Healing Brain Seminar: January 1980

Recent advances in the brain and behavioral sciences are beginning to illuminate the crucial features linking the external environment, brain processes, and states of health and disease. The benefits of laughter, the role of endorphins in the placebo effect, the effect of stress on the immune system, and the specialization of the two halves of the brain are a few of the emerging areas of critical importance to health professionals. This symposium will review the major developments in the brain sciences as they relate to health.

FACULTY

Norman Cousins is senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine and an advisory editor of Man and Medicine. For 35 years he was editor of the Saturday Review and has more recently contributed to the medical literature by describing his own illness experience in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Marian C. Diamond, M.A., Ph.D., is professor of anatomy at the University of California, Berkeley and former associate dean of the College of Letters and Science. Her research has centered on how the structure of the nervous system can be modified by changes in the environment. She is also currently developing a school health education program to enhance body awareness in children.

Neil A. Fiore, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist at the Counseling Center, University of California, Berkeley and a consultant to industry and medical institutions on psychosocial aspects of health. He recently described his own illness experience and its management in an article, “Fighting Cancer – One Patient’s Perspective” in the New England Journal of Medicine and is currently working on a book of strategies for coping with illness.

William F. Fry, Jr., M.D., is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine and a member of the board of directors of the Mental Research Institute. In addition to the private practice of psychiatry, he has conducted research on the psychology and physiology of laughter and has written two books: Sweet Madness: A Study of Humor and Make ‘Em Laugh.

Jon D. Levine, M.D., Ph.D., is acting chief of the Pain Research Laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco and resident in medicine at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco. His research has been on the mechanisms of pain and analgesia in animals and the role of endorphins in placebo analgesia.

Arnold J. Mandell, M.D., is professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. His professional interests span neurobiology and psychopharmacology in both basic and clinical investigations. He is the author of over 200 scientific articles, editor of several books, and author of the recent book, Coming of (Middle) Age: A Journey.

Robert E. Ornstein, Ph.D., is associate professor of medical psychology, University of California, San Francisco and president of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge. His major interests include the function of the two hemispheres of the brain, perception, and communications in the human sciences. He is author of The Psychology of Consciousness, The Mind Field, and co-author of On the Psychology of Meditation.

Karl H. Pribram, M.D., is professor of neuropsychology in the departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Stanford University. He is certified in the specialty of neurological surgery, however, most of his career has been devoted to brain research. He is author of numerous experimental and theoretical papers and a book, Languages of the Brain.

David S. Sobel, M.D., M.P.H., is acting chief of Preventive Medicine, Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center at Santa Teresa and a fellow at the Health Policy Program, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. He is also medical program director of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge and has research interests in self-care and health promotion. He is editor of Ways of Health: Holistic Approaches to Ancient and Contemporary Medicine.

George F. Solomon, M.D., is clinical professor and vice-chairman, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco and chief of Psychiatry, Valley Medical Center of Fresno. He also serves as director of medical education, Fresno County Department of Health. He has done extensive research on emotional factors in autoimmune disease and the effect of stress on the immune system. He is author of many scientific papers and co-author of the book, The Psychology of Strength.

PROGRAM

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 MORNING

PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS IN HEALING
David S. Sobel, M.D., M.P.H.
Since the person is a biopsychosocial unit, social forces and mental states can profoundly affect bodily healing processes. An examination of social net-works, traditional healing practices, placebo effects, relaxation techniques, and clinical studies of mood and healing reveal powerful psychosocial forces as determinants of health and disease.

ANATOMY OF AN ILLNESS (AS PERCEIVED BY THE PATIENT)
Norman Cousins
The experiences of a layman within the medical care system will be discussed with particular attention to illness episodes in which the human brain was apparently able to supravene in the functioning of bodily systems to promote healing.

THE THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER
William F. Fry, Jr., M.D.
Laughter is an age-old, but often ignored, resource in the human behavioral repertory. The evolutionary value, physiological benefits, and salutary psychosocial functions of laughter and mirth will be reviewed in light of the therapeutic potentials of laughter.

PANEL DISCUSSION

AFTERNOON

STRESS MANAGEMENT: A HOLISTIC APPROACH
Neil A. Fiore, Ph.D.
The stress response may be considered primarily protective with “dis-stress” and pathology developing when environmental threats are prolonged or when the response is chronically elicited through self-imposed pressures. Stress management incorporating physiological relaxation, cognitive behavior modification, assertiveness training, and environmental change will be presented.

EMOTIONS, STRESS, AND IMMUNITY
George F. Solomon, M.D.
Emotional distress may suppress the immune response and thereby be implicated in the multifactorial causes of infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer, resistance to which appears to be immunologic. The central nervous system, particularly the hypothalamus, and various neuroendocrines appear to be involved in regulation of the immune system.

PANEL DISCUSSION

SUNDAY, JANUARY 27 MORNING

PAIN, PLACEBOS, AND ENDORPHINS: USING THE BODY’S OWN HEALING MECHANISMS
Jon D. Levine, M.D., Ph.D.
Recent research on the intrinsic analgesia systems of the body has joined forces with research on endorphins, the endogenous opiate-like chemicals produced by the body. The role of endorphins in the placebo effect and other physiological states will be explored.

ENVIRONMENT, AIR IONS, AND BRAIN CHEMISTRY
Marian C. Diamond, Ph.D.
We are becoming increasingly aware of the ease with which the cerebral cortex of the brain can be changed by alterations in the external environment. More recently, negative air ions have been shown to change brain chemistry with different effects when the organism lives in an enriched or impoverished environment.

PANEL DISCUSSION

AFTERNOON

THE SPECIALIZATION OF THE TWO HALVES OF THE BRAIN
Robert E. Ornstein, Ph.D.
The human brain appears to be specialized for two different modes of thought. One is analytic, useful for linking ideas together in sequence. The second is holistic, useful for perceiving whole systems simultaneously. Both modes are important for normal functioning and health.

BRAIN ASYMMETRY: CHEMICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, AND CLINICAL
Arnold J. Mandell, M.D.
Drugs and environmental stimuli alter chemical mechanisms in the brain that control hemispheric dominance and mood. The clinical implications of their asymmetry of brain function will be explored.

THE HOLOGRAPHIC BRAIN
Karl H. Pribram, M.D.
The human brain may be viewed as organizing perception of the external world in terms of a hologram in which any part can reconstruct the whole image. The implications of this “holistic” view of brain function for the health sciences will be considered.

PANEL DISCUSSION

SPONSORS
The University of California, San Francisco
School of Dentistry
School of Medicine
School of Pharmacy
School of Nursing
Continuing Education in Health Sciences The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge