The Silvan S. Tomkins
The Experience
Institute's
1999 Colloquium.
and Relief of Distress:
Overload, Grief, and
Suffering.
22-24 October 1999
Philadelphia, PA
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The Experience
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The Experience and Relief of Distress:
Overload, Grief, and Suffering
22-24 October 1999
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, PA
The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute has been receiving widespread attention.
It's been talked about in professional meetings, books,
conference presentations, and on the Internet.
The talk is about human emotion -- new ways of thinking about
the importance of emotion in psychotherapy. Over the past few
years the Institute has gained quite a following among
colleagues looking for answers to questions usually ignored
in discussions of clinical work.
An invitation to attend our annual October Colloquium in Philadelphia.
It's held in the beautiful Van Pelt Auditorium of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art.
Each of our conferences has presented new approaches to
psychotherapy.
We've pioneered the study of shame and its relation to
violence (1993); offered a new look at anger (1994); showed
specific ways to help people manage their emotions (1995);
revised the concepts that underlie both brief and long term
therapy (1996); and refined the therapeutic approaches fast
becoming known as the Philadelphia System (1998).
So much to do. So little time to do it in.
This year we're talking about something that hovers around
each one of us as well as those we treat -- the ignored family
of emotions triggered when life is crammed with too much to
do.
We live in a climate of overload. We're often working at more
than one job.
We're proud of our pagers, cell phones, answering machines,
computer skills, and round the clock e-mail availability.
Yet we have fewer and fewer private spaces we can call our
own. Or places where we can escape to reduce the sheer
intensity of everyday living.
When we appear to be "handling it well" we are said to be
competent. And when we complain people say we are
"depressed."
This is the experience of stress, "constant anxiety," duress,
hardship, and being "pushed to the limit."
Distress isn't anxiety.
At our 1999 conference, you'll learn how and why to
differentiate distress and anguish from anxiety, annoyance,
and a host of other unpleasant reactions.
Well known experiences at the upper end of the distress-
anguish scale include loss, grief, and suffering of any kind.
Psyche and soma blend here, so we won't overlook the immense
number of remedies -- salves, bandages, things to sooth
headaches, sore feet, sore muscles, and bellyaches, stuff for
pangs, pinches, and pains of every description that offer
some relief from relentless but relatively "trivial"
discomfort.
All steady-state discomfort is additive. You'll enjoy
learning how much you and those you treat can benefit from
the implementation of this logic. In the matter of overload
and distress, there isn't any "them" and "us."
Oh, the things you'll discover.
You'll come away from our meeting with new respect for the
wide range of cultural phenomena related to distress.
You'll find that all at once you see and treat a great many
clinical complaints previously invisible and inaudible.
We know you'll come from our October Colloquium with a bunch
of new skills. And we'll be thrilled that we've given you
more tools to fix the overload problem.
Who are these folks from the Tomkins Institute?
In the 1970's, Philadelphia-based psychiatrist Donald L.
Nathanson, MD, began to develop an innovative system of
psychotherapy that focused attention on the specific emotions
expressed by patients rather than the thoughts accompanying
them. His interest in the ways wordless emotion seems to
travel from one person to another led to the study of
empathy, the work of Michael Franz Basch, and ultimately to
the theories for emotion offered by Silvan S. Tomkins. Dr.
Nathanson is best known for his popular Shame and Pride:
Affect, Sex, and the Birth of the Self (1992) and his
stewardship of the Shame and Affect Theory Forum of the
Internet service Behavior OnLine (www.behavior.net). He's
published over 100 articles/book chapters/books, and given
hundreds of public presentations all over the world. As the
leading advocate of the Tomkins affect and script theories,
Nathanson brought these ideas into conformity with modern
neurobiology and psychopharmacology, providing a broad base
for the mode of psychotherapy now known as the Philadelphia
System.
It was in 1991, soon after the death of Professor Tomkins,
that Dr. Nathanson formed the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute in
order to encourage a wide spectrum of clinicians and scholars
to learn about affect/script theory. Each member has been
trained in the tradition and practice of some professional
discipline, whether medicine, psychology, social work,
nursing, education, art therapy, clergy, finance, or law. The
Tomkins Institute does not yet offer formal training for
therapists, although through an international network of
study groups we do provide a core curriculum for those who so
wish. Membership is open to all interested colleagues.
_______________________________________
Who May Attend?
This conference is intended for:
Mental health practitioners, including psychologists,
psychiatrists, social workers, pastoral counselors, chemical
dependency counselors, and marriage and family counselors.
