Psychological Trauma in the Age of Coronavirus

Trauma Research Foundation

Psychological Trauma in the Age of Coronavirus Virtual Conference May 28th - 30th 2020

31st Annual International Trauma Conference

Conference Director: Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD Associate Conference Directors: Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD & Wendy D’Andrea, PhD Featuring innovative leaders in the field of traumatic stress.

Psychological Trauma in the Age of Coronavirus

A letter from the Conference Director

The Interplay of Neuroscience, Embodiment, and the Regulation of the Self

Conference Director: Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD Associate Conference Directors: Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD & Wendy D’Andrea, PhD

About The Conference The study of trauma has been the single most fertile area to help us develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between the emotional, cognitive, social and biological forces that shape human development. This knowledge has particular relevance for how we currently are able to help people and systems cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), early disturbances in the security of the attachment system (“Developmental Trauma�), have major influence on how children and adults react and cope in multiple dimensions: expectations & perceptions, bodily experiences and biological responses.

In a myriad of ways traumatized individuals tend to react to current experiences as a replay of the past and require therapeutic interventions that do not depend exclusively on drugs, talk or understanding. This conference will present both basic research about the effects of trauma and attachment disruptions on the developing mind and brain, and offer a range of effective interventions that can be applied in clinical settings, including communities, clinics, schools, prisons, and families around the world.

For the past three decades our conference has brought together leaders from the fields of neuroscience, attachment research and innovative trauma treatments. We provide a unique place for a dialogue between scientists and clinicians, and an opportunity to become familiar not only with the latest advances in brain science as it pertains to clinical work, but also with a range of evolving treatments for traumatic stress that are generally not yet taught in traditional psychotherapy programs.

In a time such as this, when we are in lockdown in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and may be filled with uncertainty, lack of predictability and helplessness, it clearly is critical to confront our disastrous situation in the light of established and evolving knowledge about the origins and treatment of traumatic stress. Our virtual platform will provide an experience that upholds the academic and therapeutic excellence of our live events.

This year will once again combine a presentation of the current state of the science, including important new information with major implications for our clinical practices. We will also explore in depth how we can best regulate ourselves, as well as the people under our care, to deal with the disintegration of existing norms and institutions.

Because this is a virtual conference, we are able to offer participants registration at a much lower rate than previous years. We are proud to be able to make this conference so accessible.

I very much hope that you will join again us this year, and also make use of the opportunity that we have created to share your insights, lessons and concerns with both the faculty and your colleagues.

With my warm regards, Bessel A Van der Kolk. MD

PRE-CONFERENCE INSTITUTES

MAIN CONFERENCE

Thursday, May 28, 2020 Morning Workshop 10:00 am - 1:15 pm .......... Recorded Lecture

Friday, May 29, 2020

01

10:00am - 10:15am

Three Decades of Explorations in Trauma Stress: Welcome & Introduction Bessel van der Kolk, MD

10:15am - 11:15am

Biological Underpinnings of Early-Life Stress: From Mechanisms to Novel Approaches for the Developmental Programming of Lifelong Health Christine Heim, PhD & Martin H. Teicher MD, PhD

11:15am - 12:15pm

Smoking Cigarettes, Eating Glass: A Psychologist’s Memoir Annita Sawyer, PhD

12:15pm - 12:45pm

Panel Discussion & Questions Conference Faculty

12:45pm - 1:45pm

Virtual Networking Luncheon

1:45pm - 2:45pm

Plasticity of the Social Brain: How to Train Mindfulness, Compassion and Perspectives on the Self Tania Singer, PhD & Richard C. Schwartz, PhD

2:45pm - 3:15pm

Panel Discussion & Questions Conference Faculty

3:15pm - 4:15pm

The Emergence of a Polyvagal-Informed Therapy: Harnessing Neuroception of Safety in Clinical Treatment Stephen W. Porges, PhD

4:15pm - 4:30pm

Break

4:30pm - 5:30pm

Treatment at the Interface of Addiction and Trauma Taruno Steffensen, LADC, CSAT, SEP

5:30pm - 6:00pm

Panel Discussion & Questions Conference Faculty

6:00pm - 6:30pm

Virtual Networking Session

1:15 - 1:45 pm .................. Live Panel Discussion & Questions Mapping Out the Transformative Effects of Mind-Altering Substances MDMA, Ketamine, and Psilocybin for Treating PTSD and Other Mental Distress.

