WHAT: “The Neurophysiology of Dissociation and Chronic Disease: Healing with Somatic Experience,” a lecture about trauma, chronic disease and returning to wholeness
WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13
WHERE: Nancy Smith Hurd Auditorium, School of Nursing building, at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Campus of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive
WHO: Robert Scaer, M.D., a neurologist and trauma expert from Boulder, Colo., and Ana Do Valle, O.T.R., S.E.P., an occupational therapist and somatic experiencing partner specializing in treatment of early childhood trauma
The speakers will discuss a theory of trauma based on the fight/fight/freeze response in individuals dealing with traumatic life events. Inability to discharge the energy of the trauma may result in a psychological state of dissociation, post-traumatic stress disorder and poor autonomic regulation affecting immune dysfunction. Somatic experiencing is a therapy that promotes restoration of physical well-being and psychological wholeness.
The lecture is sponsored by the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio’s School of Nursing; the Health & Human Consortium, a nonprofit organization in San Antonio; and the Foundation for Human Enrichment, a nonprofit organization with community education efforts worldwide.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $36 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 25,600 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.