The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute's 1999 Colloquium.   The Experience and Relief of Distress: Overload, Grief, and Suffering. 22-24 October 1999 Philadelphia, PA

 

The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute's 1999 Colloquium

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.

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).

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."

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."

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.