Michael Mithoefer, MD, Rick Doblin, PhD, Gregory Meyer, PhD, Albert Garcia-Romeu, PhD, Elias Dakwar, MD, Philip Wolfson, MD, James Hopper, PhD, Anne St. Goar, MD, Elizabeth Call, PsyD, Susan Walker, MD, Francis Guerriero, MA, LICSW, Michael Alpert, MD, & Bessel van der Kolk, MD. After an almost four-decade hiatus, the study of mind-altering substances, including MDMA (ecstasy), ketamine, psilocybin (mushrooms) and LSD is starting to resume in full force. Over the past decade, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Research (MAPS) has sponsored groundbreaking studies, including in MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, and for end-of-life anxiety. Mind-altering substances have the potential to profoundly alter perceptions of one’s relationship to past experience, as well as perspectives of the future, and to promote self-compassion and self-acceptance. Therefore, psychedelic-assisted therapy may be particularly effective for dealing with post-traumatic states of being emotionally stuck, frozen, rigid, terrified and ashamed. This workshop will focus on how we can best document and characterize both the short-term and long-term alterations in self-perception, sense of belonging, agency, self-compassion and capacity for intimacy, and how we can delineate the differential effects of various substances. We will present a wealth of case histories as well as cutting-edge scientific data about the outcome and process of mind-altering substances on mental, interpersonal and biological dimensions.

Afternoon Workshop 2:45 - 6:00 pm ................. Recorded Lecture

02

6:00 - 6:30 pm .................. Live Panel Discussion & Questions Trauma and the Restoration of the Self: Integrating Fundamental Discoveries in Neuroscience with Embodied Self-Awareness and Mindfulness Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, Sherain Haricharan, PhD, Braeden Terpou, PhD, Paul Frewen, PhD, C.Pysch, Wendy D’Andrea, PhD, Sebern Fisher, MA, BCN, Licia Sky, Bessel van der Kolk, MD In an attempt to manage the enormous distress associated with adverse childhood experiences, and traumatic stress symptoms there is an enormous risk of developing any type of addiction or substance abuse. Trying to numb intensely emotional experiences in a world that drives and promotes addiction promotes use, which then commonly evolves into abuse and, finally, addiction. Suffering from traumatic stress interferes with recovery. Addiction treatment must address the role of the addictive behavior in “numbing” traumatic arousal/activation, the origins of both in one’s traumatic past, and the reality that recovering from either requires recovering from both. This hands-on workshop will help participants experience sensory-based approaches, emotional regulation skill building, Somatic Experiencing exercises, and guided meditations as a means of the liberation from addiction and trauma – and offer the hope of recovery.

MAIN CONFERENCE

saturday, May 30th, 2020 10:00am - 11:30am

11:30am - 12:30pm

Disrupted Caregiving Relationships vs Traumatic Stress: Treatment Implications of Their Differential Effects on the Development of Self, Mind and Brain Ed Tronick, PhD & Bessel van der Kolk, MD Rhythms of Regulation: Innovative Approaches to Brain and Body During a Time of Immobilization Cathy Malchiodi, PhD & Bruce Perry, MD, PhD

12:30pm - 12:45pm

Break

12:45pm - 1:15pm

Panel Discussion & Questions Conference Faculty

1:15pm - 2:15pm

Virtual Networking Luncheon

2:15pm - 3:15pm

Eliminating Barriers to Access Healing from the Trauma of Identity-Based Social Inequalities Using a Peer Counseling (ReEvaluation Counseling) Model Barbara J. Love, PhD