Researchers in psychology, sociology, and cultural
anthropology, who are interested in the study of emotion,
interpersonal communication, or individual development.
Other physicians interested in furthering their knowledge and
skills in understanding interpersonal communication,
distress, and psychopathology.
Physician participants must have a background knowledge in
psychiatry or neurology, if not actually psychiatrists or
neurologists. Although it is not required that a physician
participant be a psychiatrist or neurologist, it is required
that they have a strong interest in understanding and
treating problems with the human emotions as they impact
their practice.
Graduate students currently enrolled in a training program
are welcome. Those without such training may write for
special consideration.
Participants should hold a graduate level degree in one of the
mental health professions, or a graduate level research degree
as described above. Chemical dependency counselors may attend
if they hold a Chemical Addictions Counselor (CAC) Certificate
or equivalent. Those who do not have such training may write
for special permission to attend.
Expected Outcome?
By the end of the Colloquium, those who participate in this
program should be able to:
1) Identify distress-anguish and differentiate clearly
between this affect and anger, anxiety, or shame.
2) Recognize the wide range of distress-based disorders seen
in individuals, couples, families, and the workplace.
3) Develop and utilize new methods of therapy based on the
distress management scripts of the individual patient/client.
Accreditation
Continuing Education certificates will be available for all
who attend.
The program (Saturday and Sunday) involves 12 hours of
instruction, and the optional Friday evening lecture/seminar
an additional 3 hours, all of which is eligible for
continuing education credit as follows:
Participants may register for the 3-hour Friday lecture
alone, or for Saturday or Sunday alone, for 6 hours each.
The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute is accredited by the
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to
sponsor continuing medical education for physicians. The
Silvan S. Tomkins Institute designates this continuing
medical education activity for up to 15 hours in Category 1
of the Physicians Recognition Award of the American Medical
Association.
The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute is approved by the American
Psychological Association to offer continuing education for
psychologists. The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute maintains
responsibility for the program.
The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute is approved by the State
Board of Social Work Examiners of Maryland as a Provisional
Sponsor of Continuing education for Social Workers.
Application will be made to have this program provide up to
15 hours of Category 1 credit hours toward Maryland Social
Work License Renewal.
This program is approved by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
State Board of Social Work Examiners.
This meeting is PCACB approved.
Conference Schedule
Friday 22 October
Solis-Cohen Auditorium
Jefferson Medical College
Evening
7:00 - Introduction to the Affect/Script theory of Silvan S. Tomkins
10:00 Donald L. Nathanson, M.D. and Jonathan L. Grindlinger, M.D.
Tomkins's theory of human emotion is complex. Many of us
have worked with this material for years in order to
increase the depth of our understanding. In this three
hour introduction, Drs. Nathanson and Grindlinger
present enough of the basics of the theory to get a
beginner through this weekend's presentations. We hope
you will follow up by joining an ongoing study group in
your home area. We'll tell you more about the study
group system at the conference.
Saturday 23 October
Van Pelt Auditorium
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Morning
8:00 - Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 A delicious blend of the affects interest-excitement (as
we anticipate the opening of the 1999 Colloquium The
Experience and Relief of Distress) and enjoyment-joy (as
hunger and the early morning symptoms of caffeine
withdrawal are quenched), catered by the Philadelphia
Museum of Art. Bagels, sweets, fruit, and beverages will
be offered.
8:30 - Welcome
8:40 Jonathan L. Grindlinger, M.D.
Training Director, Silvan S. Tomkins Institute
8:40 - The Everyday World of Distress Anguish
10:00 Donald L. Nathanson, M.D.
Just as curiosity (interest-excitement) is the dominant
positive affect of infancy and early childhood, distress-
anguish is its dominant negative affect. The hand that
rocks the cradle does so to soothe and modulate
distress; early development is characterized by
techniques for the socialization of distress to which we
have paid far too little attention. So much does the
child's distress-anguish cause displeasure for parents
that we handle it less as a spotlight with which to view
its triggering stimulus than a problem to be hidden.
10:00 - Break
10:15 A temporary respite from overload.
10:15 - Distress in Psychopathology
11:45 Donald L. Nathanson, M.D.
Directly in proportion to the degree to which an
individual is coached to hide, disguise, or disavow
distress will be the importance of its incorporation in
scripts for psychopathology. Presented will be an
overview of the role and function of backed-up distress-
anguish in a wide range of clinical conditions. A
Compass of (backed up) Distress is offered as a device
through which to organize this material.
