Invited Address Session 8 - Part 2 - Justifying Coercion Through Theology and Therapy featuring Thomas S Szasz, MD.
With discussant Rollo R May, PhD.
Moderated by Harold Arkowitz, PhD.
Szasz considers the role of responsibility in religion, civil and criminal law, medicine and the mental health professions; the differences among existential responsibility, moral blameworthiness and legal accountability; that connections between (mental) competence and responsibility; and relates all of the above to problems in psychotherapeutic theory and practice.
This workshop is a phenomenology of melancholy. Jungian approaches to depression; clinical treatments, societal implications, resistances, suicidal risks and practical techniques will be demonstrated. The 50-minute, prizewinning BBC Documentary "Kind of Blue," narrated by the presenter will be featured.
In Turkey I had the opportunity to research the resources about Sufism (for example Rumi is the most well known sufi in the world and he lived in Turkey) and I studied it both as a student and as a therapist about 15 years. Sufism has actually two big steps. Understanding yourself and life first by mind than by heart. While I was creating the Optimum Balance Model (OBM) I think I did the first part. During this conversation I'll try to explain steps of the inner journey of a Sufi, I'll share my experiences and the story of how they try to tame their Ego.
This workshop emphasizes ways culture and religion can be integrated into the therapeutic discourse through the promotion of intercultural resiliency. Interculturalism allows for relationship building and learning from each other while taking the therapist deeper than multicultural or cross-cultural communication. Resiliency as a healing process allows for creating new meanings to unfortunate life events based on developing the self through mentorship and community, the building blocks of resiliency.
Ronald Laing (1985) interviews a home-less woman diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Her presenting complaint is that her brain does not work right and that people are out to get her. Laing relates to the client and explores her theories of human conspiracy, the power of the mind and mind reading, issues of Christianity, and how these concepts relate to her.