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Scholarship winner proves #ChangingLivesMatter

6 March 2018
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Lucinda Rost, the owner and sole proprietor of Unique Body Balance in Sierra Vista, Arizona, consistently passes on one piece of advice when she speaks at a commencement: “Once a student, always a teacher.” And this Saybrook student and winner of an American College of Nutrition scholarship wants to teach others to improve their mind-body medicine knowledge.

When the American College of Nutrition offered a scholarship contest for aspiring professionals interested in an aspect of nutrition science, a faculty member had Lucinda Rost in mind. Lucinda Rost—who earned a master’s in integrative oncology and is currently working on her Ph.D. from Saybrook in Mind Body Medicine—jumped at the chance to enter and found out she won in September. She was also a first-time attendee of ACN’s 58th Annual Conference from November 8-10 at The Westin Alexandria.

Lucinda Rost

“The conference was reinforcement of the base knowledge that I have had through both experiential and academic learning,” Rost says. “I’ve been to many conferences, and I really have to say the ACN one was the best I’ve ever attended—extremely educated speakers and vendors, user friendly presentations, well-organized, and top-notch students. I’m kind of an ACN groupie now.”
As the recipient of the Community Outreach and Education Scholarship, Rost was required to create a demonstration showcasing her initiative, leadership, and organizational skills through a community outreach or educational event on the topic of nutrition within the past 12 months.

“I was very fortunate with this option because I had already been presenting different briefings to my community. My demonstration focused on the connection between nutrition and cancer. As a cancer thriver since 2012, nutrition was my very first step in the process of healing. I researched information about how nutrition affects and can better improve my body, and how I could achieve body balance.”

Rost has also done presentations on mind body medicine for communities and focus groups.

“I like to serve those who serve,” Rost says. “I highlight various organizations in the community. The Sierra Women’s Club was the organization I featured in one of my quarterly newsletters. For that newspaper, the topics are about women’s health and overall nutrition. Sierra Women’s Club has business and community leaders of diverse interests, talents, and backgrounds all united with a dedication to community improvement through volunteer service. I used my newsletter and community project with the Sierra Women’s Club for my ACN scholarship submission.”

Every month, the group members meet to discuss stress, energy, medicine, and balancing their busy lives through prepared presentations. They also spread the word about educational courses in the surrounding areas.

Rost’s company Unique Body Balance, an alternative and holistic health service organization, also brands her company’s motto by using the hashtag #ChangingLivesMatter.

“It’s all about helping individuals readjust patterns that are not working for them,” Rost says. “From nutritional wellness, they get to learn to eat better and make better choices. I’ve got a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner who also does energy work for my clients that can’t walk very well. By the time they’re done with her, they’re walking and happy. We’re changing lives. Not only do we see it in our clients, but I see it in my practitioners as well. It reaffirms the value of what they do.”

Although her clients are usually adults who may or may not be cancer survivors, she is also interested in working with other groups who are interested in mind-body medicine. Next up on her to-do list is sponsoring a Girl Scout troop.

“They get to learn about Nutrition 101,” Rost says. “I make it fun for these young girls who are also helping their community. I’m always looking for groups that are already serving those in their communities. If I can drop that little pebble in the pond and let it grow, I can reach out to groups that are already reaching out to their own communities. These efforts will then multiply and hopefully benefit across the world. We continue our hope in knowing that changing lives matter.”

My Journey Into Mindfulness

20 February 2018
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Over the last few years, the theory and practice of mindfulness has been catching on with individuals and has increasingly worked its way into greater consciousness across various sectors from telecommunications to technology and from healthcare to higher education.

My own journey into mindfulness as well as meditation began when I arrived at Saybrook University in 2014. Initially a skeptic (some would say due to my “Midwestern sensibilities”), I at first struggled to understand the benefits of mind-body practices that seemed grounded in more California/West Coast “woo.” However, I eventually found myself on a journey seeking greater exposure to the science of mindfulness, along with deeper immersion into its practice..

Dr. Nathan Long

As a result, I have found a renewed way of being in the world that permeates my personal and professional life. The journey is far from complete but one that I have found has had tremendous benefits. Moreover, I have discovered what many alumni, students, and faculty alike attest: Saybrook has transformed them from the inside out.
Here is the story of my journey into mindfulness.

The journey begins: A transformative moment

My memory remains somewhat fuzzy about my early days at Saybrook. There was little time for reflection on what could only be described as both an exciting and chaotic time personally and professionally. We had just moved from our Front Street location in San Francisco to the Downtown Oakland City Center campus.

While I was getting up to speed on the institution, Saybrook had recently partnered with The Community Solution Education System. Our partnership necessitated the integration of various systems, in addition to numerous policy and procedural revisions. My calendar soon filled up with myriad other events, including several different residential conference experiences; an accreditor site visit; travels to our Seattle campus; and meetings with community members, faculty, staff, alumni, and students. All of this was exciting, and in general, par for the course for university presidents. Having served in such a position for four years previously, I felt prepared to handle the rigors of the job.

Still, there was a looming sense of unsettledness. My family was several thousand miles away. My kids had to leave their beloved schools. My wife was in the throes of a final professional theatre gig, faced with the prospect of restarting her acting career on the West Coast. Life was happening at a pace I had not quite anticipated.

Sometime in mid- to-late August, a seed was planted. I attended several sessions at the various Saybrook residential conferences. Making my way to the School of Mind-Body Medicine conference in Seattle, I attended a session in which Dr. Luann Fortune began with a moment of mindfulness. The sound emanating from her Tibetan singing bowl resonated throughout the room, calling each of us to focus our attention. From there, we went through a mindfulness exercise. I can’t remember precisely what the exercise entailed, but the intention was clear: try to be in the moment–this moment–be present.

The sound emanating from her Tibetan singing bowl resonated throughout the room, calling each of us to focus our attention.

Such a request was initially jarring yet immediately eye-opening. In just a few short weeks since starting the role, I found this one moment incredibly clarifying. Fidgeting, uncomfortable, I realized I had not been present at all. Instead my mind was jumping from one thing to the next, ignoring each request to be present with thoughts of my ever-growing to-do list.

Later during the conference, she and Dr. Rockefeller both mentioned the importance of ritual as a mechanism to establish even greater awareness, being more present in the here and now. Such rituals could serve as anchors. Again, for me this seemed all well and good. But life was happening, and work had to be done.

Despite what seemed like annoyed interest, I was intrigued enough, writing both of these ideas down in my journal chronicling events of those early days. Tucked away into my rolling backpack, these ideas would eventually resurface, offering the opportunity for personal and professional growth.

The path toward mindfulness: Personal rituals and mission

By the time the holidays rolled around in 2014, I realized I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Looking back on the previous 4.5 months, we were joyful about accomplishing so much personally and professionally. We had made the move across the country without losing each other or a single part of our dish collection. Our kids were enrolled in school, having made the transition without too much trouble and even making a few friends in short time. We had also wrapped up the initial phase of our strategic planning process with well over 100 hours of interviews and focus groups. The process was neither easy nor a slam dunk as far as processes go, but the university was positioning itself for a turnaround.

Concurrently, I was reading articles online about the importance of crafting a personal mission statement as a device to remaining centered.

Over the next two weeks, I unplugged from work with the hope of rebalancing in preparation for what I knew would be a difficult year ahead. In between time with the family, I began reflecting on my notes from the previous semester. I came across the two concepts of mindfulness and ritual. Concurrently, I was reading articles online about the importance of crafting a personal mission statement as a device to remaining centered. The mindfulness piece was a bit much, I thought. Still, in the interest of self-improvement, I decided to take some time to develop a personal mission and rituals, which ideally might ground me a bit more. I took to the task and found it immensely clarifying, even satisfying. These rituals and development of a personal mission provided me anchors, as Dr. Fortune had noted in her presentation. These anchors would be critical during a time of immense change.

