The Weekend University

Freud's claims about why we dream were largely refuted with the discovery of the brain mechanisms of REM sleep (between the 1950s and 70s). This lecture will present findings which show that dreaming is not in fact isomorphic with REM sleep, and that it is generated by a part of the brain that is deeply implicated in emotion, motivation, and memory. Recent findings will also be presented from an ongoing study which is seeking to establish that the biological function of dreaming is actually quite practical and uncomplicated. --- Professor Mark Solms is best known for his discovery of the forebrain mechanisms of dreaming, and for his pioneering integration of psychoanalytic theories and methods with those of modern neuroscience. He holds the Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology). His other positions have included: Honorary Lecturer in Neurosurgery at St. Bartholomew’s & Royal London School of Medicine, Director of the International Neuro-Psychoanalysis Centre, London, and Director of the Arnold Pfeffer Center for Neuro-Psychoanalysis at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. Professor Solms’ books include: Clinical Studies in Neuro-Psychoanalysis (winner of the NAAP’s Gradiva Award Best Book, Science Category in 2001), The Brain and The Inner World (2002), and most recently: Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (2021). -- Links - Get our latest psychology lectures emailed to your inbox: bit.ly/new-talks5 - Check out our next event: theweekenduniversity.com/events/ - Professor Solms website : www.psychology.uct.ac.za/psy/staff/pr…rs/marksolms - Professor Solms book chapter: bit.ly/encyclo-behavioralneuro

Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett is in the top one percent of the most cited scientists in the world for her revolutionary research in psychology and neuroscience. She is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, and also holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior. In addition to the books Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain and How Emotions are Made, Dr. Barrett has published over 260 peer-reviewed, scientific papers appearing in Science, Nature Neuroscience, and other top journals in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, as well as six academic volumes. She has also given a popular TED talk with over 6.5 million views. You can learn more about Dr Barrett's work by going to: www.lisafeldmanbarrett.com --- Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is a psychologist, neuroscientist, professor, bestselling author, and one of the most cited scientists in the world. She received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for her revolutionary research on emotion in the brain. These highly competitive, multimillion-dollar awards are given to scientists of exceptional creativity who are expected to transform biomedical and behavioral research. She also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019, the APS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, and the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in Psychology in 2021. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Barrett has testified before Congress, presented her research to the FBI, consulted with the National Cancer Institute, appeared on Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman and The Today Show with Maria Shriver, and been a featured guest on public television and podcast and radio programs worldwide. She is also an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. --- Interview Links: — Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain - Lisa Feldman Barrett: https://amzn.to/3CWM1VQ — How Emotions are Made - Lisa Feldman Barrett: https://amzn.to/3Rx1BeT — Dr Barrett’s website: www.lisafeldmanbarrett.com — Matter and Consciousness - Dr Iain McGilchrist: https://bit.ly/3RGSQz0 3 Books Lisa Recommends Every Therapist Should Read: — Between us by Batja Mesquita - https://amzn.to/3FdYkxT — The End of Trauma by George Bonanno - https://amzn.to/3AW1fbL — How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett - https://amzn.to/3GVdxFl

This episode provides a detailed explanation of the 2nd organising principle of Polyvagal Theory: Neuroception. Learn how the nervous system detects whether situations or people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening. Where do these states leave us on the Autonomic Ladder? And how does it fit into the "Safety/Danger Equation? --- The autonomic nervous system is at the heart of daily living powerfully shaping experiences of safety and influencing the capacity for connection. Polyvagal Theory, through the organizing principles of hierarchy, neuroception, and co-regulation, has revolutionized our understanding of how this system works. We now know that trauma interrupts the development of autonomic regulation and shapes the system away from connection into patterns of protection. For many clients, states of fight, flight, and collapse are frequent, intense, and prolonged while the state of safety and connection is elusive. Their autonomic nervous systems now respond in characteristic post-traumatic patterns of hyperarousal, hypervigilance, disconnection, and numbing. A Polyvagal approach uses an updated map of the autonomic circuits that underlie behaviors and beliefs so clinicians can reliably lead their clients out of adaptive survival responses into the autonomically regulated state of safety that is necessary for successful treatment. Polyvagal Theory gives clinicians a guide to help clients safely tune into their autonomic states, reshape their nervous systems, and rewrite the trauma stories that are carried in their autonomic pathways. --- Deb Dana, LCSW is a clinician and consultant specializing in working with complex trauma. She is a consultant to the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute, Clinical Advisor to Khiron Clinics, and an advisor to Unyte. She developed the Rhythm of Regulation Clinical Training Series and lectures internationally on ways Polyvagal Theory informs work with trauma survivors. Deb is the author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation, Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection: 50 Client-Centered Practices, co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies, and creator of the Polyvagal Flip Chart. For more information, please see: https://rhythmofregulation.com -- Links: - Get our latest psychology lectures emailed to your inbox: http://bit.ly/new-talks5 - Check out our next event: http://theweekenduniversity.com/events/ - Deb Dana’s website: https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/ - Deb Dana’s books: https://amzn.to/3lkgTUO

