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Healing Brain Seminar: March 1985

THE HEALING BRAIN II

A CONTINUING EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1985
PALO ALTO
AND
SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1985
DAVIS

PRESENTED BY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EXTENSIONS, DAVIS AND SANTA CRUZ
AND CO-SPONSORED BY
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS AND
THE INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE

"The most important health care system is the brain itself."

We have radically underestimated our sensitivity to the social and physical environment as well as the capacities of the brain for continuous growth and development. Recent advances in brain research and behavioral science reveal how our emotions can influence health, how social interaction can decrease susceptibility to disease, and how our conscious awareness can extend into the third of our lives we spend asleep.

These and other findings of major clinical significance will be explored by a distinguished faculty in a review of emerging trends in behavioral medicine.

FACULTY

Enoch Callaway, M.D. is a Professor of Psychiatry. University of California. San Francisco. He has served as President of the Society of Biological Psychiatry and has published over 100 scientific papers in psychophysiology, psychopharmacology and biological psychiatry.

Marian C. Diamond, Ph.D. is Professor of Anatomy at the University of California, Berkeley and former Associate Dean of the College of Letters and Science. Her research has centered on how the structure of the nervous system can be modified by changes in the environment about which she has published extensively.

Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. is Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Stanford University. His primary research has been in the study of consciousness during sleep about which he has written in the scientific literature as well as in the book Lucid Dreaming.

Meredith Minkler, Dr.P.M. is Associate Professor of Health Education, School of Public Health, University of California. Berkeley. Her research interests include the problems of aging in American society, the health effects of retirement, and the role of supportive ties in health maintenance.

Robert E. Ornstein, Ph.D is Visiting Professor of Human Biology at Stanford University and President of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge. His research interests include the function of the two hemispheres of the brain, perception and communication in the human sciences. He is author of The Psychology of Consciousness and The Mind Field and coauthor of The Amazing Brain and On the Psychology of Meditation.

COURSE COORDINATOR

David S. Sobel, M.D., M.P.H. is Medical Program Director for the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge and Regional Director of Patient Education and Health Promotion, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Northern California. His current areas of interest include behavioral medicine, health promotion and public health education. He is editor of Ways of Health: Holistic Approaches to Ancient and Contemporary Medicine.

LECTURES

The Amazing Brain: Emotions, The Divided Brain and Health
Robert E. Ornstein, Ph.D., Stanford University
Emotions were here before we were. These important patterns of innate responses enable us to deal with challenges, but also have a profound effect on health. Recent studies reveal that different emotions have specific patterns of activation, different effects on immunity and health, and different associations with each hemisphere of our divided brain.

The Clinical and Chemical Faces of Depression
Enoch Callaway, M.D., University of California, San Francisco
Depression is a major health problem presenting in a variety of forms, many unrecognized. Recent advances in the brain and behavioral sciences have shed new light on the psychobiological causes of the depressed brain and opened new avenues for psychological treatments of "physical" illnesses, and vice versa.

The Changing Brain: Brain Growth in Response to Experience
Marian C. Diamond, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
The cerebral cortex of the brain can grow measurably when the environment is made more complex and stimulating. Perhaps the most revolutionary finding in recent studies of brain science has been that this brain growth can be maintained into old age. These findings challenge our assumptions about the aging brain, and offer a more positive attitude toward the organism's capacity to grow, change and adapt throughout the lifespan.

People Need People: Social Support and Health
Meredith Minkler, Dr.P.H., University of California, Berkeley
People with many social interactions, enmeshed in a supportive social network seem, in some way, to be protected against a wide variety of diseases. The various mechanisms by which social ties influence health will be discussed. A case study will illustrate how supportive networks help people to cope with stressful life events and decrease vulnerability to illness.

Awake in Your Dreams: Scientific Investigations of Lucid Dreams
Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., Stanford University
Recent research demonstrates that it is possible to dream while knowing that we are dreaming. This conscious awareness during dreaming permits one to respond to the dream and has major implications for mental health and mind-body relationships. Practical suggestions on how to learn to control dreams and thereby open this neglected avenue of human development will be discussed.

At the conclusion of the program participants will be able to:
• Identify specific emotions and their physiological and health correlates.
• Identify psychological and biological determinants of depression.
• Understand the role of environmental influences in stimulating brain growth.
• Understand the importance of social support systems in decreasing vulnerability to illness.
• Identify implications for mental health of conscious awareness during dreams.

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