2:45pm - 3:15pm

Designing Trauma-Informed Interventions for Youth at the Grassroots Level: A Practical Toolkit for Bringing Research to Practice Lou Bergholz & Maren Rojas

3:15pm - 4:15pm

Break

4:15pm - 4:30pm

Panel Discussion & Questions Conference Faculty

4:30pm - 5:00pm

Restoring the Capacity to Play by Creating Optimal Healing Environments Licia Sky & Cathy Malchiodi, PhD

5:00pm - 6:00pm

Virtual Networking Session

FACULTY

Michael D. Alpert, MD, Staff Psychiatrist, Bay Cove Mental Health Center, Boston ; MDMA Therapy team member, the Trauma Research Foundation Lou Bergholz, Founder of Edgework Consulting, has spent the last two decades working on creating trauma-informed interventions that adapt clinical practice and research to population without access to definitive clinical care, author of Vital Connections: Harnessing the Power of Relationship to Impact the Lives of Young People , and co-author of Redesigning Youth Sport: Change the Game .

Elizabeth Call, PsyD, Psychologist in private practice. Therapy team member, MDMA study, the Trauma Research Foundation Wendy DʼAndrea, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology, The New School for Social Research in New York, NY. Her research focuses on physiological manifestations and consequences of complex trauma.

Elias Dakwar, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Principal investigator on several studies evaluating opioid, cannabis, or cocaine use disorders.

K23 award recipient from NIDA for clinical and laboratory investigations of ketamine infusions combined with mindfulness training to treat drug abuse.

Rick Doblin, PhD, Executive Director, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Chair of the Board of Directors MAPS Public Benefit Corporation Sebern Fisher, MA, BCN, Psychotherapist and neurofeedback consultant, Northampton, Massachusetts, Author, Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: Calming the FearDriven Brain.

Paul A. Frewen, PhD, C.Psych, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Western Ontario; Chair, Traumatic Stress Section, Canadian Psychological Association; Co-author, Healing the Traumatized Self: Consciousness, Neuroscience & Treatment.

Albert Garcia-Romeu, PhD, Member, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences faculty, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Guest Researcher, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Neuroimaging Research Branch. His research focuses on clinical applications of psychedelics, mindfulness and altered states of consciousness and their underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Francis Guerriero, MA, LICSW, Private practice, Cambridge, MA; MDMA Therapy team member, The Trauma Research Foundation.

Sherain Haricharan, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University under the supervision of Margaret McKinnon, PhD. Specializes in sensory processing deficits in trauma-related disorders.

Christine Heim, PhD, Director of the Institute of Medical Psychology at Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany, & Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Pennsylvania State. She integrates psychological, neuroendocrine, immunological, neural and molecular measures to identify the mechanisms that underlie biological embedding of early-life stress. Recipient 2007 Curt P. Richter Award, International Society for Psychoneuro endocrinology, & the 2015 Patricia Barchas Award in Sociophysiology of the American Psychosomatic Society.

James W. Hopper, PhD, Independent consultant and Instructor in Psychology, Cambridge Health Alliance & Harvard Medical School. Co-editor, Mindfulness-oriented interventions for trauma: Integrating contemplative practices. The MDMA Team, Trauma Research Foundation.

Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario; Canada, co-editor, The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic & Healing the Traumatized Self: Consciousness, Neuroscience & Treatment .

Barbara Love, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Social Justice Education, College of Education, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Reference Person and leader for the Black Liberation and Community Development Project of the ReEvaluation Counseling Communities. Recently led delegations to the UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change in Paris and Morocco, and to the San Francisco and New York City Climate Summit.

MAIN CONFERENCE

FACULTY

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, REAT, psychologist and expressive arts therapist, founder and director of the Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute. She writes the Arts and Health column for Psychology Today Online, with a following of 4.8 million readers. Author of Handbook of Art Therapy, Expressive Therapies, and Art Therapy Sourcebook.

