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 …
Category: Psychiatry
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 …
Each year around this time, conversations with clients turn to the predictable stress of time with family over the holidays. Like ghosts in the night, old issues, long dormant, reappear at holiday time. How is it that an adult with partner and children can walk into their parents’ home and instantly feel 10 years old again? The anticipation of a holiday encounter can lead any adult to feel slightly unhinged in a way that few other situations do. Let’s face …
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 …
In this informative and engaging interview, Dr. Berman offers clear, specific advice about how to avoid pitfalls and seize opportunities when dealing with the thorny issue of money and the family. …
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 …
This is but one of a number of studies that confirms what Couple and Family Therapists know so well: that the quality of relationship impacts health over time in a variety of ways. …
Research findings from a team at Emory University Medical School provide evidence of “transgenerational epigenetic inheritance” – that environment can affect an individual’s genetics and then be passed on. As a family therapist I have intuited this often in my consulting room. There are times when a young adult with severe sadness sits with me, and I can sense that the sorrow is somehow lager that she is; it is too big a sorrow for someone that age. When together …
The National Association for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has awarded Dr. Ellen Berman, CCAF Founder and Director of Training, with a 2015 Exemplary Psychiatrist Award. The clinical and training faculty at CCAF extend our warmest congratulations for this well deserved recognition. The recipients of this award have demonstrated their commitment to work along with NAMI members for access to care, research, funding, and other NAMI priorities. As a Board Member of NAMI Pa., Main Line, Dr. Berman has worked to …
