We have a new home. And with it, all the attendant physical and emotional turmoil of moving at my age. I am surrounded by boxes, and tormented by the seemingly endless decisions to “keep” or “let go.” (Do I really still need the hand written notes from my doctoral dissertation? Apparently, yes, I do). One of the indelible memories of this move is the 2022 World Series playing in the background as we packed. A wonderful diversion from the chaos, our …
Category: Education
Today I read one of the most helpful articles on dealing with COVID 19 in The Harvard Business Review. Staff’s shared reflections about their collective “queasy, anxious” feelings lead to an interview with noted expert on grief, David Kessler. This is a time to overprotect but not overreact. Kessler, the author of Finding Meaning: the Sixth Stage of Grief and founder of grief.com shares his thoughts about why it is so important to acknowledge and name what we’re feeling as …
Being a systemic therapist requires ongoing analysis of the ways in which power dynamics organize and shape the life-long relational dances in couples and families. Experiences of privilege and marginalization in the cultural landscape are critical to the daily lived experience of our clients, and impact their relationships in profound ways. In working with our Psychiatry residents at Penn, I welcome writing that fosters clarity about the influence of these complex, often silenced, aspects of power. Once again, my friend …
As a family therapy clinician and teacher, I am constantly talking about the importance of relationships. I’m thus thrilled when those outside of my specialty acknowledge that as well – especially when it comes from my colleagues and collaborators in the medical community. In “Why Your Cardiologist should ask about your Love Life,” Dr. Sandeep Jauhar discusses the link between heart health and our emotional and relational worlds: We have learned, for example, that fear and grief can cause serious cardiac injury. During …
I’m so pleased to share this recently published book by my friend and colleague, Dr. Saliha Bava, and her partner, Mark Greene. Although we might agree in theory that parenting is indeed a relational endeavor, our language belies this perspective. For example, we describe the child as “oppositional defiant” as though she existed in a relational vacuum, without that ‘other’ person she must oppose. Diagnostic criteria focuses on the individual and obscures the parts of the relational system that promote imbalance …
Family historian, Stephanie Coontz, is admittedly one of my favorites. Former President of The Council on Contemporary Families, Dr. Coontz brings a much needed perspective to our cultural discourses about marriage and family life. Her capacity to mine enormous bodies of data and expose trends about the current state of relationships is remarkable – and very much needed. The landscape of marriage and family is not easy to navigate, and I’m grateful for her clarity and perspective. In that spirit (and because …
David Asch MD and Roy Rosin, MBA of The Center for Healthcare Innovation at Penn Medicine have published an article in The New England Journal of Medicine that supports the involvement of family and friends in improving health and health care outcomes. At The Center for Couples and Adult Families, we are thrilled to share this vision: that the quality of one’s relationships matters and has important and measurable impact on health and well being. …
Join us for the next CPSP “Community Psychiatry Forum*” In Collaboration with The American Association of Community Psychiatrists Engaging Family Supports Learning Objectives – Participants will be better able to: Identify strategies and barriers to engage family members as supportive members of recovery team Enable people in recovery to identify and connect with potential sources of support in the community Describe issues commonly concerning family members and other natural supports and potential approaches for addressing them CME: You can …
The Center for Couples and Adult Families extends a warm welcome to Michelle Jackson, a seasoned Couple and Family therapist who joined our Clinical Faculty last month. There are many reasons I’m thrilled to have Ms. Jackson aboard, not the least of which is our ability to serve more couples and families at CCAF. Her arrival is evidence of our growth; clearly the word is out that there is couple and family therapy available at Penn. Ms. Jackson’s sensitivity to …
A landmark, government funded study finds that schizophrenic patients who received a combination of drugs, talk therapy and family support made greater strides in the first 2 years of treatment than patients who just received drug therapy. Featured on the front page of yesterday’s NY Times, the report made clear that family involvement and “talk therapy” are vital in the treatment of schizophrenia, and this combined approach provided more symptom relief to patients (and thus families) and capacity for higher functioning …
