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The Riggs Blog
The Riggs Blog is a mix of news about clinical work, research and educational activities from the Austen Riggs Center, as well as a source for information beyond our walls that we find interesting and thought-provoking. Senior clinical experts, researchers, and editors review all clinical content on this blog before it is published.
The Austen Riggs Center announces a call for entries for its 2021 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media.
On April 21, 2020, the Austen Riggs Center lost a leader, donor, a dear friend, and neighbor. Former Trustee Aso O. Tavitian died last Tuesday, after a battle with cancer, with his devoted wife, Isabella Meisinger, at his side.
Right now, the physical health and well-being of the country depend on our adherence to the recent and ongoing implementation of social distancing (SD) in communities across the globe to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). However, the current scale of SD is unprecedented and may lead to significant and lasting negative psychological effects.
Wearable technology is providing us with an unprecedented amount of information about our health, activity, and our habits. Now they may help answer some pressing questions about the links among social interactions, the quality of our sleep, and suicide risk. Austen Riggs Center Research Assistant Fiona Brown explains some of what may be possible and what it is like to wear one particular device being used in a newly-funded NIMH study.
This video series is taken from our Centennial Conference and features excerpts from many of the presentations – check back often or bookmark the Riggs Blog to see new videos.
“There is an excessive focus on the biomedical at the expense of the biopsychosocial. . . . there are false assumptions that genes equal disease, that patients have single disorders that respond to single evidence-based treatments, that pills are the best treatment that we have.” states Dr. Plakun.
This video series is taken from our Centennial Conference and features excerpts from many of the presentations – check back often or bookmark the Riggs Blog to see new videos.
“At Riggs, in our Therapeutic Community Program, and in individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy, we emphasize the importance of relationships, connection, responsibility for oneself in connection to others, and engage the crucial cycle of rupture and repair that may over time create the conditions for increased resilience and reasons for living,” states Dr. Tillman.
We are currently looking for former Riggs patients who are willing to give voice to their Riggs treatment experience–why they came to Riggs, their experiences during treatment, and the impact their time at Riggs had on their lives–for a video, text, and audio series to be featured on our website, social media, and in other outreach.
From February 11-16, the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), which is the oldest national psychoanalytic organization, will hold its 2020 National Meeting in New York City.
Freedom of Access to Medically Necessary Treatment is one of the Four Freedoms that is a foundation of mental health.
As clinicians know, and as Federal District Court Judge Joseph Spero made part of his verdict in the landmark Wit v. UBH class action lawsuit [which we reference later in this piece], treatment should address underlying problems and co-occurring disorders in a way that goes well beyond mere crisis stabilization. This kind of treatment pursues the goal of recovery. Freedom to Pursue Recovery is another of the Four Freedoms that are foundations of mental health.
“It’s when you work together in a team, in a coordinated way that you can really leverage your power. And people with disabilities, with mental health conditions and physical health conditions have a lot more political power than we think we might,” remarks Ted Kennedy Jr., Esq. in these select remarks from his presentation.
In November of 2016, Dr. Eric M. Plakun’s first piece as psychotherapy columnist for the Journal of Psychiatric Practice was published. You can read this piece and his more recent columns here.
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