May 7-8, 2008 Scientific Meeting, From Neuroscience to Social Practice

(May 7-8, 2008) Scientific Meeting

Lexington, Kentucky. Spindletop Hall.

Abstracts for the Keynote Presentations are as follows:

Relational Poverty in the Modern World:

Bruce Perry, M.D.

The development of a child is profoundly influenced by experience.  Experiences shape the organization of the brain, which, in turn, influences the emotional, social, cognitive and physiological activities.  Insights into this process come from understanding brain development. The modern approach to education, care giving and therapeutic services is inherently disrespectful of two main neurobiological gifts of humankind: our fundamental relational nature and our rapid organization during the first years of life.  The current educational and care giving models in the West are generally ignorant of, or openly disrespectful to, these gifts.  The results are catastrophic; the result is too many aggressive, selfish, materialistic, amoral and emotionally empty children.  Increases in emotional, physical, social and behavioral problems can all be traced to adverse experiences in childhood and to a lack of social fabric.  Both the problem and solutions were discussed in this presentation.

The Importance of Early Experiences: Clinical, Research and Policy Perspectives

Charles H. Zeanah, M.D.

A longstanding debate in psychology concerns the degree to which early experiences matter for subsequent development.  On the one hand, some have argued that early experiences are effaced away by subsequent experiences and have no special importance in the development of the individual.  Others have argued that early experiences are more important than later experiences and deserve special attention.  Although this debate is unresolved, in this presentation, I selectively review relevant data from clinical, research and policy perspectives on the question of the importance of early experiences.  The answer to the question of the importance of early experiences, I argue, is not necessarily the same in these three arenas and depends upon the context in which it is being asked.  In the clinical arena, a liberal approach must hold sway, as a specific treatment plan must be proposed and implemented for the patient now, even if much is unknown.  Conclusions derived from research, on the other hand, are inherently conservative--slow to emerge and usually qualified at best.  Policy decisions are intermediate between these extremes, as funding priorities need to be made based on reasonable evidence, but before definitive answers are known.

The Effects of Psychotherapy on the Adult Brain: Do They Apply to Children?

Jerald Kay, M.D.

There has been dramatic progress within the last decade toward the understanding of the neurobiology of psychotherapy in adulthood. Advances in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging have suggested models of change in both neuroanatomy and neurophysiology following psychotherapeutic intervention, which in turn have been informed by the elucidation of the process of neuroplasticity throughout the brain.   Psychotherapy has been demonstrated to affect structure and function in the cortex, limbic system, and basal ganglia to name but a few.  The interaction between psychopathology as expressed via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and learning and memory has pointed to specific mechanisms through which psychotherapy is helpful.

Greater appreciation of the psychobiology of attachment and its disorders as well as increasing sophistication in the study of gene-environment interaction, has emphasized the need for early intervention in children. Challenges to the translation of neurobiological findings following psychotherapy in adulthood to children were discussed and future areas of inquiry in the treatment of children were highlighted.

Lunchtime Keynote: Honorable Patricia FitzGerald-Chief Judge, Jefferson County Family Court  “A Judicial Perspective on Early Childhood Experience and Violence Against Children”

Judge FitzGerald discussed the forensic and judicial implications of the meeting presentations for family court and family law, issues related to therapeutic jurisprudence, and the role of the judiciary in the protection of children exposed to violence.

Meeting papers were published as a special edition of the Journal of Loss and Trauma, Volume 14, No. 4, 2009.