The creation of rituals came first. Guiding questions informed my process: What did I need to do to center myself? What was needed for me to connect to my family given the pace of the job? How could I more effectively manage my daily workload? How could I ensure space in my day for the things that would help me grow intellectually, creatively, and professionally? In those early days, I created three rituals, which remain to this day though each has been modified over the last few years, conforming to my personal evolution.

How could I ensure space in my day for the things that would help me grow intellectually, creatively, and professionally?

My morning ritual consisted of working out, journal writing, reading while drinking coffee, and making connections with my wife and kids before the day began. This simple ritual was a crucial stabilizing force in my day. Working out, reflecting on the previous day, taking time to read the latest news, drinking my coffee out of my favorite mug, and making time to connect with the family were actions that helped me feel better about my world and the world around me.

The second daily ritual I created centered on professional, routine activities: daily emails, engaging on social media, and connecting with the Saybrook team. Email has become―for good or ill―the instrument of choice where communication is concerned. Given Saybrook’s largely virtual place in the world, I found myself becoming increasingly anxious looking at my inbox expand to three and four times the size of what I was used to managing. Thus, ritualizing the practice of email enabled me to address that anxiety head-on, ensuring that dedicated time was planned for this important communication. Creating space and time for social media and connection with the team also helped prioritize my time and the people critical to our success.

My last ritual of the day focused on personal enrichment and family time. Particularly, this ritual involved making dinner/spending time with family, reading, and engaging in creative endeavors (e.g. music and poetry). This ritual often was, and continues to be, the most difficult to achieve due to time demands from my position, my wife’s acting career, and our kids’ activities. Nevertheless, clearly stating the intention improved my attentiveness to making the time for myself and my family.

I agreed with the idea that if organizations require missions that guide their work, individuals should too.

The development of a personal mission came soon after. I agreed with the idea that if organizations require missions that guide their work, individuals should too. I commenced drafting my personal statement with the following questions in mind: What do I expect from myself? What personal attributes matter most to me? What do I aspire to become as a person, husband, father, and leader? Why? At last, I landed on the following, which has undergone some minor revisions over the years for clarity:

To achieve my fullest human potential, I will live my life each and every day with consistent, determined focus; boundless love, unyielding compassion, and deep sincerity; impeccable integrity, holding myself and others accountable to the highest personal and professional standards; dedication to balanced, healthy living that prioritizes self- and family care; and immersion in intellectual and creative pursuits that add more beauty, joy, and truth to this amazing, chaotic world.

A moment of clarity and the path toward sustained mindfulness meditation

After a few months of practicing these rituals and putting into practice my personal mission, I was talking with a colleague about how impactful these had been for me. Admittedly, I still felt un-centered at times, occasionally (or perhaps more often than not) allowing my calendar to overrun my rituals. I also remarked that while the whole mindfulness piece didn’t make sense to me, this approach did and it was making a difference albeit in fits and starts.

My colleague laughed, and then made the point that I was in fact engaging in a form of mindfulness practice through the implementation of these rituals. Mindfulness as a practice, I was reminded, is being present in the moment and making space for being present. Still, my colleague noted, there is the ability to go further, leveraging the benefits of mindfulness meditation in combination with my daily rituals as an opportunity for deeper emotional and physical growth.

I admit I felt a bit ridiculous at the obviousness of it all. But then, I was new to all of this and was thrust into being reminded that I didn’t know what I thought I knew. I then began reading and inquiring more about mindfulness meditation as a practice (my first book was by Dr. Ian Gawler and Paul Bedson titled “Meditation: An In-Depth Guide”). I started trying several techniques, downloaded several meditation apps, all-the-while learning from others about their own mindfulness journey. Over the span of a year and a half, I moved from sporadic mindfulness meditation to incorporating the practice as part of my daily morning ritual. I went in gently with no prescribed amount of time. Even if I spent five minutes, I found the time was incredibly valuable for its effects on my emotional well-being.

A brief view inside my approach

I have created an approach or practice that works for me. Each person’s approach to mindfulness meditation is unique, while certain techniques are fairly common. In addition to my own mantras, I use the aid of an iPhone app called Calm. Each day, the app updates with a “Daily Calm,” usually a 10-minute meditation that typically starts with about seven to eight minutes of breathing and then two minutes of observations from the narrator. Coming out of the practice, there are usually a few moments where I sit in silence, focusing on the breath with the goal of being as present as possible, allowing the flurry of thoughts to pass without judging those thoughts or engaging them. I merely observe them.

Specifically, the meditations emphasize two important aspects of being present: the breath and “calming” that flurry of thoughts that the mind produces (both intended and unintended). What I have learned in this process is that by recognizing and observing these thoughts, I am able to mentally create the conditions for quieting my mind more effectively, bringing my attention back to the present. The focal point or anchor for the “present” in most of my practice is the breath. Ultimately, the results are both powerful and ongoing.

Observed results and the next part of the journey

By actively being present, I have observed several noticeable results, including but not limited to slowing down my words and actions, being more deliberative in decision-making, letting go of past mistakes, focusing more intently on present interactions with family members and colleagues, and being more at peace with who I am.

There are moments when I find that my thoughts begin spinning, sometimes wildly, in directions I cannot explain

I have also been able to take this practice with me into my day. There are moments when I find that my thoughts begin spinning, sometimes wildly, in directions I cannot explain. Many people experience this as the brain produces mental images and thoughts that can be welcome but sometimes, like that iconic uncle who spouts off unwelcomed views about religion or politics at Thanksgiving, random thoughts enter uninvited.

When this happens, the work I have done thus far has enabled me to implement a technique called S.T.O.P. Various versions of this exist. My mnemonic is similar and stands for Stop (what I’m doing); Take a breath; Observe my thoughts (and then let them go); and Proceed with my day. This technique has enabled me to be less reactive to events―especially those out of my control or that just pop into my brain―and instead help me become more centered, more present, and allowing for increased ability to manage whatever is at hand.

The next part of my mindfulness-meditation journey is to expand these concepts more deeply into my leadership. As mentioned in the introduction, mindfulness (and meditation) practice is no longer a fringe technique. Incorporating mindfulness more authentically and deliberately into my work as president of Saybrook University has the potential for additional grounding in the humanistic values that make us who we are as an institution.

My hope is that my continuously evolving mindfulness practice coupled with a stronger connection to my personal mission will lead to further blossoming spirit of collaboration, innovation, and transparency in all that I do, while helping advance our fine institution forward to its next stage as a progressive institution of higher learning. The aforementioned are lofty aspirations, but in my view worthy ones for which to strive.

Transformation from the inside-out

Many of our students and faculty say that Saybrook University has transformed them from the inside-out. Indeed, like my fellow university travelers, Saybrook has had this effect on me. From that series of interactions in 2014 to today, I am a different―hopefully better―person, better father and husband, and better leader. I also know I have much to learn and even more personal-professional work to do in becoming the best version of myself. Indeed, the present-day results of my rituals and mindfulness meditation practice on who I am are not fixed or static. With each day, I discover more about me, about who I am and how I can become better with each practice, with each breath. And for me this is one key part of what being humanistic is all about: enabling each individual to achieve her or his greatest potential.

The journey has been and continues to be amazing.

Mindful Technology

16 February 2018
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This simple question can be a challenging one for young girls and grown women to answer: “How do you want your pretty?”

Julia Garcia, a Saybrook University student studying for a Ph.D. in Psychology: Existential, Humanistic, and Transpersonal Psychology Specialization, wants to make that a little easier with the creation of her mobile app KYA, where girls can describe their pretty with empowering words like “pretty powerful” and “pretty talented.”

