THE SUBTEXT OF ANGER | Mind Emotion Body Psyche Spirit

Bruce McEwenNeuroendocrinologist
The Rockefeller University, USA

'We are particularly interested in how stress affects the brain because the brain is the central organ of stress that interprets and decides what is threatening...'

BRUCE McEWEN – Head of Neuro Endocrinology at Rockefeller University, Bruce McEwen is better known as the Grandmaster of Stress Neurobiology. He studies the mechanisms underlying stress and its impact on the brain, the body and what that may do behaviorally.

Grandmaster of Stress Neurobiology and also known as the King of Resiliency, Bruce McEwen is one of the pioneers of research on the effects of various hormones on the human brain.

His research has helped create a new understanding of how the brain changes in structure and function during development and in adult life, and how stress impacts neurons in the brain and the body subsequently.

His research has been tremendously influential, scientifically, and in policy circles.

Much awarded for his work, Dr McEwen has published more than 700 papers and is the co-author of The End of Stress as We Know It with science writer Elizabeth Lasley.

RICHARD J. DAVIDSONProfessor of Psychology and Psychiatry
Director, Lab for Affective Neuroscience
University Of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

'One of the things that we measure behaviorally is the capacity to focus attention and that is a prerequisite for emotional stability.'

RICHARD DAVIDSON – Featured in Time Magazine amongst the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006, Richard J. Davidson is one of the world’s leading neuro-scientists. Dr. Davidson directs a brain-imaging laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research is focused on emotion and on the effects of calming techniques on the brain, which his lab has been documenting since 2000.

Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Richard Davidson set up the University of Wisconsin- Investigating Healthy Minds Centre in order to investigate healthy qualities of the mind and how to cultivate those qualities in children and adults. With his ongoing research on Buddhist monks, he has been involved in the science of positive emotions, of compassion, caring and altruism, as well as on brain function as a way to study the fullness of human potential.

2007’s Person of the year by Madison Magazine, Dr Davidson believes mental exercise, specifically meditation, can literally change our minds. He has maintained his own daily meditation practice since many years.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Davidson is a graduate of New York University and received his PhD from Harvard University in 1976.

The recipient of several eminent awards, Dr Davidson has published more than 250 articles, many chapters and reviews and edited 12 books. With Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, he has co-authored a study that evaluated the effects of mindfulness meditation training, including its effects on one’s immunity.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, credits Davidson with engaging“the methods of science… to get their arms around questions of the brain and human consciousness with rigor."

ROBERT MORRIS SAPOLSKYNeuroendocrinologist and Primatologist
Professor of Neuroscience
Stanford University, USA

'What’s in your brain affects your bodies including hormones, and hormones affect your brain and you’ve got this loop...'

ROBERT SAPOLSKY – Professor of Neuroscience at Stanford University and a ‘Star Scientist’, Robert Maurice Sapolsky’s work was amongst the first to document the effects of chronic stress on the brain’s center of learning and memory. He explains the action and reaction of stress on the brain and on behavior, and how it may become a loop, chronically.

Recognised as "one of the best scientist-writers of our time" by Oliver Sacks and "one of the finest natural history writers around" by The New York Times, Robert Sapolsky is amongst the world’s leading neuroscientists.

For over twenty-three years Dr Sapolsky has made annual trips to East Africa to study a population of wild baboons and the relationship between personality and patterns of stress-related disease in these animals.

His lab was amongst the first to document that prolonged stress can accelerate aging by damaging neurons of the hippocampus, the part of the brain he calls ''the keyboard that directs memory retrieval”.

Apart from several awards and grants of eminence, Dr Sapolsky received the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” fellowship in 1987 at the age of 30.

His work has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, TED.com, amongst many other media networks.

His books, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, A Primate’s Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone and Monkeyluv, have won numerous honors and sold thousands of copies, in the United States and abroad.

Robert Sapolsky received his B.A. in biological anthropology from Harvard University and subsequently attended Rockefeller University where he received his Ph.D. in Neuroendocrinology working in the lab of Bruce McEwen, a world-renowned endocrinologist.

Born to an orthodox Jewish family, Robert is an Atheist.

RAYMOND DIGIUSEPPE Professor and Chair
Psychology Department
St. John’s University, USA

'We have identified a number of different patterns for the expression of anger…'

RAYMOND DIGIUSEPPE – A leading researcher on Anger and Aggression, Dr Raymond DiGiuseppe is the co-author of Understanding Anger Disorders. He heads the Department of Psychology at St. John‘s University in New York.

Dr. Raymond DiGiuseppe, Director of Professional Education at Albert Ellis Institute in New York, is an authority on Anger, Aggression and Rational Emotional Behavioral Therapy, and has trained hundreds of therapists in the field.