Dr Fisher is a licensed clinical psychologist and a former instructor at Harvard Medical School. Having trained directly with the likes of Bessel van der Kolk and Pat Ogden, she is now widely recognised as an international expert on the treatment of trauma. Janina is an Advisory Board member of the Trauma Research Foundation and the author of three books including, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma, and The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022). She is best known for her work on integrating mindfulness-based interventions into trauma treatment, and she is also the creator of Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) therapy. In this conversation, we discuss: — Dr Fisher's experiences training with Bessel van der Kolk in the 1990s — The left and right brain "split", and how trauma gets stored in the body as implicit memories — The limitations of the "Uni-Consciousness" Model and why a parts paradigm is more effective for healing trauma — Why secure attachment is the number one variable in mental health and how to cultivate "earned secure attachment" internally And more. You can learn more about Dr Fisher's work at www.janinafisher.com. --- Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and a former instructor, Harvard Medical School. An international expert on the treatment of trauma, she is an Advisory Board member of the Trauma Research Foundation and the author of three books, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Self-Alienation (2017), Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: a Workbook for Survivors and Therapists (2021), and The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022). She is best known for her work on integrating mindfulness-based interventions into trauma treatment, and she is also the creator of Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) therapy. Interview Links: — Healing the Fragmented Selves - Dr Janina Fisher: https://amzn.to/3ANKAGp — Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: a Workbook for Survivors and Therapists - Dr Janina Fisher: https://amzn.to/3Blo1ux — The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022): https://amzn.to/3cQbAx3 3 Books Dr Fisher Recommends Every Therapist Should Read: — Introduction to IFS - Dr Richard Schwartz: https://amzn.to/3qaOt3y — Healing the Fragmented Selves - Dr Janina Fisher: https://amzn.to/3ANKAGp — Getting Through The Day - Nancy Napier: https://amzn.to/3KJoiKu

Imagination has a valued place in psychotherapy. The images found in memories, relationship entanglements and future fantasies are the raw material of therapeutic work. And yet, faced with a significant dream or transference projection it can be difficult to resist the temptation of a clever interpretation. In this way, imagining is often eclipsed by thinking and the transformative potential of imaginative experience itself is neglected. This talk by Allan Frater will be of interest to therapists who want to work more holistically with images as images. Instead of treating images as symbols pointing to meaning elsewhere, the talk presents an image-centric approach, including: — A broad understanding of imagination as present in all perceptions, actions and relationships (not just as pictures ‘inside the mind’). — A ‘waking dream’ method applicable to generic work with memories, the transference and future fantasies as well as art-therapy and active-imagination approaches. — Imaginal dialogues. — A non-interpretative patterning which links image work in the consulting room to the on-going story of self and world in everyday life. The result is an appreciation of imagination, not just as a means to rational insight but as an embodied imaginal sensibility at the heart of human potential and creativity. If you enjoy this, you can learn more about Allan’s work by visiting: www.wildimagination.uk. --- Allan Frater is a psychotherapist and teacher with Psychosynthesis Trust. Inspired by Jack Kerouac and Herman Hesse, he spent his twenties living and working in Buddhist communities where he came across the east-meets-west fusion of transpersonal psychology, eventually training to become a psychotherapist. His psychotherapy practice and teaching career have intersected at the meeting place between transpersonal psychology and an image-based approach to ecotherapy, the results of which will be presented in this talk. The introduction and first chapter of ‘Waking Dreams’ can be sampled here: https://wildimagination.uk/book/ Further information and background here: https://wildimagination.uk 3 Books Allan Recommends Every Therapist Should Read: — Revisioning Psychology by James Hillman: https://amzn.to/3zgzeeh — The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram: https://amzn.to/3FmfkSS — The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: https://amzn.to/3TFAbFd

In this captivating video, join us as we dive into the fascinating world of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, TIST, parts work, and the healing of our fragmented selves. Featuring insightful interviews with renowned psychologists Dr. Richard Schwartz, Phd and Dr. Janina Fisher, this compilation offers a comprehensive exploration of parts work and its transformative potential. Don't miss out on this enlightening compilation of interviews with two leading psychologists, Dr. Richard Schwartz, Phd and Dr. Janina Fisher, as they delve into the world of Internal Family Systems, parts, and the healing of our fragmented selves.