Julia Garcia

“I interviewed thousands of girls before we started building the app,” Garcia says. “And the unanimous feedback I received was surprising. It literally made me emotional just to hear it. I was surprised and disappointed that I was surprised. They were saying they wanted to hear from strong women. When women share their stories, it resonated with them. It also reminds them of their mom or their sister or somebody who they wanted to build a better relationship with but maybe haven’t.”
Garcia has noticed a pattern of people wondering why she focuses on teen girls specifically.

“I’m told that teen girls are such a touchy demographic,” Garcia says. “And there are so many risks in talking about their feelings. I tell adults who ask me this: ‘What happens if we just keep taking that stance and we don’t intervene because it’s muddy, complicated, there’s puberty involved, and lower self-esteem is more likely? If we just continue to not address all of these things because it is complicated and it could be risky, they’re forced to figure it out in a digital world.”

For Garcia, this is personal. Her own struggles with depression, body image, and excessive partying almost made her lose her college athletic scholarship. She also admits that she wishes she had an outlet, in human and even technological form, that would’ve guided her in the right direction.

But the link from the digital world to the real world can be a complicated process. An increase in suicide rates among U.S. teens occurred at the same time social media use surged, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cyberbullying and the depiction of a perfect life are two reasons why social media is taking a hit on teens’ mental health.

But it’s not just teens who are being affected. According to Garcia, the jealousy and comparisons were going on long before social media came around and with an older audience.

“The comparison game is nothing new for young girls and women,” Julia Garcia says.

“The comparison game is nothing new for young girls and women,” Garcia says. “It’s just now channeled through a different device. We saw the comparison games in the ‘90s with magazines, right? And even before that TV ads. A collection of all of those, which we call Fake Highlight Reels, project a lot of the good times and maybe hide some of the other stuff for fear of not being like others. However, technology can also be a source of good. I wish there was more focusing on the positives it can have and how we can curate it to expand upon these.”

Finding mindfulness through technology

A casual browse through the Google Play Store will quickly prove Garcia’s point about the positive aspects of technology, in the form of apps such as Aura; Calm; Headspace; Moodnotes; Omvana; Stop, Breathe & Think, to name a few.

In a recent Huffington Post article, the writer declared: “The real problem behind our stress is not the fact that we are surrounded by technology, rather the way we make use of it.”

“I think people are starting—and different industries are trying—to optimize technology in their fields to help humanity in a sense,” Garcia says. “And I think that the more creative and clever we are, the more options we can provide as part of a solution.

“The mindfulness apps, the meditation apps, the breathing and anxiety apps, the blood pressure apps, and even the menstrual cycle apps are giving smartphone users the ability to be ‘in the moment.’ Technology is able to do is make us feel less alone. It won’t resolve all solutions for anxiety. However, the better prepared we are with facing adversity, challenges and trauma, and mental health issues, the better we are as a whole.”

Not losing the human element in technology

“There’s no reason social media’s face should be designed without a behavioral specialist,” Garcia says.

 Although users of The KYA app will perform quite a bit of their work using the app, Garcia is adamant about how necessary the human element is.

“Our app is only given to people who have first had a face-to-face interaction with us,” Garcia says. “We onboard in person because I believe in creating a culture of a safe community. We are the first app to make sure there’s a face-to-face, human interaction before we send them into cyberspace. The top priority should not just be the advancement of education, health care, and all of the amazing things technology does, Let’s make sure it’s safe.

“I also believe that when these apps are created in these online communities that they prioritize and have expert psychologists and social health behavioral experts who are actually part of the design process so that we don’t leave out the human in our digital world. From a systematic approach, I think social and emotional health experts should be designing these systems we engage on with the developers and the designers. There’s no reason social media’s face should be designed without a behavioral specialist.”

In a world with the first robot lawyer, self-service library checkout machines, pharmacy machines, and self-driving cars, it may be more difficult to convince some that we still need that human element in order to interact in everyday life. For some, it’s a matter of not becoming totally socially awkward when around other human beings. For others, it’s the intensity of losing their jobs.

However, just as Garcia insists on the human element of her own apps, so far, soft skills are still something that will always be appreciated in a technical world. Social intelligence, social cognition, mentorships, collaborations, and conflict resolution are but a few factors that technology can’t master. It’s a human thing, they wouldn’t understand.

To learn more about Saybrook’s Ph.D. in Psychology: Existential, Humanistic, and Transpersonal Psychology Specialization, visit here.

Our Silenced Soldiers

16 February 2018
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Every morning, one U.S. Army drill sergeant would come into the women’s barracks and say it smelled like rotting sea bass. That same drill sergeant saw Monisha Rios (now a Saybrook student currently pursuing a degree in Transformative Social Change and a public speaker) instructing a male soldier on how to properly fill out his laundry slip and accused her of fraternization. The male soldier was ordered to do several push-ups, but she was ordered to lay in the middle of a breezeway with her legs spread wide open. And while she lay there, the drill sergeant told the soldier that her mother was a whore, that she must’ve come into the army to be a prostitute, and threatened any male soldier who tried to help her.

“I knew I was going to die if I stayed in there,” Rios says.

In another instance, Rios spoke out against a then-friend and Airman who was making derogatory comments about his conquests that she felt were “littered with rape fantasy.” After telling the friend that he was being inappropriate for a classroom setting, his response was to accuse her of “liking it rough” and biting her arm through her battle dress uniform (BDU) sleeves, leaving individual bruise marks from each tooth print on the back of her arms. When another female soldier noticed and gave her an ultimatum to report it, she did so. After pointing the Airman out to both his drill sergeant and hers, he accused Rios of ruining his career. She was put on lockdown, and he was removed from his base.

By the time she was transferred to a co-ed barrack at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, she realized these instances would just never stop. Extra rules were given to female soldiers so they could never walk freely and must use the “buddy system.” Accusations were hurled at them to keep their legs closed. One roommate was almost raped.

“I knew I was going to die if I stayed in there,” Rios said. “Although I had an eating disorder, I was accused of fraudulent enlistment if I tried to leave on a medical discharge.” Rios did get a discharge after what felt like the longest 10 months of her life in the army from 1997-98. “I’ve been fighting for 20 years now for service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder related to military sexual trauma,” Rios says. “And the whole reason I got started in doing this was to raise awareness as a survivor of it myself and going through secondary trauma at multiple VA hospitals where countless survivors have been re-perpetrated on, myself included, and there’s no response.”

Monisha Rios

Mixed messages with MST behavior

Dr. Theopia Jackson

Dr. Theopia Jackson,
Saybrook’s Department Chair for the Clinical Psychology program, is no stranger to the effects of military sexual trauma even without being enlisted in the army. “I treat children who have been the victims of trauma, who also have parents who are survivors of sexual trauma in the military,” Dr. Jackson says. “And I have had students pursuing their careers who are also living with the residuals of MST. Because I understand the complexities of trauma, I’m able to coach them in how they’re getting through the course material, particularly when the course material can be so personal that it can raise issues related to their traumatic experiences.” “What’s happening in the military mirrors what’s happening in our general society and what’s happening in big business,” Dr. Theopia Jackson says. Compared to the ‘90s when Rios was serving in the army, Dr. Jackson says that people are speaking out against it more often now.

“What’s happening in the military mirrors what’s happening in our general society and what’s happening in big business,” Dr. Theopia Jackson says.

Flip through a news channel and stories of sexual misconduct are leading the pack: Senate candidate Roy Moore (R-Alabama) and former Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota), NBC “Today” show anchor Matt Lauer, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, actors Steven Seagal and Kevin Spacey, and comedians Louis C.K. and Bill Cosby, just to name a few. Then there’s the commander-in-chief Donald J. Trump, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 different women.