Ed Tronick, PhD, University Distinguished Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston; InfantParent Mental Health Program; Department of Newborn Medicine, Harvard Medical School, author, The Neurobehavioral and Social Emotional Development of Infants and Children and The Power of Discord.

Gregory J. Meyer, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of Toledo; co-author, Rorschach Performance Assessment System (RPAS), and co-editor of the casebook, Using the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS).

Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, BUSM; President, Trauma Research Foundation; Past President, ISTSS; Author, NYT Science best seller The Body keeps the score: Brain, Mind and Body in healing from Trauma, translated into 31 languages.

Michael Mithoefer, MD, Clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina. In 2009 he has completed the first FDA approved clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant PTSD and is conducting a second study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in military veterans, firefighters and police officers with PTSD.

Susan Walker, MD, Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Cambridge Health Alliance. MDMA Therapy Team Member, the Trauma Research Foundation

Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, Senior fellow, The Child Trauma Academy; adjunct professor, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; senior fellow, Berry Street Childhood Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Coauthor (with Maia Szalavitz), The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential.

Phil Wolfson, MD, Creator of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. He has been the Principal Investigator of the recently completed MAPS.org study of MDMA treatment for individuals with a life-threatening illness. Founding member of Heffter Research Institute. Author, The Ketamine Papers and Noe – A Father/Son Song of Love, Life, Illness and Death.

Stephen Porges PhD, Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University; director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. Past president Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences. Author: The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation ; coeditor Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies.

Maren Rojas, Partner at Edgework Consulting. Expert in trauma-informed programming and design. Has worked with organizations using sport and recreation for healing from Iraq to Rwanda to Newton, CT. Annita P Sawyer, PhD, Yale clinical faculty, psychologist in practice for almost forty years; author of the prize winning memoir, Smoking Cigarettes; Eating Glass. She seeks to diminish the stigma of mental illness by speaking to clinical audiences around the country, using herself as a case study.

CONTINUING EDUCATION All sessions include Continuing Education hours. Credit requirements and approvals vary per state board regulations. Please save the course outline, the certificate of completion you receive from the activity and contact your state board or organization to determine specific filing requirements.

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, F ounder of the Center for Self-Leadership; faculty Harvard medical school; Author: You Are The One YouĘźve Been Waiting For; Internal Family Systems Therapy; Introduction to the Internal Family Systems Model; and The Mosaic Mind; and Metaframeworks.

Tania Singer, PhD, Scientific head of the Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany.

Her research focus is on the hormonal, neuronal, and developmental basis of human sociality, empathy and compassion, and their malleability through mental training. She is the principal investigator of a large-scale, nine-month longitudinal meditation based mental training study, The ReSource Project, and investigates together with Dennis Snower how psychology can inform new models of Caring Economics.

Licia Sky, COO, Trauma Research Foundation, is a somatic educator, bodyworker, artist, and musician.

She guides transformational experiences for safety, attunement, community building, and selfconnection in the healing of trauma.

Anne St. Goar, MD, Primary Care Physician at HVMA, emeritus, Certified Psychedelic Therapist; Boston MDMA Therapy team member with the Trauma Research Foundation.

Taruno Steffensen, LADC, CSAT, SEP, Certified Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor, in private practice specializing in addiction and trauma.

Martin H. Teicher, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Director of the Developmental Biopsychiatry Research Program and Laboratory of Developmental Psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital. His research studies range from inquiries into the molecular mechanisms of brain development to brain-imaging studies of the effects of childhood maltreatment on brain development.

Braeden Terpou, PhD, Post-doc University of Western Ontario, with Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD. Specializes in neurobiological underpinnings of brainstem responses & their effects on higher cognitive functioning in trauma-related disorders.

The conference will be available on demand for 30 days.

CO VIRT NF UA ER L EN CE !

Trauma Research Foundation

Psychological Trauma in the Age of Coronavirus traumaresearchfoundation.org