unconscious and cannot be predicted based on conscious volition. Instead, they reflect complex interactions between the inherent reward system of the nervous system and encoded procedural memories rooted in early attachment relationships.
  • The placebo response contributes inextricably to virtually all therapeutic effects, varies in potency, and likely exhibits its own pathologies.
  • What are the mechanisms at play, and how can these insights be incorporated into psychoanalytic theory?
10.45–11.00 Break
11.00–12.00 The Placebo Response in Healing
  • Placebo response is an innate restorative process that operates in the service of health; that it is a process of self-healing that is evoked by the social transactions of the therapeutic encounter.
  • The interface between the relationship and the activation of the immune system will be discussed.
12.00–13.00 Lunch
13.00–14.30 The Placebo Response in the Therapeutic Encounter – Part I
  • The critical elements required to provoke placebo responses overlap substantially with what most current psychotherapies consider therapeutic, that is, an interpersonal dynamic rooted in concern, trust and empathy.
  • The skills involved in optimizing the placebo responses will be considered.
14.30–15.00 Coffee
15.00–16.30 The Placebo Response in the Therapeutic Encounter – Part II
  • Previous session continues

Sat 6 May, 2017  |  The Curious Domain of Psychosomatic Disorders

8.30–9.30 What Do We Understand about the Mind-Body Interface? – Part I
Dr. Richard Kradin & Prof. Seppo Vainio
  • Despite compelling evidence to suggest the integrity of mind and body, humans are famously prone to experiencing them as separate.
  • This presentation explores the scientific challenges posed by psychosomatic disorders and how changing cultural notions contribute to their perplexing presentations.
  • Excerpts of cases from patients with chronic pelvic pain, chronic fatigue, and a factitious disorder are presented as examples of the challenges that these patients pose in analysis.
9.30–10.00 Coffee
10.00–11.15 What Do We Understand about the Mind-Body Interface? – Part II
  • Previous session continues
11.15–12.15 Lunch
12.15–13.30 Psychosomatic Disorders: Developmental Stress and Attachment Disorders – Part I
  • Patients suffering from psychosomatic disorders represent a formidable challenge. They are challenging to diagnose, treat, and are rarely completely cured. Currently, little is known as to how they develop or why their symptoms tend to transform over time.
  • The role that developmental stress and attachment disorders appear to play in increasing the risk of developing psychosomatic symptoms.
  • An explanatory model of mind/body interaction based on early maternal-infant interactions is proposed as the basis for how psychosomatic pathologies may develop.
  • Therapeutic approaches to the psychological treatment of patients with psychosomatic issues rooted in developmental deficits are considered.
13.30–14.00 Coffee
14.00–15.15 Psychosomatic Disorders: Developmental Stress and Attachment Disorders – Part II
  • Previous session continues
15.15–15.30 Discussion & Closing Remarks

Excellent interpreting English-Finnish-English.


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