11:45 - Q & A
12:00
12:00 - Buffet Lunch (Included)
1:15 Philadelphia Museum of Art Catering Services
Afternoon
1:15 - Sighs Matter: Working with Backed-up Distress in Psychotherapy
2:30 Wesley G. Novak, Ph.D.
Suffering continues to be a disavowed, private, and
ubiquitous experience. As psychotherapists, most of us
enter our careers unwittingly prepared with a preferred
language and method through which to "talk" with our
patients about their emotional pain. Yet this process of
"meaningful connection" with our patients may be
encumbered by our own well-earned backed-up distress.
The presentation will build on Tomkins's overlooked
theories for the socialization of distress and discuss
some of its various clinical manifestations as modeled
in the newly evolved "compass of distress." Clinical
vignettes from the presenter's own work will be offered
as one way to look more deeply at the inevitable and
often veiled losses embedded within the "plot" of our
patients' lives.
2:30 - Break
2:45
2:45 - Workshops (Choose One)
3:35
A. Intimate Connections in Good Times and Bad
Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., M.D.
Dr. Kelly will discuss what happens within a
relationship when the ratio of positive to negative
affect is biased toward the negative. Beginning with a
concept of intimacy based on affect and script, he will
guide participants from the theoretical underpinnings of
intimate connections toward an understanding of clinical
approaches to their enhancement and repair.
B. The Spotlight Technique
Jeanette Wright, ATR
The Spotlight Technique builds on Nathanson's metaphor
of the affect system as a bank of spotlights. This
technique assists clients toward visual and verbal
exploration of their relation to each affect. The
Spotlight Technique is an easily learned, effective
teaching tool through which clients may be helped to
develop a map and a personal frame of reference for the
understanding and management of emotion. During this
session, participants will be shown slides of drawings
made by clients, and will learn how to use this
technique themselves. As with all uses of the drawn
image in psychotherapy, no drawing skills are necessary.
C. The Pharmacology of Anguish: Toward an Understanding
of the Neurobiology of Distress
Robert E. Most, M.D.
A wide variety of pharmacologic agents, some prescribed
and some illicit, can be shown to increase or decrease
the experience of distress. An examination of drug
mechanisms reveals that distress must involve many
neurotransmitters that work over complex neurological
pathways. Although the spatial resolution provided by
brain imaging techniques may lead us to (over)emphasize
certain "regions of interest" (some of which will be
reviewed), temporal contour is even more critical within
Affect Theory. Psychopathology must result whenever the
individual's normal range of stimulus variation is
overwhelmed by constant external "stress," or by mis-
cued internal feedback loops. Medication may help reset
the range of stimulus density, and even encourage normal
brain mechanisms to repair damaged firmware.
3:45 - Therapy Informed by The Music of Distress
5:00 Jonathan L. Grindlinger, M.D.
Music is a language though which sequences, cadences,
and frequencies are expressed and therefore experienced
by the listener. Since anything that varies the density
and gradient of stimulation (stimulus contour) must
trigger innate affect, music quite naturally may be used
to escape distress, excuse the expression of distress,
and even increase the experience of distress. Many of
the currently available computer programs that assist
musical composition utilize rules that govern the
complexity of musical performance, rules that bear
striking resemblance to those for affect and script that
govern the complexity of human experience.
Evening
7:00 - The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute Annual Membership Meeting
10:00 and Dinner (additional charge)
The Union League,
Meade Room
140 South Broad Street
Open to all Members of the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute,
including those who are joining at the time of this
Colloquium. Further information about this subscription
dinner will be included in your registration packet.
Sunday 24 October
Van Pelt Auditorium
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Morning
8:00 - Continental Breakfast
8:25
8:25 - Welcome
8:30 Jonathan L. Grindlinger, MD
8:30 - Faith, Suffering, and Psychotherapy for a New Millennium
9:45 Susan Leigh Deppe, MD, FAPA
This session will focus on the management of distress-
anguish in a variety of faiths and contexts. The major
religions provide scripts that enable their followers to
endure loss and pain with dignity or to transform it
into another form of experience. The role of
celebratory, commitment, hope, and other scripts will be
explored. What happens to a society that believes the
end of the world or the Kingdom of God is near? How does
the believer find joy in suffering, and use it for
growth? How can such scripts be understood and used in
psychotherapy?