“We have a leader of our country describing assaulting women,” says Dr. Jennifer Preston, the department chair for the Department of Counseling. “We’ve heard him joke about it without any real consequences. The message that that still sends, particularly to young men, is that women are property. So you’ve got two sides of the coin. On one side, you’ve got people working in the field trying to help, trying to understand trauma. Then on the other, you have the leader of our country saying, ‘Hey, it’s OK. You do what you want. Women are there in service to men.’ And I feel that’s a very clear message from the government. Combatting that

just feels really overwhelming honestly.” While there has been a noticeable outpouring of support and encouragement to speak out, sexual assault and harassment are deeply personal issues that oftentimes people may not come forward to reveal. Out of every 1,000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free, which is one of the reasons that people may never speak up. Also, because the FBI definition of “rape” concentrated only on women as potential victims, men who were the victims of sexual misconduct went under the radar for many years. The VA grants disability benefit claims for PTSD related to MST at a significantly lower rate than non-MST, PTSD-related treatment. So even if both groups were to report it, they could risk not receiving mental health care assistance by disclosing it. So how can people, specifically mental health professionals, play a role in turning the tide even when finances become tricky?

Dr. Jennifer Preston

The plan to combat MST

“We have a leader of our country describing assaulting women,” Dr. Jennifer Preston says.

“I think we are getting better at training psychologists, counselors, and other professionals on issues of complex trauma and how much trauma can impact individual functioning 15, 20 years down the road,” Dr. Preston says. “So the awareness for students now is different. Counselors and psychologists more commonly understand the importance of trauma history in the way that the individual describes it. Many people may experience what I would consider to be a traumatic event but for them it’s within the rest of their context and their world. It’s not as traumatic or they may bring something in that I might not think is trauma but for them it has been.” “We also have to be curious enough to try to understand what may be some of the unspoken contributing factors,” Dr. Jackson adds. “Because not everyone, particularly not men, will walk into a therapist’s office and say, ‘I’m dealing with depression because I was raped a year ago.’ But they could come and say, ‘I’m dealing with depression.

I can’t sleep.’ By the time you unpack it all, it has something to do with that rape that happened a year ago. “We also have to be curious enough to try to understand what may be some of the unspoken contributing factors,” Dr. Jackson adds. “Because not everyone, particularly not men, will walk into a therapist’s office and say, ‘I’m dealing with depression because I was raped a year ago.’ But they could come and say, ‘I’m dealing with depression. I can’t sleep.’ By the time you unpack it all, it has something to do with that rape that happened a year ago. So clinicians must be ready to go beyond symptom reduction and really try to understand quality of life from what I call a biopsychosocialculturalspiritual (BPSS) model. “A lot of the military’s training is based on research that we do as behavioral specialists,” Dr. Jackson continues. “So we also have an ethical obligation that when we do our work that we consider social justice issues. We need to be prepared to ask and answer questions to help create an environment that fosters effective and healthy military personnel who still have an ethical moral compass.” For survivors, according to Rios, it may involve believing they have a right to heal, not allowing more sexual violence, advocating for relevant and appropriate healing opportunities, and being unafraid to get to know other survivors and hear stories about how they were able to survive and overcome.  For clinicians and non-clinicians alike, it means prioritizing the voices and experiential wisdom of survivors in research and practice.

Spiritually Speaking

16 February 2018
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  1. Something that in ecclesiastical law belongs to the church or to a cleric as such.
  2.  Clergy.
  3. Sensitivity or attachment to religious values.
  4. The quality or state of being concerned with religion or religious matters.


These are standard definitions for the word “spirituality.” But should “spiritual intelligence” be associated with these definitions in the same way?

Dr. Kirwan Rockefeller

“I personally define spiritual intelligence as a way to make meaning in life,” says Dr. Kirwan Rockefeller, faculty in Saybrook University’s Mind-Body Medicine program. “To live from a place of wisdom, compassion, self-compassion, and inner peace.”

And according to Dr. Donald Moss, dean of the College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences, spiritual intelligence is most likely to be utilized in significant key moments in a person’s life.

“I think spiritual intelligence consists of being open to finding something larger and more important than our own personal wants and needs in life,” Dr. Moss say.
“Beyond that, it’s an openness to things that are not just everydayness. Carl Jung—a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst—said that it’s a universal tendency of human cultures to create symbols and create mythologies. Human beings are driven to make sense of what’s going on around us. And I think the ability to be open to symbols and metaphors and stories is a strong part of spiritual intelligence.”

But for those who are more spiritual and less religious, could the term spiritual intelligence be off-putting?

Dr. Robert Schmitt, director of Saybrook’s Consciousness, Spirituality and Integrative Health Specialization, sees an upside and a downside to the word “spiritual.”

“When I was the dean of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, I started a training program in spiritual direction,” says Dr. Schmitt, who was a Jesuit priest for 32 years. “And one of the people who took the program became a consultant to Fortune 500 companies. He said that when he worked with companies, he used a lot of the principles of spirituality but he never used the word ‘spirituality.’

Dr. Robert Schmitt

But for those who are more spiritual and less religious, could the term spiritual intelligence be off-putting?

“Being spiritual gets tied into religion, and many people begin to reject that label because religion is based on dogma and what you have to believe. The word in itself is troublesome. But the reality is not troublesome. Ideally we’re trying to get ‘spirituality’ and spiritual intelligence to point to something far more than believing in a certain religion.”

Which is more important: Emotional, spiritual, or traditional intelligence?

There are moments when all three types of intelligences are best suited. Traditional intelligence may come in handy in a classroom or a work meeting (ex., solving a math problem or answering follow-up questions after a PowerPoint presentation). Emotional intelligence is useful for recognizing the root causes of other people’s emotions, along with keeping one’s own emotions under control or expressing them in a productive way. So where does spiritual intelligence fit in?

According to Dr. Schmitt, depending on the circumstances, one form of intelligence may be more reliable.

“Let’s use drug addiction as an example,” Dr. Schmitt says. “The body and emotions are screaming for the person to give them more of a type of drug. Their intellect is telling this inner voice that a decision like drug use is crazy, will risk one’s family, and could possibly be fatal. Ideally though, traditional intelligence would be their best friend in terms of talking them out of this decision. Obviously this is a case where other factors may need to come into play to help a person become more productive in their life decisions. But this still sheds light on how one form of intelligence may be more reliable in a specific situation.”

Dr. Devorah Curtis

While Moss and Rockefeller were also hesitant to declare one form of intelligence as more important than the other, Dr. Devorah Curtis, department chair of Mind-Body Medicine programs in Saybrook’s College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences, shared a different perspective. She identifies spiritual intelligence as a “crossover” or integration between traditional intelligence and emotional intelligence.

“When I need to figure out how to approach a conflicting situation or make a difficult decision, I pray about the circumstances before doing anything else,” says Dr. Curtis, who self-identifies as an “integrationist” and has a background in psychology and pastoral counseling.

“Discernment through prayer is what leads me to make decisions about how I am going to respond and determine a way forward. For me, listening for guidance while managing emotions is not easy and requires strength to act. I would call this a process of ‘spiritual discernment’ because the term is more familiar than ‘spiritual intelligence.’ Others may view the two as one and the same. However, I also believe that all of the intelligences are important.”

When spiritual intelligence gets challenged by believers and nonbelievers

“We tend to use the phrase ‘mind, body, spirit’ in our culture, but many times we leave out the ‘spirit’ part until a crisis happens, such as a health diagnosis, divorce, death of a loved one, accidents, terrorism, or other things like that,” Dr. Rockefeller says. “I believe we are a culture in deep longing for a sense of connection to transcendence, something bigger than ourselves to give us meaning and purpose, and an integration of psyche.”

Dr. Rockefeller also agrees with Dr. Curtis regarding the “crossover” effect. According to him, “Spirituality and spiritual intelligence are a bridge that connects the whole brain.”

