3: Coping with Symptoms
A joint session was held on June 26, 2008 by Buddy Garfinkle, MSW and Dr. John Fossella. The powerpoint slide presentations for part 1 and part 2 can be viewed or downloaded. In this session we reviewed a variety of approaches used to manage symptoms and facilitate recovery. We took a closer look at positive symptoms and reviewed a paper on the normal biology of the auditory cortex and auditory hallucinations. We played some "attention games" in order to better appreciate how the human attention system has limited capacity and can be trained to selectively focus on particular aspects of our outer and inner experience. Lastly, we reviewed a few papers (see "Attentional control of the processing of neutral and emotional stimuli" by Leslie Underleider's lab at NIMH) that show how selective attention can modulate brain activity and discussed the possible relevance of these findings to psychiatric rehabilitation.
Comments, suggestions and questions are most welcome !
Bridgeway Rehabilitative Services sponsors this discussion in a continuing education effort and ongoing program to remove stigma from mental illness. We are grateful for support from The Center for the Study and Promotion of Recovery from Severe Mental Illness and the Merck Company Foundation.