9:45 - Images of Overload and Relief: The Function of Creativity
11:00 in the Transformation of Emotion
Jeanette Wright, ATR
A new term called the drawn image is entering the
language of psychotherapy. This term refers to images
created by clients, representations that transform
biology and biography into visual form. These drawn
images are viewed as both creative and transformative
because affective investment in the symbolic
representation of experience generates the power through
which one may understand the experience at greater
depth. When individuals literally see what they think
and how they feel, something new happens: the file on
emotional biography is accessed and linked with personal
history and the unseen is seen. This presentation begins
with visual vignettes (slides) of client drawings in
response to the proverb, "Don't cry over spilled milk"
and ends with an in-depth discussion, including video
clips, of a client with bipolar affective illness in
treatment for six years. These clips show the
transformation of both backed- up affect that has become
encrypted as ideoaffective complexes and also anti-toxic
scripts into experiences of relief as well as new
limitation-remediation scripts.
11:00 - Break
11-15
11:15 - Workshops (Choose one)
12:15
A. Panel Discussion: Ways That Affect Theory Can Induce
and Reduce Distress: The Study Group Solution
The Richmond Study Group: Verda Little, PhD, Study Group
Coordinator, with Beverly Buston, PhD, Theresa Buczek,
PhD, Nancy MacConnachie, PhD, and Edith Ott, PhD
After four humbling years of study, the Richmond, VA
group is ready to share its findings on how to make use
of Affect Theory even if you don't fully understand it.
We hope to involve you in our process, which has
included Distress and Shame triggered by reading the
work of Silvan S. Tomkins, the most brilliant and dense
writing any of us has ever encountered. Excitement is
triggered by the thought that we have understood a
concept, followed by the return of Shame at the
realization that we must reread that sentence yet again,
followed by Joy at the realization that other Study
Group members continue to struggle along with us.
Nevertheless, through this process our own scripts have
been altered and our patients thus allowed to benefit
from our endeavors.
B. Experiential Workshop on Drumming
Bruce Murray, MSW, LSW
The study of rhythm can expand one's skills in behavioral
observation and increase the accuracy of responsive
mirroring in clinical interventions. This presentation
will provide the enjoyable experience of drumming, intense
discussion about the affective power of rhythm and tone,
and suggestions as to how any increase in rhythm awareness
may improve human interaction. Presented will also be
work on the influence of the physical and neurological
processes of sound and hearing on personal development;
the influence on emotion of sound and music will be
shown by use of the Affect Pattern Chart. The
miniaturization and maximization of affect will be
discussed as scripted and biological tendencies, and as
target activities in clinical work. Finally, a bridge
will be made between musical and non-musical uses of
rhythm in the context of psychotherapy. Clinical
techniques using rhythm, meter, and tone will be
demonstrated.
12:15 - Buffet Lunch (Included)
1:15 Meet the Speakers
Afternoon
1:15 - Tragedy and Comedy: The Two Faces of Suffering
2:30 Melvyn A. Hill, Ph.D.
"A comedy is a tragedy that turns around at the end of
the third act." That is how Northrop Frye, the eminent
literary theorist, once defined the relation between
these two classic forms of drama that take us to the
edge of suffering. Frye's definition helps clarify the
learning curve in psychotherapy, since therapy often
involves an apparent increase in suffering before
clients can turn their life around. This intensification
of distress marks the experience of those negative
affects bound in self-defeating scripts. This is the
experience that empowers clients to examine and
reorganize their motivation and behavior; it follows the
pattern in comedy precisely. I will discuss tragedy and
comedy from Frye's point of view, and show the value of
his concept for script theory and for the understanding
of the process of psychotherapy. Finally, I will show
how script theory helps us understand what it means to
approach the edge of suffering.
2:30 - Break
2:45
2:45 - The Third Michael Franz Basch Memorial Award Lecture
4:00
The Michael Franz Basch Memorial Award is presented each
year to a scholar or clinician whose work has furthered
our understanding of the link between affective
development and psychotherapy. It honors Dr. Basch, the
psychoanalyst who first introduced the work of Silvan
Tomkins to the mainstream of our field, and whose
contributions to the world of psychotherapy remain as
vivid today as when they first appeared. The award
consists of a framed certificate, an honorarium, and the
opportunity to present a lecture at a Tomkins Annual
Colloquium. In the past, the Michael Franz Basch
Memorial Award has been presented to Leigh McCullough-
Vaillant, Ph.D. and to Donald Mosher, Ph. D.
This year, Dr. Donald Nathanson, Founder and Executive
Director of the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, will present
the Third Michael Franz Basch Memorial Award to the
Reverend David McShane, who worked closely with Silvan
Tomkins for more than 20 years.