But what happens when people start making irrational decisions to force a “bridge” to a spiritual connection?

Dr. Donald Moss

“This becomes an important issue for human beings dealing with mental illness,” Dr. Moss says. “Many can have delusions about special meaning in their lives or some special communication from the divine. But even then, there are some psychologists who would say that we have to respect delusions because they may be the dawning for some emergent meaning for the person that they just haven’t found the correct perspective on yet. For example, the Swiss psychiatrist Medard Boss would try to guide his mentally disturbed patients to discover a more meaningful and useful perspective in their mental illness and delusions.

“And it’s really hard to judge because when we study religions, we see Moses finding God in a burning bush. We find many everyday human beings who walk through the forest or walk along the shore of the lake, and in that encounter with nature they have a spiritual renewal. Sometimes it’s our contact with other human beings that we care about or someone whose life we touch and change that we find a sense of meaning for ourselves.”

Whether that “meaning” in life is in a church, a classroom, or a social group, the bigger goal is to find a healthy way to utilize spiritual intelligence.

“Healthy spirituality recognizes we live in a world of mystery,” Dr. Schmitt says. “There’s a saying in the Christian tradition of Gregory: ‘Abraham knew he was following God because he didn’t know where he was going.’ Life is a journey and takes on so many different forms. Enjoy the wonder of it instead of trying to be in control and protecting every moment at all costs—the spiritual side, the psychological side, the intellectual side, and the whole person.”

According to Dr. Rockefeller, “Spirituality and spiritual intelligence are a bridge that connects the whole brain.”

“And it’s really hard to judge because when we study religions, we see Moses finding God in a burning bush. We find many everyday human beings who walk through the forest or walk along the shore of the lake, and in that encounter with nature they have a spiritual renewal. Sometimes it’s our contact with other human beings that we care about or someone whose life we touch and change that we find a sense of meaning for ourselves.”

Whether that “meaning” in life is in a church, a classroom, or a social group, the bigger goal is to find a healthy way to utilize spiritual intelligence.

“Healthy spirituality recognizes we live in a world of mystery,” Dr. Schmitt says. “There’s a saying in the Christian tradition of Gregory: ‘Abraham knew he was following God because he didn’t know where he was going.’ Life is a journey and takes on so many different forms. Enjoy the wonder of it instead of trying to be in control and protecting every moment at all costs—the spiritual side, the psychological side, the intellectual side, and the whole person.”

To learn more about Saybrook’s M.A. in Consciousness, Spirituality, and Integrative Health Specialization, visit here. For the Ph.D. program, visit here. For more information on Saybrook’s Mind-Body Medicine degree programs, visit here.

Justifiably Maladjusted

16 February 2018
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s influence and encouragement of “maladjustment” was essential in the field of psychology. And 50 years later, at the 2017 American Psychological Association (APA) Convention, Dr. Nathaniel Granger Jr. reminded participants why that is. 

“Dr. King was very charismatic,” says Dr. Nathaniel Granger, who has been reenacting King’s speeches at various events for more than 20 years. “And back then the field of psychology was very white. I think by King using that phrase, it took the term to another level. When King used the term, he did so to explain why we must be maladjusted to bigotry, racism, discrimination, and injustices.”

In other words, we must not see these social ills as normal, par for the course, or acceptable.

Dr. Nathaniel Granger

“When I look at today’s political climate, it’s obviously maladjusted,” says Dr. Granger, who teaches in Saybrook University’s Existential, Humanistic, and Transpersonal Psychology Specialization. “However, it’s not the maladjusted that King was referring to. It’s a sick society. But we have to urge our clients and everyday people to be maladjusted to the maladjustment so we can change the ills of our systems.”

In MLK’s 1967 speech at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, he said he was “proud” to be psychologically “maladjusted,” never intending “to adjust myself to slavery and segregation,” never intended “to adjust myself to religious bigotry,” and never intended to “become adjusted to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few.”

I must confess that I believe firmly that our world is in dire need of a new organization—the International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.

At the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly on May 18, 1966, MLK even suggested a new name to encourage maladjustment: “I must confess that I believe firmly that our world is in dire need of a new organization—the International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment. Men and women as maladjusted as the prophet Amos, who in the midst of the injustices of his day, cried out in words that echo across the centuries—‘Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream’; or as maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln, who in the midst of his vacillations finally came to see that this nation could not survive half slave and half free; or as maladjusted as Thomas Jefferson, who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery, could scratch across the pages of history, words lifted to cosmic proportions, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. And that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’”

Dendron, a newsletter funded with a startup grant from the Levinson Foundation, was born in 1986 by a group of mental health professionals and advocates. By August 2005, the project creators of Dendron changed its name to MindFreedom International. Mental health professionals and advocates in MindFreedom International used MLK’s words and the civil rights movement to expand on their mission of maladjustment.

Dr. Granger was one of several panelists featured in the recent documentary “Creative Maladjustment” detailing King’s accomplishments and connection to the field of psychology.

The influence of creative maladjustment in today’s society

While King’s speaking influence is certainly still prevalent, it’s reasonable to wonder what becomes of maladjustment in society. The answer: A rise in social justice organizations such as Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and the 2017 Women’s March—three of several movements that continue to showcase how people from all walks of life refuse to accept the injustice of classism, sexism, and racism.

Dr. Granger has been able to plant his feet in both worlds. The U.S. Army veteran earned his Psy.D. in 2011 and has been working in executive coaching, teaching, and psychotherapy ever since. The Chicago native is also now part of the Pikes Peak Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a civil rights organization affiliated with the Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955. Grange is also a member of the Denver chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement, an anti-violence group that is not always perceived that way.

It’s interesting to see how people are perceived even when trying to fight against anti-discrimination issues,” Dr. Granger says.

“It’s interesting to see how people are perceived even when trying to fight against anti-discrimination issues,” Dr. Granger says. “There’s this book by Beverly Daniel Tatum called ‘Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?’ that stands out to me. The book discusses how even in school, there are these microaggressions out there. But when white people come together, it’s OK. So then black people have a feeling, this overarching feeling that no, we can’t come together. If people see us together they’re going to think we’re a group or a gang or some type of clique, that we’re up to no good.”

These questions are what sparked his interest in writing his dissertation “Perceptions of Racial Microaggressions among African American Males in Higher Education: A Heuristic Inquiry.” In it, he asked and answered questions such as “How do these microaggressions impact me as a black male and other black males? How does this impact our ability to succeed in higher education?”

Dr. Granger confirms that “the research shows that academia is very microaggressive, particularly toward African-Americans and other marginalized groups. African-American ethos is centered around communalism. We like to congregate. However, academia is based on eurocentrism, which promotes individualism where you stand alone and you do your own work. That goes against our internal mechanism. We like to huddle together.

“Obviously this kind of apprehension didn’t stop me from joining organizations such as Black Lives Matter. But in academia when you see black people huddled together, particularly in a predominantly white school, it’s looked upon with suspicion.”

By people such as Granger joining organizations that may not be perceived fairly, this is another step in the right direction. It could make observers look at social justice organizations through new, less biased eyes.

“I would encourage today’s psychologists to really reach down and grab hold to the intestinal fortitude to stand firmly against bigotry and injustice and anything that comes against human dignity and human rights,” Granger says.

“I think psychologists are in a very important position to strategize. Majority of psychologists need to be more vocal when it comes to social ills. Cowardice should not be encouraged, and we cannot allow cowardice to become fashionable in dealing with social woes. We need to do something to ameliorate the symptomatology associated with the sensationalism that we see.”

Rather be certain than right?

16 February 2018
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In today’s polarized climate, some people deny the glaringly obvious—insisting, for instance, that there is no climate change. More insidiously, they may twist facts to manipulate them into their own truths.

