Steve Seiner, MD, Cynthia Piltch, Ph.D. and
Katharine (Kitty) D. Dukakis, MS, MSW, instructors
Electro-convulsive
therapy, ECT, is an effective treatment for various forms of seriously
debilitating depression. This fact has
been proven countless times, restoring desperately ill patients to worthwhile,
active lives. However, there are
misconceptions about the treatment and its effects. These false ideas and related fears can
undermine the consideration of ECT when a diagnosis may indicates ECT as an appropriate
therapy. With a wider opportunity for
informing professionals and educating the public, it is likely that more
individuals would understand the benefits of ECT, resulting in the relief of
suffering and a return to a meaningful, healthy life. The presentation acknowledges the role of
prescription drugs, psychotherapy and other therapeutic modalities as effective
treatments for all levels of depression.
However, the presentation will enable participants to more effectively
assess the potential value of having ECT in their professional toolboxes.
Upon completion of the program the student will be able to:
·
Explore
the history, development and application of ECT as an effective therapy
·
Examine
current research related to how ECT affects the brain and nervous system,
resulting in positive outcomes for the patient.
·
Review
the available and appropriate therapies that professionals can discuss with
patients and when appropriate refer them for treatment.
·
Discuss
when it is most appropriate to use ECT
Program Code: ECT13
3 CE Credits
Location: at MSPP, Newton
Steve Seiner, MD, has a degree in
Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of
Washington University Medical School. He
completed a psychiatry residency at Harvard’s McLean Hospital, and is a
fellowship trained Geriatric Psychiatrist.
Dr. Seiner is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical
School, and Associate Director of Residency Training for the MGH/McLean Adult
Psychiatry Residency Program. Clinically, Dr. Seiner is the Director of
McLean’s Psychiatric Neurotherapeutics Program, which includes
Electroconvulsive Therapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. McLean’s ECT service now performs close to
6000 treatments a year, making it one of the largest ECT centers in the
country.
Cynthia
Piltch, Ph.D., MPH, LCMT, is a Reiki
Master, educator, consultant and clinical practitioner trained in a variety of
integrative healing modalities including therapeutic massage, Reiki,
reflexology and craniosacral therapy.
Dr. Piltch conducted her dissertation research on a gender comparison of
the causes and consequences of stress in an industrial sample of workers. She received her Ph.D. from Boston University
and her MPH from the University of Michigan, her diploma in massage from the
Muscular Therapy Institute and her Reiki Master training from Arlington Reiki
Associates. In addition, Dr. Piltch maintains a private clinical practice in
Lexington, Massachusetts and is on the teaching faculty of the Center for
Community Health and the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation
in Boston, MA. She has also co-authored
a quarterly research column for the Massage Therapy Journal and taught numerous
courses in stress management/resiliency, research methods and Reiki in academic
and community settings. Dr. Piltch came to her stress and resiliency work
through both her research background and her own efforts to heal injuries
sustained in two automobile accidents and other health challenges. Her
educational efforts focus on teaching people concrete and useful tools (e.g.,
reiki, self-massage, reflexology, creative visualization, mindfulness) that can help them cope effectively with
stress and thereby support their resiliency.
Katharine (Kitty) D. Dukakis, MS, MSW, is concerned with women’s rights,
human rights, the arts, the environment, her community and family which are
mirrored in the numerous activities and organizations that have characterized
both her public and private life. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the
President’s Commission on the Holocaust, she then became a founding member of
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. On November 9th 2010,
she was sworn in after President Obama’s appointment as a member of the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council. Mrs. Dukakis has worked extensively
on issues related to the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and contemporary
human rights issues. She has served on the board of directors of several
refugee groups. In 1985 she participated in a fact finding tour of refugee
camps on the Thai-Cambodian border and established the Refugees
International/Cambodian Crisis Fund to bring about humanitarian changes in the
processing of southeast Asians with families in the United States. She also
organized a Task Force on Cambodian Children which included a mission to
Thailand in 1981 to work for the release of orphaned Cambodian minors. From 1985
to 1989 she was the director of the Program on Public Space Partnerships, a
joint program between the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate
School of Design at Harvard University. The program developed demonstration
projects and research models for the design, management and funding of public
spaces. Mrs. Dukakis was greatly influenced by her parents’ appreciation of the
arts. Her late father was a member of the first violin section of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra, associate conductor of the Boston Pops, director of the
Youth Concerts at Symphony Hall, and conductor of the Boston Classical
Orchestra. Mrs. Dukakis taught modern dance for many years at the Dittmar
School of Dance in State College, Pennsylvania, Lesley University and the Brookline
Center for the Arts. She now serves on the Board of Directors of Refuge Point,
a refugee foundation whose purpose is to alleviate human suffering in Africa,
and on the advisory council of the New England Center for Children, a school for
autistic children in Southborough, Massachusetts, and serves on the Board of
Advisors of the new Saks Institute for Mental Health, Law, Policy and Ethics at
the University of Southern California. She is the author of two books: Now You
Know, the story of her battle with addiction and depression, and Shock: The
Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy, co-authored with Larry Tye, which
describes how ECT proved to be the one treatment that dealt effectively with
her recurring cycles of depression. Mrs. Dukakis attended Pennsylvania State
University and received a B.A. in Education from Lesley University; an M.S. in
Broadcast and Film from the Boston University School of Communications; and an
M.S.W from the Boston University School of Social Work. She and her husband,
Michael S. Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor and currently Professor
of Political Science at Northeastern University and Visiting Professor of
Public Policy at UCLA, live in their hometown of Brookline, Massachusetts except
during the months of January, February and March, when they are at UCLA in Los Angeles.