Distress: Bad News from a Friend
Reverend David McShane
Reverend McShane will place religious symbols and
symbolic activities in the context of affect/script
theory, especially in relation to inevitable distress
and its amelioration through pastoral counseling and
worship events. He will discuss some forms of memory
that may not be accessible through verbalization, and
describe other means for therapeutic rescripting.
4:00 - Where do we go from here?
4:15 Donald L. Nathanson, M.D.
(End of Colloquium)
Companion Program
On Saturday 23 October, a guided tour of Philadelphia's
cultural sites will be offered for the traveling companions
of Conference Participants.
Program Director Sharon Kelly has pointed out that
Philadelphia was founded as a locus of true religious
freedom, and that much of the character of the city evolved
from the decision of William Penn to instrument that intent.
She will take you through some of the houses of worship that
exemplified this unique attitude, many of which were part of
colonial Philadelphia and set the tone for the city's future
culture. No trip through Philadelphia culture should ignore
its famous Italian market, and the group will lunch at a
favorite restaurant before touring the cheese, spice, and
other shops for which it is famous.
On Sunday, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will offer a private
tour.
Culture is more than just museums and buildings, so we
suggest you bring good walking shoes, a camera, and the
ability to be charmed by sights both beautiful and novel.
Although there will be no charge for the tour itself, some of
the venues do require admission fees.
We suggest that you check this space from time to time for
more information.
Silvan S. Tomkins Institute Annual Membership Meeting and Dinner
Saturday 22 October 1999
7:00 - 7:45 Cocktail Hour
7:45 - 10 PM Dinner
The Union League,
Meade Room
140 South Broad Street
Open to all Members of the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute,
including those who join at the time of this Colloquium.
Marred only by the transaction of a small amount of
organizational business, the evening will afford an excellent
opportunity to talk at length with friends old and new.
On Site Bookstore
The Joseph Fox Bookshop of Philadelphia will offer for sale
the major works of Silvan Tomkins, as well as books both
written and recommended by Colloquium faculty. Shipping will
also be available for those who both prefer not to carry
their purchases and can delay gratification sufficiently.
Conference Tapes
All sessions of the 1999 Colloquium will be taped. A boxed
set of tapes will be offered for advance sale at the
Colloquium, or can be ordered now through the Silvan S.
Tomkins Institute.
Tapes of all previous Conferences are still available. Sets
can be purchased at the Colloquium, or can be ordered at any
time from the Institute, by calling 800-317-1669, by email at
julief@tomkins.org, by writing to the Institute at 255 South
17th Street, Suite 2403, Philadelphia, PA 19103-6224, or via
the website at http://www.behavior.net/orgs/ssti/tapes.html.
Conference Faculty
Beverley G. Buston, PhD is licensed as a Clinical
Psychologist in practice with The Westwood Group in Richmond,
VA. In addition to providing psychotherapy to adults and
couples, she consults within a variety of systems, including
teaching Behavioral Science to Family Practice Residents as
an Assistant Clinical professor with the Department of Family
Medicine of the Medical College of Virginia at the Virginia
Commonwealth University, and working with church systems and
churches in the Virginia area. Affect Theory has become an
integral part of all that she does.
Teresa A. Buczek, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist
with The Westwood Group in Richmond, VA. She works with
individual, couples, and families, having been trained both
at the Philadelphia Guidance Center and the Palo Alto
Veterans Hospital. In the last four years she has begun to
apply Affect and Script Theory to the families, couples, and
individuals in her clinical practice.
Susan Leigh Deppe, MD, FAPA, is a Clinical Assistant
Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont and a
frequent lecturer on Affect/Script Theory. In her private
practice in Burlington, she specializes in the psychotherapy
and psychopharmacology of mood and anxiety disorders, affect
and script theory, and spirituality. Long involved in patient
advocacy, legislation, and public affairs, she has taught
community groups, clergy, and health professionals locally
and nationally since 1992. A Fellow of the American
Psychiatric Association, she was for four years the director
of a highly successful CME course on religion for its annual
meetings.
Jonathan L. Grindlinger, MD is Training Director of the SSTI.
He taught in the Williamsport Hospital and Medical Center
Family Practice Residency Program from 1988 until 1994, for
which in 1993 he was cited as "Teacher of the Year." Jon has
taught affect/script theory with Dr. Nathanson at the Cape
Cod Institute and also as Visiting Professor at the
Williamsport Hospital and Medical Center Family Practice
Residency Program. His Lewisburg, PA, private practice
focuses on the psychotherapy of individuals and couples. A
musician by avocation, he cannot remember a time when he did
not own and operate some form of recording studio.