At a commencement speech in 2017, President Donald Trump said, “The more that a broken system tells you that you’re wrong, the more certain you should be that you must keep pushing ahead. … You aren’t going to let other people tell you what you believe, especially when you know that you are right.”

To him, the very existence of opposition means “you are right.” This is a self-sealing maneuver, in which every inconvenient fact is twisted to mean the belief is right, protecting it from disproof. When the long-promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act failed, Mick Mulvaney (the White House’s budget director) made an excuse.

To President Donald Trump, the very existence of opposition means “you are right.”

“What happened is that Washington won,” he said, according to NBC News. “I think the one thing we learned this week is that Washington is a lot more broken than President Trump thought that it was.”

Trump added, “The best thing that could happen is exactly what happened.”

The first example is simply blaming; the second repackaging of the facts goes beyond making the best of a bad situation. Trump twists the facts to mean that he’s right.

Winning the debate or manipulating the results?

Another researcher in that era found that whites performed more slowly than blacks, and concluded, “Their [whites’] reactions were slower because they belonged to a more deliberate and reflective race.”

So in spite of results that showed advanced performance by blacks, these researchers made the evidence fit their beliefs, protecting their feelings of racial superiority. This maddening imperviousness to truth has been called a “self-sealing” maneuver, in that the belief system turns disconfirming truths around to mean they support the beliefs—“sealing” the system against disproof.

How cults choose beliefs over facts

Cults are closed groups run with sophisticated mental manipulation—prisons without walls.

I became interested in the vagaries of dangerous thinking when my brother joined a religious cult, distanced himself from the family, and adopted activities that were puzzling and self-destructive. Trying to understand what was happening, I learned that cults are closed groups run with sophisticated mental manipulation—prisons without walls.

Naïve people (often confused young adults) are lured into cults with promises of respect, membership in a “special” group that knows secret truths, and relief from their uncertainties. After the initial “love-bombing” phase, the group and its leaders indoctrinate them in their belief system, which is often bizarre. They are kept in the group by harangues about the evils of the outside world, even though the cult’s own lifestyle may consist of suspicious in-group intrigue, isolation from loved ones, and endless unpaid labor.

Why do they stay? One reason (of many) is that cults explain away inconvenient truths so that if you try to reason with cult members, they have ready-made armor for repelling your facts. Perhaps no truth is more inconvenient or obvious than the failure of the world to end on the date that the leader prophesied. Given how many times the end has been predicted and failed to materialize, it’s surprising to me that eccentric people continue to predict it.

Fascinating research has been done on the mental maneuvers that disappointed cultists may engage in to explain away the non-appearance of the apocalypse. In one case, researchers infiltrated a group whose leader claimed that extraterrestrials would save her and her followers when the earth was soon destroyed. The deadline predicted by the leader passed, and the group decided it had only been an “alert.” Second and third deadlines passed.

After blaming the clock, the leader concluded, “Suppose they gave us a wrong date. Well, this only got into the newspapers on Thursday and people had only 72 hours to get ready to meet their maker. Let’s suppose it happens next year or 2 or 3 or 4 years from now … Maybe people will say it was this little group spreading light here that prevented the flood.”

A few hours later she added, “Not since the beginning of time upon this Earth has there been such a force of good and light as now floods this room.” This is a comforting rationalization.

Another favorite religious explanation for an untoward event is that God (or the leader) allowed it to happen “in order to test our faith” or “to give us a lesson.” Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was the Indian guru who came to grief in America. His followers explained away the contrast between his teachings of love and the paranoid, violent atmosphere of his compound in Oregon.

“They were, for example, able to convince themselves that the watch towers and the 150-member police force armed with semiautomatic weapons were devices employed by Rajneesh to make them aware of their aggressive impulses by showing them what could happen when such impulses were exaggerated.”

Though he cautions against lumping all fundamentalists together, scholar C.O. Lundberg observed: “The fundamentalist version of truth has a self-sealing insularity: it is not troubled by specifics of context, history, or contrary evidence. … The idea of a strongly held truth, of fidelity to a fundamental tenet of faith authorizing true believers to ignore epistemic [evidential] challenges, is undoubtedly a characteristic of religious fundamentalism.”

Creating proof even when there is none

Self-sealing doctrines can be found in other places too—some of them uncomfortably close to home. Psychoanalysis made some valuable contributions to understanding the human psyche, but its founder was convinced that his theories were universally true, and any challenge was simply further proof of them.

One commentator wrote, “Once Sigmund Freud was convinced of the universality of the Oedipus complex, he looked for it in every patient, whether they admitted it or not … Anyone who failed to agree with Freud’s interpretation of these cases either lacked the special expertise of the initiated or else was repressing the obvious because of personal unresolved complexes.”

Here Freud says the other person is “part of the problem” and therefore not qualified to criticize. A literal example of this comes from one of his published lectures about sex: “Nor will you have escaped worrying over this problem, those of you who are men. To those of you who are women this does not apply—you are yourselves the problem.”

Thus he disqualifies in advance the opinions of those he is discussing; whatever they may say in refutation of his ideas will not be admitted because “you are yourselves the problem.”

Continuing to protect his theory, Freud went on: “For the ladies, whenever some comparison seemed to turn out unfavorable to their sex, were able to utter a suspicion that we, male analysts, had been unable to overcome certain deeply‑rooted prejudices against what was feminine, and that this was being paid for in the partiality of our researches. We, on the other hand, standing on the ground of bisexuality, had no difficulty in avoiding impoliteness. We had only to say, ‘This doesn’t apply to you. You’re the exception. On this point you are more male than female.’”

This argument is armed against refutation. If females dispute his point, they are either “part of the problem” (what problem?). And if they don’t, they again prove his point because they are exceptions to the theory. They are not simply exceptions but “more male than female.” So the admirable qualities are still ascribed to masculinity. Freud also introduced the social convention “politeness” into what purports to be a scientific discussion.

In another example from early psychoanalytic thinking, Alfred Adler was told by another analyst that he had found evidence of the Oedipus complex in dogs. His puppy, it seems, likes to sleep with its mother. Learning that the mother dog had a larger basket than the father dog, Adler asked the analyst to test his theory by switching the baskets. Not surprisingly, the puppy climbed into the familiar larger basket, now occupied by its father. Undaunted, the analyst exclaimed, “Shouldn’t that prove to you that the puppy has now reached the second stage of sexual growth and become homosexual?”

See how this works? You simply claim that the inconvenient evidence is further support for your theory. Of course, you may have to make your cherished theory increasingly complex to account for disconfirming evidence.

You simply claim that the inconvenient evidence is further support for your theory.

The biggest difference between politics, religion, and science

In fact, Thomas Kuhn, in an influential history of science in 1970, argued that this is exactly how genuine science works—a theory is a valuable tool for collecting observations and explaining them but not the ultimate truth. Over time, disconfirming evidence is noticed. Resisted at first, and then reluctantly worked into the theory in increasingly Byzantine corollaries, the disconfirming evidence eventually topples the old theory—or rather, the old “paradigm,” meaning an interconnected set of theories.

Then, scientists “shift” to a new paradigm (partly because adherents of the earlier one have died off). Of course, Kuhn was referring to the historic evolution of ideas taking place over decades and centuries.

Astrophysicist and science educator Carl Sagan offered a more immediate and sympathetic view from the standpoint of a practicing scientist.

“In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again,” Sagan says. “They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”

Unfortunately, resistance to unwelcome findings has occurred even among scientists, and even in the field of psychology. The racist interpretation given in the anecdote that started this essay was made by none other than the eminent pioneer of American psychology E. L. Thorndike.

Commenting on psychoanalysis, physicist Robert Oppenheimer wrote that “a self-sealing system … has a way of almost automatically discounting evidence that might bear adversely on the doctrine. The whole point of science is just the opposite: to invite the detection of error and to welcome it.”

