Co-sponsored by
the MSPP Center for Psychotherapy and Spirituality and the
Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy
Course Directors: Paul Fulton, EdD, John McDargh, PhD, Susan Pollak, MTS, EdD, Terry Bard, DD, Michele Bograd, PhD, Jack Engler, PhD, Mark G. Finn, PhD, James W. Jones, PhD, PsyD, Judith V. Jordan, PhD and Charles Styron, PsyD, presenters
How can we do therapy in such a way as to move persons out of self-absorption and self-centeredness?
— Paul Fulton, Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy has traditionally been centered on the suffering of the individual, his/her conflicts, symptoms and suffering. And while psychotherapy is effective in addressing intra-psychic sources of suffering, it remains limited by this focus. Many eastern and western contemplative traditions, for instance, Buddhism (from which mindfulness-informed psychotherapy derives many of its practices), assert that so long as we hold ourselves as the exclusive object of concern, we can never achieve true freedom; happiness is only to be found when we learn to regard others’ suffering as deserving of our concern as is our own. Meanwhile there are movements within contemporary psychotherapy that are beginning to articulate something of the same enlarged understanding of the self in treatment, notably Internal Family Systems Theory (IFS), Relational Psychoanalysis, Relational-Cultural Theory and what Daniel Siegel refers to as a "relational neuropsychology." The creative correlation of these contemporary psychotherapeutic perspectives with the wisdom tradition of Buddhism, but also Judaism and Christianity, is what this conference aims to explore.
In this conference we will begin to consider how an expanded view of psychotherapy and the alleviation of psychological suffering must embrace a broader perspective, including the reformulation of the role of the self in therapy, the explicit cultivation of pro-social qualities, a concern for global well being, and the role of ethical conduct in the establishment of peace of mind.
Program Code: HGT6
6 CE Credits (includes lunch)
Location: at MSPP, West Roxbury
Terry R. Bard, DD, is a teacher, clinical psychologist, ethicist and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Shalom, Chelmsford. Since 1976 he has been a member of Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry. For over two decades he has provided mentorship and counsel to medical students, residents, fellows and faculty in the Harvard Medical School Patient-Doctor III program. Three years ago Dr. Bard retired from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where for 24 years he had directed the Department of Pastoral Care and Education. Rabbi Bard created the first clinical ethics program at Beth Israel Hospital and has helped create over 30 ethics programs at hospitals and other settings in the United States and abroad. Dr. Bard continues to publish extensively (he is the managing editor of the Journal of Pastoral Care Publications); conducts, oversees and mentors research projects, and lectures internationally in the areas of medical ethics and safety, religion and health and the conduct of human research.
Michele Bograd, PhD, has an independent practice in Arlington, MA. She is a nationally recognized presenter and author on family therapy, domestic violence and gender who was a faculty member at the Family Institute of Cambridge for many years. Michele has completed advanced training in IFS and has been part of the staff of multiple IFS trainings.
Jack Engler, PhD, has been a supervising and training psychologist at Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge City Hospital Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Engler did a doctorate in Psychology and Religion at the University of Chicago where his dissertation was a cross cultural validation of psychological changes in Buddhist meditators at various stages of meditative attainment. After training at the Menninger Foundation, McLean Hospital and the Yale Psychiatric Institute, he spent several years in Burma and India studying Buddhist Vipassana meditators as a Fullbright Research Fellow. His influential essay “Therapeutic Aims in Psychotherapy and Meditation” (Wilber, Engler and Brown, Transformations of Consciousness: Conventional and Contemplative Perspectives on Development, 1986) was an exploration of the relationship of psychological ego development to the achievement of stages of enlightenment in Buddhist practice. He revisited these ideas in Being Somebody, Being Nobody: A Reexamination of the Understanding of the Self in Jeffrey Safran (ed) Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue (2003).
Mark G. Finn, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in White Plains, New York and New York City and a member of the training faculty at Westchester Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. Dr. Finn was instrumental over twenty five years ago in creating the first series of high level consultations in New York between Buddhist meditation masters and psychoanalysts, psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. A long time practitioner in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Dr. Finn has given numerous conferences to the community of Zen Mountain Monastery in collaboration with the late John Daido Loori, Roshi and Ryushin Sensei. Dr. Finn has also contributed chapters in The Couch and the Tree (1998) and Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue (2003).
