Posts
Walking the scientific tightrope
10/25/2012
A new article on the Huffington Post by Saybrook President Mark Schulman looks at new studies showing the efficacy of acupuncture - and asks why there was such hostility among mainstream medicine to even conducting such experiments.
The problem, Schulman says, is that a legitimate demand for rigorous proof is often taken to the next step - hostility towards anything that doesn't fit our dominant paradigm about what is and isn't legitimate, even when experiments are conducted rigorously.
"This is a problem the scholars at Saybrook University know well," Shulman writes:
It’s Easier for Families to Make Money Than it is to Keep it
09/27/2012
Many families earn money through businesses and even get rich – but it generally doesn’t last. Only a third of family businesses survive being transferred from one generation to another: less than 10 percent survive a second generational transition.
By contrast, a new report by Saybrook University faculty member Dennis Jaffe indicates that the most successful multi-generational families in the world also follow best practices on wealth management, the maintenance of personal relationships, and the development of a next-generation of leaders.
“What does America want an education to do?”
09/24/2012
The real crisis in American education has nothing to do with test scores: it is the fact that America has no clear sense of what “an education” ought to accomplish.
That’s according to Mark Schulman, a noted expert on progressive education. Schulman is the President o fSaybrook University in San Francisco and the past president of Goddard College in Vermont and Antioch University Southern California, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.
“(L)et’s say the reformers get what they want,” Schulman wrote in a recent column on the Huffington Post. “Even if we get test scores to go up, are we any closer to where we want to be? And where is that exactly?”
How Muslim Youth Use the Internet
09/12/2012
A new study shows that freedom of expression online is compatible with Islam – or at least that’s what Muslim teenagers think.
Benina Gould, a faculty member at Saybrook University, recently completed a study of the internet habits of Muslim youth in Indonesia – the world’s largest Muslim country. The study includes both “conservative” Muslims who would be described as “fundamentalists” in the West, and “modern” Muslim teenagers, who would be described as “progressive.” It’s published in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences vol 29, Spring 2012 number 2.
Students surveyed were from 16-19 years old and attended three private pesantrens (Islamic boarding schools), three Islamic madrasahs and one secular school.
Kirk Schneider to Give Keynote Address at Conference on Existential Psychology in Eastern Europe
09/11/2012
Saybrook University alumnus and faculty member Kirk Schneider’s place as a leading voice in existential psychology has been affirmed repeatedly by American academic organizations including the American Psychological Association.
This month, as he delivers the keynote address to the 7th annual conference of the East European Association for Existential Therapy, Schneider will receive international recognition as well.
Saybrook University Makes Strong Showing at APA Conference
08/21/2012
Despite its small size, Saybrook University made an outsize impression though faculty, student and alumni research at the American Psychological Association conference.
The 120th annual conference, held from August 2nd to 5th, in Orlando, Fla., featured internationally known presenters on topics and research currently attracting attention in the field, covering issues such as immigration, racism, eating disorders, clinical practice, social networking and psychotherapy.
Saybrook faculty, alumni, and students presented on such wide-ranging topics as the practice of existential psychology there, the future of positive psychology, the basics of hypnosis and self-hypnosis and how the creative process can promote healing and growth.
“Rethinking Madness”: Saybrook Alumni's New Book Presents Strong Evidence That Schizophrenia and Psychosis Are Best Treated Through Therapy
08/08/2012
Americans suffering from schizophrenia and psychosis have among the lowest rates of recovery in the world. American medicine also emphasizes medication for these conditions more than most.
Is that a coincidence?
A new book by Saybrook psychology alumnus Paris Williams presents compelling evidence that many mental illnesses we have come to regard as biological problems – brain chemistry gone awry – are in fact psychological issues: desperate attempts by the psyche to preserve a sense of identity or convey crucial messages.
Saybrook University Faculty Take Leading Roles in APA
07/02/2012
The American Psychological Association (APA) has elected Saybrook University faculty member Dr. Steven Pritzker president-elect of Division 10: the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.
Saybrook University President Mark Schulman encourages universities to join Saybrook's stand and demand DSM-5 changes be reconsidered
06/27/2012
Saybrook University president Mark Schulman says the evidence is clear: psychology and psychiatry’s over reliance on drugs as a form of treatment is tantamount to malpractice.
Writing on the Huffington Post, Schulman says colleges that teach psychology must rise to the challenge, making sure their students are as familiar with the techniques of talk therapy – and the importance of communicating with patients – as they with are neurotransmitters and brain physiology.
The one thing everyone arguing about parapsychology can agree on is – they admire Stanley Krippner
04/26/2012
This week Village Voice Media put on the front page what everyone who’s been seriously engaged in the academic study – and debunking – of parapsychology has known: Saybrook University professor Stanley Krippner stands out as the Grand Old Man of the field.