To a diligent researcher, it’s wise to think of critics as unexpected friends. They’ll save you from embarrassing yourself, and they may even help your career.

Georg Von Bekesy, a medical researcher, recommended that you should “have friends who are willing to spend the time necessary to carry out a critical examination of the experimental design beforehand and the results after the experiments have been completed.”  Bekesy, who was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Medicine, went on: “An even better way is to have an enemy. An enemy is willing to devote a vast amount of time and brain power to ferreting out errors both large and small, and this without any compensation. The trouble is that really capable enemies are scarce; most of them are only ordinary. Another trouble with enemies is that they sometimes develop into friends and lose a good deal of their zeal. It was in this way that the writer lost his three best enemies.”

What’s missing from the self-sealing mindset

A huge commitment to a cult, an ego unable to accept defeat, or a paranoid tendency may all operate to make it impossible for a person to admit being mistaken.

Trump’s biographer Michael D’Antonio, the author of “Never Enough” and “The Truth About Trump,” told Yahoo! News: “I think Trump is temperamentally inclined toward conspiracy theories and, at the same time, disinclined to do the work of studying matters fully.”

Delving deeper, he added, “It takes a flexible, curious mind to seek out competing ideas and weigh them. Then it takes even more rigor to fashion a complex solution to a vexing problem. It’s much easier to listen to one or two voices who affirm your preconceptions and dismiss all others because (you think) they are somehow against you.”

The self-sealing doctrine temporarily makes life easier. Its users don’t have to really entertain inconvenient evidence. They can even turn it aside in ways that make them feel better.  

Taking the high road in politics

How do we avoid such damaging attachment to false beliefs and such twisting of any evidence that disproves them? I believe we need the courage to question our theories, to take inconvenient evidence seriously, and to resist the temptation to use self-sealing maneuvers. This is easy to say but not so easy to do if it’s your own belief that is being challenged.

In his autobiography, physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman offered an inspiring perspective: “It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress which comes from a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance [and] the great progress which is the fruit of freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom; to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed; and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations.”

The self-sealing doctrine is indeed a rich topic. This little verse of mine captures its essence:

Protected from having to question and wonder,
They stifle their doubts, pressing discomfort under.
So whether they follow a leader, or sit all alone at night,
The tragedy is that they’d rather be certain than right. 

Linda Riebel received her Ph.D. from Saybrook (then called the Humanistic Psychology Institute) in 1981 and has been on Saybrook’s faculty since 1993. Originally a clinician, she now serves on the Transformative Social Change and Creativity Studies faculties. Her volunteer efforts involve opera, wildlife, and environmental causes. Do you know a case of the self-sealing doctrine? Please send it to her at [email protected].

Biofeedback therapy: A natural cure for tension and migraine headaches

2 February 2018
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Numerous controlled studies show that biofeedback therapy is highly effective for tension and migraine headaches.

A bad headache can feel inescapable. So, naturally, all too often we reach for over-the-counter prescription drugs to in search of relief; a quick remedy for a problem that usually has a deeper, chronic cause.

However, the mind-body technique of biofeedback can be a natural treatment for tension and migraine headaches. Using innovative science and technology you can train your body to treat itself.

Learn more about biofeedback treatments with a degree in Applied Psychophysiology

What is biofeedback?

Next, I’ll explore the causes of tension and migraine headaches and how biofeedback can be an effective alternative to over-the-counter medication in treating each type of a headache.

What causes a tension headache?

Tension headaches originate from muscles kept too tense for too long anywhere in the head and neck—especially including the jaw. People who have muscle-related pain usually cannot tell how tense these muscles are. This leads to muscles being kept tenser than necessary for longer periods than required. In fact, muscles kept only five percent tenser than needed for less than a half hour longer than necessary leads to pain which can be sustained for an entire day.

How does biofeedback help tension headaches?

Biofeedback devices record tension that generates pain in the muscles and shows those levels to the patient. The patient learns to associate actual levels of tension with sensations from the muscles, so muscles are kept appropriately relaxed.

Most people learn to recognize their levels of tension and to automatically keep them at appropriate levels. People who successfully learn this skill and apply it eliminate or vastly reduce the intensity, duration, and frequency of their tension headaches.

What causes a migraine headache?

Migraine headaches usually begin during adolescence or young adulthood with no obvious initiating incident. They may begin abruptly or gradually and may or may not be related to sexual maturity.

These type of migraine headaches can be effectively prevented through behavioral techniques such as biofeedback. However, migraine-like headaches caused by trauma such as an auto accident or which come in clusters usually cannot be effectively treated through behavioral interventions.

How does biofeedback help migraine headaches?

Nearly all people with migraine headaches have less near-surface blood flow to the fingers and toes (and sometimes noses) than those who do not have migraine headaches. These people tend to have relatively cool extremities because all of their heat emanating from the fingers and toes is generated by near-surface blood flow. Biofeedback devices can accurately record the temperature of the fingers (or any other body part) and show the temperature to patients so they can learn to recognize and then control finger temperature and maintain normal levels.

People who can learn this skill and maintain normal levels of fingertip temperature do not get migraine headaches as often or as severely as previously. Many entirely eliminate their headaches. Most also significantly decrease or eliminate their need for migraine medications.

Evidence supports biofeedback effectiveness

The evidence supporting the effectiveness of biofeedback (frequently used in conjunction with related techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation training) for the treatment of tension and non-traumatic origin migraine headaches is very strong.

Numerous controlled studies with reasonably large numbers of patients and long follow-ups (of up to ten years) show that biofeedback is highly effective for tension and migraine headaches. Roughly 4 of 5 people who experience tension and migraine headaches not caused by trauma can reduce their headache frequency, intensity, and duration by an average of about 80 percent using biofeedback-based behavioral interventions.

–For information about biofeedback:

  • PATIENTS: If you have migraine or tension headaches and would like to look into biofeedback-based interventions, go to the website bcia.org to locate a certified biofeedback practitioner near you.
  • PROFESSIONALS: If you are a therapist and would like to find out more about how to treat headaches using behavioral interventions such as biofeedback consider exploring our Ph.D. in Applied Psychophysiology program.

‘Child of apartheid’ and Saybrook alumna influencing South African education

4 January 2018
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Recognizing one’s privilege is a difficult road to travel. But for Carolyn Burns, a Saybrook alumna in the Counseling Psychology program, there was no escaping the privilege she had as a child. The self-described “child of apartheid” chose to use her professional background to try to right some wrongs by starting the community outreach program Ukulapha.

After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, nonwhite South Africans (a majority of the population) were the victims of apartheid. Under the governance of President F.W. de Klerk, in 1991, South Africa finally took a turn for the better. But even though apartheid has been well-documented in and out of the continent, Saybrook alumna Carolyn Burns quickly confirms that the traumatic impact of apartheid is still a subject some citizens choose to deny.

Carolyn Burns

“I was acutely aware of having automatically received privilege as a child during apartheid,” Burns says. “But most white South Africans prefer not to admit it happened because it’s very inconvenient for them. Equality is very inconvenient for them because they no longer have the privilege that they had during apartheid. However, they still have more privileges than people of color today. It’s still very touchy.”
But Burns didn’t just acknowledge her privilege. She decided to do something to try to level the playing field after advancing her own education.

Saybrook’s transformative, experiential program in Counseling Psychology caught her attention. Burns—who already holds three nursing diplomas in general nursing, midwifery, and pediatric nursing—decided to pursue the degree at the age of 47.