Paul R. Fulton, EdD, is a clinical psychologist and founding member of IMP. He is currently Director of Mental Health for Tufts Health Plan, a large managed care organization in Massachusetts. He is also a forensic psychologist. Dr. Fulton received his doctoral degree from Harvard University and his clinical training through Harvard Medical School at Cambridge Hospital. He was the clinical director of a large state psychiatric facility, and later the program director for a private psychiatric hospital. Dr. Fulton has been teaching about psychology and meditation for many years and is a co-editor of the book, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. Dr. Fulton is Course Director for the year long Certificate Program in Mindfulness & Psychotherapy through the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy and maintains a private practice in Newton, MA.
James W. Jones, MDiv, PhD, PsyD, is full professor in the Department of Religion at Rutgers University as well as associate member of the Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology at Rutgers; lecturer in Psychiatry and Religion at Union Theological Seminary and adjunct professor of Medical Humanities at Drew University. His contributions to the field of the psychology of religion have been recognized by an honorary degree at Uppsala University, Sweden and by the Templeton Foundation Prize and award for teaching in the area of science and religion. He is currently the co-editor of a series of Handbooks on the Psychology of Religion published by the American Psychological Association. Two of his thirteen books most relevant to our conference are Waking from Newton’ Sleep: Dialogues on Spirituality in an Age of Science (2006) and The Mirror of God: Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice.
Judith V. Jordan, PhD, is Director of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute and Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. She has practiced insight meditation for 35 years and, along with her colleagues at JBMTI, has developed relational-cultural theory for the past 30 years. Dr. Jordan is the co-author of Women’s Growth in Connection, editor of Women’s Growth in Diversity and The Complexity of Connection and author of the forthcoming book Relational-Cultural Therapy.
John McDargh, PhD, is associate professor of the psychology of religion in the Department of Theology of Boston College. Dr, McDargh did an interdisciplinary doctoral dissertation at Harvard University in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and religious development. His contributions to the field were honored with the William C. Biers Award of the Division of the Psychology of Religion of the APA. Dr. McDargh is serving as the first director of the MSPP Center for Psychotherapy and Spirituality where as adjunct professor he now teaches a course on “Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapies”.
Susan M. Pollak, MTS, EdD, is a clinical psychologist. Dr. Pollak received a degree in Comparative Religion from Harvard Divinity School, her doctorate in psychology from Harvard University, and her clinical training through Harvard Medical School. She has been a clinician and Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School for 20 years, specializing in the integration of meditation and psychotherapy. She has had a meditation and yoga practice since childhood. She is the co-editor, with Merry White, of The Cultural Transition, contributing author to Mapping the Moral Domain, ed. Carol Gilligan, and a contributing author to Evocative Objects, ed. Sherry Turkle. She is the President of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.
Charles W. Styron, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Watertown, Massachusetts, as well as a consulting psychologist for Caritas Norwood Hospital in Norwood, Massachusetts. He is the founder of Everest Coaching, for which he does professional and executive coaching, and he is also a former architect. Additionally, Dr. Styron has been a practitioner and teacher in the Shambhala and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist traditions for 25 years.
Conference Schedule
PART I: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
The Impact of Buddhist Views of the Self on Envisioning the Goals of Treatment
9:00 am - Welcome and Plan of the Day: John McDargh, PhD
- Opening Mindfulness Meditation - Susan Pollak, EdD
- Introductions around the table – name and what drew you to the day - John McDargh, PhD
- The Narrative of the Conference: Sharing the story of its creation and some of its objectives and strategy - introduction of First Speaker - Paul Fulton, EdD
9:30 am - Judith V. Jordan, PhD, Director, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute - The Saga of the Self in Psychotherapy: Evolving Understanding of the Self and Why That Matters
10:10 am - Panel Reflections: Paul Fulton, EdD, Facilitator / John McDargh, PhD/Susan Pollak, EdD (introduction of speakers)
- Mark Finn. PhD
- James W. Jones, PsyD
- Jack Engler, PhD (responding to panelists)
- Judith V. Jordan, PhD
11:15 am - Open Discussion with Conference Participants
12:00 pm - Lunch buffet – conversation at tables; walking meditation outside, weather permitting, Susan Pollak, EdD
Part II: 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Alternative Perspectives on the Problem of the Self in Treatment
1:00 pm - Michele Bogard, PhD - Internal Family Systems Theory Views of the Hopes and Goals of Treatment
2:00 pm - Small group conversation
2:45 pm - Break
3:00 pm - Challenges and Openings to Rethink Hopes and Goals of Therapy from Other Spiritual Paths
- Charles Styron, PsyD, Facilitator
- Reverend James Jones, PsyD - Christian Perspectives
- Rabbi Terry Bard, DD - Jewish Perspectives
4:00 pm - Concluding reflections/Evaluations: Paul, Susan, John and all presenters
4:30 pm - Adjourn