Professor Jeremy Holmes - a clinician, author, leading Attachment expert and three time speaker at The Weekend University. In this interview, we discuss the fascinating science of attachment theory, and how it can be applied to enhance therapeutic practice. You’ll learn: — Why it’s vital for anyone working in the helping professions to have a basic understanding of attachment dynamics — The concept of the secure base and its relevance for therapy — The links between attachment and affect regulation — The Strange Situation Experiment, and working with disorganised attachment patterns — Why it’s more important to pay attention to how clients communicate rather than just the content of what they are saying And more. --- Professor Jeremy Holmes is a clinician, author, leading Attachment expert, and three-time speaker at The Weekend University. For 35 years, he was Consultant Psychiatrist/Medical Psychotherapist at University College London (UCL) and then in North Devon, UK, and Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 1998-2002. He is visiting Professor at the University of Exeter, and lectures nationally and internationally. In addition to 200+ peer-reviewed papers and chapters in the field of psychoanalysis and attachment theory, his books include John Bowlby and Attachment Theory, Exploring In Security, Attachment in Therapeutic Practice, and most recently: “The Brain has a Mind of Its Own”. He was the recipient of the Bowlby-Ainsworth Founders Award 2009. --- Interview Links: — Attachment in Therapeutic Practice: https://amzn.to/3FjQMYL — The Search for the Secure Base: Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy: https://amzn.to/3LOTAzk — The Brain has a Mind of its Own: https://amzn.to/3Fg0ziw — John Bowlby and Attachment Theory: https://amzn.to/3FjQMYL --- 3 Books Prof. Holmes Recommends Every Therapist Should Read: — What Works for Whom?: A Critical Review of Psychotherapy Research - Anthony Roth & Peter Fonagy: https://amzn.to/3ycC8kn — War & Peace - Leo Tolstoy: https://amzn.to/38QvhTa — Attachment in Therapeutic Practice - Holmes & Slade: https://amzn.to/3TqkOzI --- — Get our latest psychology lectures emailed to your inbox: http://bit.ly/new-talks5 — Check out our next event: http://theweekenduniversity.com/events

Polyvagal Theory revolutionizes understanding of autonomic nervous system and trauma's impact. Clinicians use updated map to guide clients out of survival responses into safety. Exploration of nonverbal cues, anchoring in ventral states, and importance of safety in regulating nervous system.

Dr Fisher is a licensed clinical psychologist and a former instructor at Harvard Medical School. Having trained directly with the likes of Bessel van der Kolk and Pat Ogden, she is now widely recognised as an international expert on the treatment of trauma. Janina is an Advisory Board member of the Trauma Research Foundation and the author of three books including, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma, and The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022). She is best known for her work on integrating mindfulness-based interventions into trauma treatment, and she is also the creator of Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) therapy. In this conversation, we discuss: — Dr Fisher's experiences training with Bessel van der Kolk in the 1990s — The left and right brain "split", and how trauma gets stored in the body as implicit memories — The limitations of the "Uni-Consciousness" Model and why a parts paradigm is more effective for healing trauma — Why secure attachment is the number one variable in mental health and how to cultivate "earned secure attachment" internally And more. You can learn more about Dr Fisher's work at www.janinafisher.com. --- Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and a former instructor, Harvard Medical School. An international expert on the treatment of trauma, she is an Advisory Board member of the Trauma Research Foundation and the author of three books, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Self-Alienation (2017), Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: a Workbook for Survivors and Therapists (2021), and The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022). She is best known for her work on integrating mindfulness-based interventions into trauma treatment, and she is also the creator of Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) therapy. Interview Links: — Healing the Fragmented Selves - Dr Janina Fisher: https://amzn.to/3ANKAGp — Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: a Workbook for Survivors and Therapists - Dr Janina Fisher: https://amzn.to/3Blo1ux — The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022): https://amzn.to/3cQbAx3 3 Books Dr Fisher Recommends Every Therapist Should Read: — Introduction to IFS - Dr Richard Schwartz: https://amzn.to/3qaOt3y — Healing the Fragmented Selves - Dr Janina Fisher: https://amzn.to/3ANKAGp — Getting Through The Day - Nancy Napier: https://amzn.to/3KJoiKu

Terry Real, a renowned family therapist and author, dives deep into the emotional struggles men face due to trauma and societal pressures. He discusses how these pains can lead to issues like self-medication and aggression, emphasizing the need for connection and vulnerability. Real critiques the damaging aspects of patriarchy and traditional masculinity, advocating for emotional expression in boys and re-empowerment for girls. He also shares practical therapy techniques to help men navigate shame and grandiosity, ultimately promoting healthier relationships.