Melvyn A. Hill, PhD grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and
came to the University of Chicago where he completed a PhD in
social and political theory under Hannah Arendt. He then
served as head of the Division of Social Sciences at York
University in Toronto, and completed a PhD in Clinical
Psychology. Since the early 80's he has conducted a private
practice in Manhattan, and enjoys working with the wide range
of people in ones and twos from all over that curious island.
He has served on the Executive Committee of the Tomkins
Institute, led the committee that revised the first year
Study Group syllabus, and leads the new committee revising
the second year Study Group syllabus.
Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., MD, was the first Training Director of
the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, in which capacity he built
an international network of Study Groups and developed
continuing education sponsorship relationships with the
American Psychological Association, the Accreditation Council
for Continuing Medical Education, and a number of other
organizations. He is currently a member of the Silvan S.
Tomkins Institute's Executive Committee, an Attending
Psychiatrist at Pennsylvania Hospital, and a Fellow of the
College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Well known for his
clinical work with couples and as therapist/supervisor for
many psychotherapists, Dr. Kelly has written extensively
about the use of affect/script theory in couples work and
taught extensively with Dr. Nathanson. A full exposition of
his contributions to these fields appears in his chapter
"Affect and Intimacy" in Knowing Feeling: Affect, Script and
Psychotherapy.
Verda L. Little, PhD, is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in
practice with The Westwood Group in Richmond, VA. She also is
an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of
Psychiatry at the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia
Commonwealth University. After attending her first Tomkins
Institute Colloquim in 1994, Dr. Little organized the
Richmond Affect Theory Study Group and serves as Group
Coordinator.
Nancy MacConnachie, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist
in private practice with The Westwood Group in Richmond, VA.
Her areas of interest include child and family therapy, and
the accompanying areas of specialization (child sexual abuse,
alcoholism, juvenile justice, attachment issues, etc.) She
also works with Family Practice Residents in the Behavioral
Medicine curriculum at the Medical College of Virginia. A
husband and three children maintain for her a high density
experience of affect as well as excellent opportunities to
reflect on theory. Reverend David McShane has officiated at
over four hundred funerals during more than forty years in
the Presbyterian ministry, experience he characterizes as a
wagon load of distress. Over the last twenty years of his
ministry his close friendship with Silvan Tomkins and deep
respect for affect theory made a profound difference in
Dave's life both professionally and personally. Reverend
McShane has taught at McCormick Theological Seminary and at
Western Michigan University in the College of Health and
Human Services. He is now semi-retired, living winters in
Florida where he preaches weekly in a mobile home park and
summers on a lake in Michigan where he reads, thinks, loafs,
and plays scrabble and tournament level paddleball. Dave and
his wife Beth, a psychiatric social worker, have four
children and six grandchildren.
Robert E. Most, MD, is research coordinator for the Tomkins
Institute, and serves on the Research Committee of the
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation in La Crosse,
Wisconsin, where he also practices psychiatry. Well known
locally for his work on "Anxiety Disorders," and the
supervision of psychotherapists, Bob presented on the topic
of shame, trauma, and EMDR at the 1998 SSTI symposium.
Bruce Pitcairn Murray, MSW, LSW is a psychotherapist in
private practice, and an outpatient lead clinician for
Advantage Behavioral Systems, in Center City Philadelphia.
Since receiving a clinical BS in Mental Health Technology
from Hahnemann University in 1977, he has held a variety of
direct service positions, including 6 years in a busy
hospital Psychiatric Emergency Service. In 1993, he received
an MSW from Rutgers, and has now accumulated experience at
every level of mental health care, working with clients from
school age through the end of life. In more than three years
of study with SSTI, his clinical growth in affective
knowledge has consistently improved the focus of treatment
goals. Bruce believes that awareness of the biological nature
of innate affect refines one's strategies for diagnosis and
intervention in every aspect of the emotional problems
presented by clients.
Donald L. Nathanson, MD, is Executive Director of the Silvan
S. Tomkins Institute and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at
Jefferson Medical College, although he spends more than a
third of his time writing and lecturing internationally. Dr.
