Wilhelm Reich Lecture Series: An Exploration of the Doctor/Patient Relationship
Sponsored by The Traditional Naturopathic Student Association:
National College of Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM).
Lecture 1: Body Language
Patient non-verbal and extra-verbal communication can be a valuable source of information for assessment and a gateway into exploring the deepest layers of illness. Understanding the patients’ body language can help to build a greater psycho-emotional-physiologic picture of the patient, aiding in the naturopathic decree to treat the CAUSE and THE WHOLE PERSON. This lecture will discuss basic concepts for interpreting patient body language, and Reich’s unique approach to understanding and treating this “character structure.”
wednesday 9/19/2007
7pm; Room 324
Cost: Free
Lecture 2: Resistance to "Cure": Why some Patients Appear Unable and Unwilling to Get Better?
This lecture digs into the very roots of the Naturopathic Philosophy and Principles.All of our therapies depend not just on the biochemical interactions of the substances we give them, but on the emotional/physical/spiritual factors that make up the WHOLE PERSON.At the root of DOCERE is the idea that we must teach the patient how to take RESPONSIBILITY for their own health.But just as you can’t tell someone to JUST RELAX, taking RESPONSIBILITY requires that the patient have a level of connection with themselves and the world around them.This lecture will explore Reich’s theories about how/why psycho/emotional/physical factors can lead a patient to resist getting better.Whereas Freud attributed this phenomenon to a “death instinct”, Reich and Naturopathy share the view that nature can heal itself, given the opportunity and circumstances.
Saturday 2/23/08
10am; Room 324
Cost: Free
Lecture 3: The Emotional Body (Mind)
In Naturopathic medicine, emotions are thought of as important aspects of optimal health.Unfortunately our training does not enable us to understand the process of an emotional experience and how that effects or is effected by tensions in the body or respiratory patterns.Reich understood emotions to be functionally identical to the movement of energy (Bioenergy) within an organism.The ability of an organism to tolerate and express emotion (bioenergetic movement and excitation) has profound implications for the circulation of blood, the storage of toxins, the function of organs, and the presence of chronic musculoskeletal pain and tension.This is in addition to the classic symptoms that we are familiar with such as anxiety, depression, and other so called psychological disorders.In the third lecture in this series, we will conclude our discussion of body language, resistance, and the doctor-patient relationship by exploring the anatomy of emotional experience and its implications for Naturopathic practice.
Wednesday 4/30/08
6pm; Room 321
Cost: Free