THE DC METRO AREA TRAUMA FORUM will hold its 3rd professional meeting Sunday, March 21 from 2:30-5:30 p.m.at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington
Richard J. Loewenstein, M.D.“The Challenge of Diagnosing Disorders of Concealment:The Office Mental Status Exam for Dissociative Symptoms/Dissociative Disorders” following the presentation, a video of Dr. Loewenstein interviewing a DID patient will be shown to demonstrate complex dissociative symptomatology in the clinical interview.
Dr. Loewenstein began developing the Mental Status Examination for Complex Dissociation in the early 1980’s when complex dissociative disorders were diagnosed primarily through hypnotic interventions. This approach had its own set of problems, and Dr. Loewenstein was struck by the lack of systematic assessment methods for these complex clinical presentations, particularly for the average clinician. Using an established semi-structured clinical interview model, Dr. Loewenstein developed the MSE for Complex Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders. The MSE provides guidance on inquiring systematically about dissociative phenomena with which clinicians might be unfamiliar, or that can appear to be symptomatic of non-dissociative conditions. Program participants will take away a more in-depth understanding of how to: 1. Recognize the major symptom clusters associated with chronic complex dissociative disorders 2. Ask mental status exam questions which can identify dissociative patients 3. Learn to distinguish symptoms in dissociative patients that are similar to symptoms of psychotic patients, mood disorder patients, personality disorder patients, etc.
Richard J. Loewenstein M.D. is Senior Psychiatrist, Founder and Medical Director of The Trauma Disorders Program at Sheppard Pratt Health Systems, Baltimore, MD. He is also Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Yale University School of Medicine where he did his residency. Also, he completed a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Loewenstein’s numerous publications include papers and book chapters on sleep disorders, consultation-liaison psychiatry, dissociative and other trauma disorders. Dr. Loewenstein lectures frequently on dissociation and trauma to regional, national, and international groups. In 2007, Dr. Loewenstein co-chaired the American Psychiatric Association President’s Task Force on the Biopsychosocial Consequences of Childhood Trauma. In 2008, he was awarded the Cornelia Wilbur award for his contributions to clinical studies of traumaand dissociation by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. He was invited to present the Pierre Janet annual award lecture to the same organization at their annual meeting in 2008.To
RSVP for the program: Send an email to tallytripp@gmail.com by Friday, March 12. Please put “DC TRAUMA FORUM” in subject line.
First time attendee: Please include in the body of your email your full name, your email address, contact phone numbers, and name and location of your practice setting. Cost of admission: Suggested donation of $15 (onsite) to cover expenses of the Trauma Forum.Students: Admitted free with a valid university ID.Location: Psychiatric Institute of Washington, 4228 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington DC 20016
***Please, if you RSVP but find you cannot attend, let us know as your seat could be used by someone else. We expect the response to exceed the room’s capacity of 100 and may have to turn people away so your consideration is appreciated.
Questions? Call Vicky Balenger at (703) 909-6806.
In the event of inclement weather, a message regarding the meeting’s status will be left on this number.
DC Metro Area Trauma Forum Planning Committee
Jan Freeman, MSW, Founder & Chair
Joan Turkus, MD, Co-Chair
Vicky Balenger PhD
Tally Tripp MSW, ATR-BC
Florence Hannigan MSW
Christine Courtois PhD
The Trauma Forum Mission: The Trauma Forum mission is to bring together psychotherapists in the Washington, D.C. area who are committed to the challenging work of treating traumatized persons. Our vision for the DC Metro Area Trauma Forum is to create a safe space that is both emotionally supportive and intellectually stimulating for clinicians in order to share our collective wisdom and experiences in providing trauma treatment.We welcome mental health professionals from diverse backgrounds and treatment settings; seasoned clinicians as well as new therapists; clinicians whose professional identity already includes “trauma therapist” and those who periodically encounter clients with complex posttraumatic presentations. A strong interest of the project is to encourage and facilitate collaborations between the many and varied schools of thought regarding psychotherapy, diagnostic categories and treatment approaches for complex trauma and dissociative disorders.