Nathanson is concerned with the nature and function of
emotion, and is known as the leading proponent of the
affect/script theory of Silvan Tomkins. His integration of
the data of neuroscience, psychology, psychopharmacology, and
psychoanalysis into a comprehensive system capable of
explaining the full range of human experience has lead to
what is now known as The Philadelphia System, a form of
psychotherapy that respects all previous systems and methods.
Dr. Nathanson has published more than 100 articles and books
on emotion, empathy, and psychotherapy and has given hundreds
of presentations all over the world. Best known of his
writings are the 1987 edited book The Many Faces of Shame;
the popular 1992 book Shame and Pride: Affect, Sex, and the
Birth of the Self; and the 1996 edited book on the clinical
application of these theories, Knowing Feeling: Affect,
Script, and Psychotherapy. As lead columnist for the World
Wide Web service Behavior OnLine, his Shame and Affect Theory
Forum has drawn international respect. At present he is
deeply involved in the development of programs to reduce the
toxicity of adolescent life that has led to the recent
increase in school violence.
Wesley G. Novak, PhD, served as the first Chief Psychologist
of the SSTI and remains an active member of the SSTI
Executive and Continuing Education Committees. He currently
works in full-time independent practice as a Psychologist in
Wilmington, Delaware. It is his life-long interest in the
psychology of distress that has led to this 1999 SSTI
Colloquim.
Edith Shepherd Ott, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist
in private practice in Richmond, VA, where she works with a
wide range of people and problems. She was trained as a
Clinical Child Psychologist a long time ago and uses her
understanding of developmental issues to work with kids and
grown-up kids. Edith has worked in hospital, correctional,
and academic settings. She finds that her patients, her
garden, and her grandchildren are the source of a rich
understanding of life and of her curiosity to learn more.
Edith is a student of Affect/Script Theory and enjoys the
learning that she experiences every time she meets with her
study group in Richmond.
Jeanette Wright, ATR, is the developer of Image Oriented
Psychotherapy, which she practices in Des Moines, Iowa, and
has written extensively on the use of drawn images as a clue
to affective process. She is the founder of Pegasus: A
Private Practice, L.C., for which she serves as a
psychotherapist, educator, and consultant.
Accomodations
Blocks of rooms have been reserved at the following hotels.
For information or reservations, please contact the hotel
directly. For your convenience, we have provided a link to
each hotel's website.
Embassy Suite Center City ($155 single/$169 double)
1776 Benjamin Franklin Parkway (at Logan Square)
215-561-1776
Korman Suites ($125 studio/$155 double)
2001 Hamilton Street
215-569-7000
Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel ($129 single/$129 double)
17th and Race Streets
215-448-2000
Getting There
By air to Philadelphia International Airport: There are taxis
and van services available at the airport to take you to your
hotel, or you can take the SEPTA High Speed Commuter Rail
link between the Center City hotels and the airport. No
advance reservation required. Follow signs at the airport.
By train: Amtrak serves Philadelphia through the 30th Street
Station, which is a short walk from the Philadelphia Museum
of Art, a bit further to the hotels. Taxis are available.
By car: Philadelphia is served by Interstate Highways 76 and
95. Check with your hotel for specific driving directions.
Directions below will get you to the Ben Franklin Parkway,
central to the museum and 3 hotels.
From the south: Take I-95 North to I-676, then I-676 to the
22nd Street exit for the Museum and all hotels. Go right on
22nd Street and left on Ben Franklin Parkway. The Museum is
at the top of the Parkway. Bear right toward Kelly Drive, and
watch for a left turn for Museum parking, which is behind the
building.
From the west: Take I-76 (the Pennsylvania Turnpike) to
Philadelphia. Stay on I-76 when it splits from the Turnpike.
To get to the Museum, take the Spring Garden Exit and turn
left at the top of the exit ramp. This takes you into the Art
Museum Circle. To get to the Museum, follow the circle
halfway around and bear right toward Kelly Drive, and watch
for a left turn for Museum parking, which is behind the
building. Alternatively, keep right at the Art Museum Circle
onto Ben Franklin Parkway for hotels.
From New York and New England: Follow signs from the New
Jersey Turnpike for the Ben Franklin Bridge. From the Bridge,
follow signs to I-676. Take I-676 to the 22nd Street exit for
the Museum and all hotels. Turn right on 22nd Street and left
onto Ben Franklin Parkway. The Museum is at the top of the
Parkway. Bear right toward Kelly Drive, and watch for a left
turn for Museum parking, which is behind the building.
Accessibility
All facilities in use during the Colloquium are accessible to
wheelchairs, as are all three hotels. Please let us know in
advance if you require special assistance. Audio
amplification is available for most of the programs, but
advance notice is necessary.