“After leaving South Africa and a marriage that wasn’t conducive to my mental or physical health, I realized that I needed some therapy,” Burns says. “Along that road, my therapist encouraged me to do the lay person counselor training program at the Citizens Counselling Centre in Victoria, B.C. What they do is offer counseling to less privileged people. I realized that this was a good fit. It was something that inspired me and got my juices flowing and something that I really wanted to be involved with because my initial work was also in the helping profession, in nursing. I healed so much through therapy and wanted to be part of that collaborative team. So that’s what led me to pursue a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at Saybrook.”

After 25 years of living in Canada and with her new degree, she moved back to South Africa.

“Because of my training, I wanted to start a counseling center to train entry-level counselors who could then work in the community,” Burns says. “First though, friends gave me money to start an organization, Ukulapha, which would provide substantial food parcels to child headed households stricken by the AIDS crisis.”

She worked with seven families and managed monthly food deliveries to children throughout the community.

One of those children, 11-year-old Mantombi Mngadi, won over her heart simply by sitting in the backseat of her car while Burns delivered groceries. Mngadi’s mother died a little more than a year before their car rides, and Burns couldn’t ignore the “bright, young soul who was just looking for love and connection.” Burns knew that handing out food parcels alone wasn’t going to help someone advance in their lives, and she still had an itch to do more.

That’s when Ukulapha expanded to work at the underprivileged Slangspruit Primary School (SPS), located in the township where Mantombi was a scholar. The ongoing goal, according to Burns, is to improve teaching and learning conditions at the school.

“We started off with about 790 children at Slangspruit Primary School,” Burns says. “There now are 1,090, which means that we are able to impact their lives and their families’ lives. We also offer high school scholarships to Alexandra High where they receive a well-rounded quality education. This provides an opportunity toward a brighter future.”

Mngadi, now a 20-year-old mom, and Burns still keep in touch. Additionally, Burns has also kept in touch with her Saybrook family. Dan Leahy, the Director of the Seattle Campus, was Burns’ lead faculty at the time and is someone Burns has visited off and on over the years. Burns calls him her “cheerleader” for his continuous support since her graduation from Saybrook.

Through Dan Leahy, Burns was introduced to faculty at The Chicago School and International Liaison Officer for South Africa, Kari Prince, who was organizing graduate student field experiences to South Africa. From this networking, two faculty members and 10 students from The Chicago School’s Educational Psychology and Technology Ed.D. program completed their first study abroad course in South Africa.

Recommended Reading: “Learning about education with a South African lens”

“We were really impressed with the maturity, the talents, the enthusiasm, and the hard work of the 10 students,” Burns says. “Within the first 15 minutes of their workshops, those students had the teachers interacting. I was blown away at the skill set they used to bridge the gap even with limited technology, how they made the teachers feel comfortable. I look forward to more students returning.”

With high hopes of more programs such as The Chicago School’s EPT program educating both South African teachers and students, as well as U.S. students, Burns has a couple other things on her bucket list: Secure more funds to cover salaries for Ukulapha to have a young, Zulu face as the on-site manager of the programs; upgrade the underprivileged high school in the township that most of the students graduating from SPS attend; and offer intensive “in classroom” training programs for Slangspruit Primary School teachers in  2018.

“I would love to be more involved as a Saybrook alumna, out in the field,” Burns says. “With the teamwork that The Chicago School and Saybrook have built, it would be really satisfying for me to continue to see that grow. And also help underprivileged children in the process.”

Importance of ‘checking in’ after silent meditation

30 October 2017
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In the third part of a multi-part blog series, Saybrook alumna Dr. Tamami Shirai discusses her experiences with group meditation. In part one, she discussed “Mindfulness of McMindfulness: Can we learn from the West adopting Asian cultures?” and in part two “Relax, release, rebuild through silent meditation.”

Increasing participants’ awareness

After leading silent meditation at a San Diego cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation hospital, I always initiate a “checking in” process with the meditation group. I intentionally ask several questions: “How is your physical and your emotional condition today?” “What kind of self-care did you do in the last seven days?” “How is your exercise routine going?” “How is your diet recently?” One by one, the group members respond to them. The “checking in” questions I periodically ask are based on Michael Arloski’s coaching model for lifestyle modifications and are also rooted in the humanitarian contribution of Abraham Maslow.

The purpose of “checking in” is to increase participants’ awareness of their conditions and remind them to pay attention to making ideal lifestyle modifications. In other words, my questions are not the kind to be answered easily with “I am fine.” Participants carefully examine their conditions and activities over the past several days, and then describe their physical and emotional conditions. Specifically, participants in cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation sometimes suffer anxiety and/or depression due to their conditions. Thus, asking about their emotional condition is an important element of concern.

One participant, “Laura,” is in her early 50s and previously had valve replacement surgery. (Her annual medical checkup resulted in needing surgery without any early symptoms.) She gradually described that she feels miserable about herself in the rehabilitation center’s exercise room. Laura felt many other participants at the rehabilitation center looked much older than her and believed their conditions were much milder, such as having cardiac arrhythmia or with a few stents. However, she gradually learned there were several people who had also undergone open-heart surgery like herself, including a heart transplant patient, survivors from dissection of aorta, and a “Stent Champion” with over 25 stents. Laura stopped feeling self-pity and started speaking with other participants in the center’s exercise room.

For most people, including Laura, the process of physical recovery coincides with psychological recovery. Meditation class provides a safe place where people can begin to understand that this tragic event is not just about themselves.

Modifying lifestyle 

Participants in my meditation class know that they should come to the rehabilitation center two or three times a week for exercise. Even when they are not feeling well, they try to come at least once a week—as their numbers of days of exercise will be an indicator of the depth and effectiveness of their self-care activity. Of course, they can perform other kinds of self-care besides exercise, such as receiving a massage, having quality time with family, ensuring they get enough sleep, and so forth. I encourage them to do whatever contributes to their well-being.

Today, weight control and diet are the most important elements for managing all chronic disease. After the holiday season, I always ask, “What kinds of treats did you eat during the holiday season?” It’s always fun to confess (myself included) to each other that “I had meatloaf” or “I had cheese.” My purpose is not to make anyone feel guilty about what they ate during the holiday. It’s to encourage them to understand a healthy and unhealthy diet because there is some confusion about diet and many people don’t have the latest correct knowledge. I encourage my participants to see a dietician or nutritionist if necessary, and also share new information from conferences that may be beneficial to them.

Transformation by speaking about yourself

What I have learned from my participants is that they need to talk about themselves. The safe environment of our meditation class allows them to increase awareness of their well-being; to exchange experiences with each other; and to speak about themselves, including both positive and negative emotions. Some days participants who are holding onto a deep sadness from a personal loss say they want to opt out of the “checking in” question. But in the following weeks I will encourage them again in hopes they may be brave enough to tell the group about their deep sadness.

“Emily,” another participant, had a stroke that left her with a speech problem. She was quiet in the first few meditation classes, but gradually she began using our “checking in” session to practice her speech. Once participants decide to engage during “checking in,” the time for change begins. Because she was courageous enough to share her mind-set during “checking in,” Emily began to feel more comfortable about unveiling her emotions and became a regular participant.

I have observed repeatedly that participants’ acts of small courage or determination bring new transformation into their lives. In the group setting, one participant’s openness or honesty invites other participants to be more open. Ultimately, we all learn that we are not the only people who are suffering. We all have similar experiences, both good and bad. It is always a beautiful moment to observe a group member’s transformation toward his or her well-being. Witnessing human growth is powerful and moving. My cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation center is a place for all of us to learn to recover from life-threatening events, share the stages of life, and to experience our potential to grow.

Dr. Tamami Shirai

Dr. Shirai is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Medicine, University of California San Diego. She is a researcher, educator, and advocate of lifestyle medicine, and the facilitator of a meditation class at a cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation in San Diego. She is originally from Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Shirai also serves as assistant director research of Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance (LMGA).