We may all experience feelings of stress, pain and even fear at various times in our lives. The memories of these feelings can remain disturbing over time, despite our attempts to change them through distraction, meditation, spirituality or even psychotherapy. A major life challenge is to be able to process memories of trauma experiences into resilience, compassion and wisdom.
The current treatment paradigm for trauma-focused therapies assumes that conscious exposure to the memory, even if titrated in small doses, is necessary.
While effective, such exposure therapy can be distressing, which creates problems with treatment acceptance and has potential for retraumatization. Can exposure be effectively delivered unconsciously—and thus without causing traumatized or phobic people to experience distress?
In this 90-minute presentation, neuroscientists and psychotherapists studying and treating psychological trauma, PTSD and phobias will discuss a NEW PARADIGM for understanding the nature of trauma and its healing, with presentations on Very Brief Exposure and the Flash Technique, shedding additional light on consciousness and resilience.
At the end of the program, interested registrants will be directed to a website for a free 45-minute "practicum" in which they can personally (and privately) experience the Flash Technique.
Welcome and Introduction:
David Bullard, PhD
UCSF Clinical Professor of Medicine - Volunteer and Clinical Professor – Volunteer, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences. Mentor, Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research, California Institute of Integral Studies. President-Elect, San Francisco Psychological Association
Presenters:
Paul Siegel, PhD – Associate Professor SUNY, Purchase and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, USC, on his research published in Biological Psychiatry (in press, 2022), Behaviour Research and Therapy (2021), Lancet: Psychiatry (2020), Human Brain Mapping (2017), Psychophysiology (2017), etc. on “Very Brief Exposure”....fMRI studies showing greater reduction of fear from subliminal flashing of a photo of a tarantula than from exposure to a "recognizable" photo. Collaborator with Dr. Siegel is Bradley S. Peterson, MD at USC (Chief, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Keck School of Medicine of USC; Vice Chair for Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC).
Paul Siegel, PhD: "My translational research program is testing a clinical implication of emotional neuroscience, which has shown that fear responses can be activated and acquired without conscious awareness. Very brief exposure (VBE) is the presentation of a continuous series of masked – unrecognizable - phobic images to reduce fear. A series of experiments conducted in my lab have shown that VBE reduces avoidance and experienced fear of a live tarantula by spider-phobic participants without causing them to experience fear consciously. A recent study found that VBE has similar fear-reducing effects on highly socially anxious persons. These findings challenge the prevailing clinical belief that a person must directly confront a feared object or situation in order to reduce fear of it.
“With the support of an R21 Research Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, I am conducting fMRI studies of the neurobiological basis of VBE. My collaborator on this research is Dr. Bradley Peterson, Director of the Institute for the Developing Mind, and Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California.”
Recent article:
Siegel, P., Cohen, B., Warren, R. (2021). Nothing to fear but fear itself: A mechanistic test of unconscious exposure. Biological Psychiatry, Archival Report Vol 91 Issue 3, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.022
Phil Manfield, PhD – EMDRIA-Approved EMDR Training Provider and Consultant
Developer of the Flash Technique, a non-exposure-based scalable, low-intensity treatment in which over 9,000 EMDR therapists have been trained, with 8 peer-reviewed articles to date.
In contrast to other psychological treatments for trauma (such as EMDR, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, Trauma Focused-CBT, Somatic Experiencing, Emotional Freedom Technique, etc.) the Flash Technique INVOLVES LITTLE TO NO CONSCIOUS EXPOSURE to traumatic or disturbing memories. This paradigm shift reduces the risk of re-traumatization to nearly zero.
Dr. Manfield has been licensed as a marriage and family therapist since 1975. He has authored or edited five books about psychotherapy and the use of EMDR. An international trainer, he has taught in the US, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. In January, 2001, he was honored to be featured in the book, “3 Minute Consultations with America’s Greatest Psychotherapists.” (Jason Aronson, Publishers) He is currently Northern California Regional Coordinator for the EMDR International Association. Recent article:
Manfield, P., Engel, L., Greenwald, R., & Bullard, D. (May, 2021). Flash Technique in a scalable low-intensity group intervention for COVID-19-related stress in healthcare providers. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research Vol 15 Issue 2, DOI: 10.1891/EMDR-D-20-00053
Shira Maguin, PhD – UCSF Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences. Mental Health Director of the Post-9/11 Integrated Care Clinic and Staff Psychologist on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team (PCT), San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS). Member, Creating Options for Veterans’ Expedited Recovery (COVER).
Dr. Maguen will discuss her research on PTSD evidence-based psychotherapy and moral injury in Veterans. Dr. Maguen was the recipient of a DOD grant that examined rates of evidence-based psychotherapy as well as a VA Health Services Research and Development Grant that examined the impact of killing in veterans of war and moral injury. She is currently conducting a multi-site trial examining a novel treatment for veterans who have killed in war. Recent articles:
Maguen, S., Holder, N., Madden, E., Li, Y., Seal, K. H., Neylan, T. C., Lujan, C., Patterson, O. V., DuVall, S. L., & Shiner, B. (2020). Evidence-based psychotherapy trends among posttraumatic stress disorder patients in a national healthcare system, 2001-2014. Depression and anxiety, 37(4), 356–364. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22983
Maguen S, Madden E, Holder N, Li Y, Seal KH, Neylan TC, Lujan C, Patterson OV, DuVall SL, Shiner B.(2021). Effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of evidence-based psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder in clinical practice. Psychol Med. 2021 May 18:1-10. doi: 10.1017/S0033291721001628. Online ahead of print.PMID: 34001290
Maguen S, Holder N, Li Y, Madden E, Neylan TC, Seal KH, Lujan C, Patterson OV, DuVall SL, Shiner B. (2020). Factors associated with PTSD symptom improvement among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans receiving evidenced-based psychotherapy. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2020 Aug 1;273:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.04.039. Epub 2020 May 1.PMID: 32421589
Maguen, S., Nichter, B., Norman, S.B., Pietrzak, R.H. (2021).
Moral injury and substance use disorders among US combat veterans: results from the 2019–2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Psychological Medicine. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291721002919
Discussants
Sarah Metz, PsyD
UCSF Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences. Director, Division of Trauma Recovery Services and Chief Psychologist, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
Pratik Mukerjee, MD, PhD
UCSF Professor, Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Bioengineering. Director, UCSF Neural Connectivity Laboratory (NCL) and Attending Neuroradiologist. Director, Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disease (CIND) San Francisco VA Medical Center.
George Silberschatz, PhD
UCSF Clinical Professor - Volunteer, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences. President, San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group. Past President, North American chapter and Past President, International Society for Psychotherapy Research
Sponsor:
UCSF Weill Institute for Neuroscience
Co-sponsors:
UCSF Center to Advance Trauma-informed Health Care
UCSF Division of Palliative Medicine
UCSF Psycho-Oncology, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
UCSF Spiritual Care Services, UCSF Health
Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research
California Institute of Integral Studies
San Francisco Psychological Association
San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group
TibetHouseUS (NYC)
Bayview Zendo (San Rafael)
KUNDE Institute: Center for Tibetan Wellness and Healing (Daly City; Berkeley)