Please let us know if we can assist you in any way. In
advance of the Colloquium, please let us know of any special
needs by contacting the Colloquium Administrator or the
Colloquium Chairpersons at the addresses or phone numbers
below. During the Colloquium, the Colloquium Administrator
will be available outside the Auditorium for any concerns or
assistance.
For more information
Here's how you can get more information about The Silvan S.
Tomkins Institute's 1999 Colloquium, the Experience and
Relief of Distress: Overload, Grief, and Suffering:
Send email to Julie Franklin, the SSTI and Colloquium
Administrator, for information about registration,
directions, or hotel accommodations: julief@tomkins.org
Call the Colloquium Administrator for information about
registration, directions, or hotel accommodations: 800-317-
1669
Send email to the Colloquium Chairpersons
(bschur@tomkins.org) for information about the program or
faculty.
Call the Colloquium Chairpersons at 610-259-7150 for
information about the program or faculty.
Check the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute home page
(www.behavior.net/orgs/ssti/) where you will find more
information about our Institute. You can also learn more
about the Tomkins Institute by checking into the Shame and
Affect Theory Forum at Behavior OnLine (www.behavior.net) for
our ongoing discussion of many of these topics.
Registration
Early Regular Single
Registrat Registrat Friday Day Fee
ion Prior ion After Evening Saturday
to 9/15/99 Seminar or Sunday
9/15/99
Individual $300 $350 $50 $175
SSTI
Members $250 $300 $35 $150
Therapists
in Training $250 $300 $35 $150
Groups of
5 or more* $250 $300 $35 $150
Full-time
graduate $175 $175 $35 $125
students**
There will be an additional $15 fee for on-site registration.
In order to qualify for the membership rate you must have
joined the Tomkins Institute before the meeting or at the
time you send in your application. Fee includes refreshments,
Saturday and Sunday lunches, and handouts.
* Fee is per person. Applications must be made in one
envelope; photocopy application if necessary. You may
register by fax only if you are paying by credit card.
Transmit the form to 1-800-531-1916 with full credit card
information. If you are unable to attend you may send a
substitute, who must so notify the folks at the registration
desk.
** Students in degree-granting programs, residents,
psychoanalytic candidates please enclose letter defining
student status.
Refunds: Requests for refunds must be made in writing And
accompanied by a copy of your confirmation letter. Full
refund, less a $50 administrative service charge, will be
made for requests postmarked before October 1, 1999. No
refunds will be given to requests made after that date,
although fully-paid registrants who are unable to attend will
be sent the tape album and handouts. There will be a $20
charge for returned checks.
Application form
Name__________________________________________Position/degree___________
Street Address__________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip________________________________________________________
Phone: (_______)________________________________________________________
FAX: (_______)___________________ E-Mail: ___________________________
Audiotapes of SSTI Annual Meetings are available in boxed sets of
12 cassettes: $190 for non-members, $160 for SSTI Members
(shipping & handling included).
___I can't attend this year. Please send audio cassettes of the
1999 conference.
___I missed the 1993 meeting "Toward a New Psychotherapy." Please
send the album.
___I missed the 1994 meeting "The Experience and Expression of
Anger." Please send the album.
___I missed the 1995 meeting "Affect, Script and Psychotherapy."
Please send the album.
___I missed the 1996 meeting "The When, When Not, and How of Brief
Psychotherapy." Please send the album.
___I missed the 1998 meeting "The Philadelphia System: Affect and
Script in Psychotherapy." Please send the album.
I would like to join the Institute and get discounts for Institute
activities. Membership fee: $45_________
Days Attending: (Please circle) Friday-Saturday-Sunday,
Saturday-Sunday, Friday Only, Saturday Only, Sunday Only
Workshops you plan to attend:
Please Note: We will attempt to seat all registrants in the
workshop of their choice. Please list your first and second
choices for each morning and afternoon seminar by placing the
numbers "1" or "2" next to your selection.
Saturday Afternoon _____ Most _____ Kelly _____ Wright
Sunday Morning _____ Little _____ Murray
Total:
Conference __________________
Tapes________________________
Membership___________________
Grand Total__________________
Check enclosed_________ Please Charge my MasterCard/Visa___________
Card Number_________________________________ Expiration Date___________
Signature_______________________________________________________________
Send payment and completed application to:
Tomkins Institute Conference
255 South 17th Street Suite 2403
Philadelphia, PA 19103-6224
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