A highly sought after speaker, Dr. DiGiuseppe has contributed to scientific and clinical literature with over 100 publications and 6 books. He writes on subjects ranging from adolescent depression, alcoholism, substance abuse to anger and aggression.

Ray DiGiuseppe received his Ph.D. from Hofstra University in 1975. Dr. DiGiuseppe joined St. John's in 1987, where he developed the doctoral program in school psychology.

He lives with this wife and four children, and cooks great risotto.

SUSAN NOLEN-HOEKSEMAProfessor of Psychology
Yale University, USA

'Women are more likely to feel as though they don’t have control, they don’t have the resources or the freedom to make the choices they would want.'

SUSAN NOLEN-HOEKSEMA – The author of the bestselling Women Who Think Too Much and Eating, Drinking, Overthinking, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema is Professor of Psychology at Yale University. Featured on the Today show and in The New York Times for her award-winning research on women’s mental health, Dr Nolen-Hoeksema comments on how constant rumination or brooding can have a snowballing effect and lead to an upward spiral of anger.

Dr Nolen- Hoeksema’s research focuses primarily on women's mental health and well-being.

In addition to her research articles, Dr Nolen-Hoeksema has published 12 books, including The Power of Women: Harness Your Unique Strengths at Home, at Work, and in Your Community; Women Who Think Too Much; and Women Conquering Depression.

She is attempting to determine if self –reflection is a good thing, and at what point might it dip into excessive rumination and brooding.

She has also studied contributors to alcohol abuse in both men and women, and the relationship between alcohol abuse and depression.

Dr Nolen-Hoeksema has won three major teaching awards and several awards for her research, including the Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association (APA), the Leadership Award from the Committee on Women of the APA, and a Research Career Award from the National Institute for Mental Health.

Dr. Nolen-Hoeksema has been the recipient of several large national grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, and several private foundations. She received her B.A. in psychology from Yale University and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Pennsylvania.

EMIL F. COCCAROProfessor and Chairman
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience
University Of Chicago, USA

'Once you do something aggressive it sort of breaks down a barrier. If you’ve done that, if you’ve crossed that line, it makes it easier to cross other lines.'

EMIL COCCARO – Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago, Dr Coccaro is the leading authority on Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), an extreme form of Anger expression, now mentioned in the DSM IV.

An expert in anger, impulsive aggression, mood and anxiety disorders, Dr. Emil Coccaro is renowned for his research and understanding of Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED).

Through the use of neuroimaging, Dr Coccaro has studied and conducted clinical trials to validate the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Supportive Therapy for treating anger.

Dr.Coccaro has 128 medical publications to his name. He has appeared as an expert commentator on CNN, In Time TV and their Medicine internet TV talk show as well, amongst other interviews.

Dr. Coccaro graduated from New York University School of Medicine.

ANDREW POWELLFounding Chair
The Psychotherapy and Spirituality Special Interest Group
Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK

'I think human beings are hard wired to search for meaning and a life without meaning is a life of hell.'

ANDREW POWELL – A psychiatrist and visiting professor at Oxford University, Dr Andrew Powell founded the Special Interest Group on Psychotherapy and Spirituality of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP). Co-author of Listen to Your Body: The Wisdom of Dao, Dr Powell is uniquely and deeply insightful about psyche-mind-body connections.

Dr. Powell is a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist with a special interest in the influence of spirituality on our physical and psychological well being. Dr. Powell has held consultant and senior academic appointments at Oxford and London and has served at UK’s National Health Service for 30 years.

A member of the Royal College of Physicians, the Institute of Group Analysis in London, and the British Psychodrama Association, Dr Powell has published numerous papers in scientific and medical journals on subjects such as Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, Mental health and Spirituality, Meditation, Psychiatry and Spirit Release Therapy and Spirituality and Science.

SHUBHINDER SHERGILConsultant Psychiatrist,
Forensic Learning Disabilities
St Andrew’s Healthcare
Northampton, UK

'Aggression in itself is not all a negative thing, aggression is what Freud describes as one of our innate drives…'

SHUBHINDER SHERGILL – A psychiatrist specializing in Forensic Learning Disabilities, Dr Shubhinder Shergill sees patients who have committed violent crime, in a secluded hospital as an alternative to prison. He enumerates psychological factors and their impact that lead to episodes of anger.

Dr Shergill works at the Geoffrey Hawkins Unit at St Andrew’s Healthcare. St Andrew's is UK's largest not-for-profit mental health care charity.

He specializes in a person-centered approach to secure men’s learning disability services.

Dr Shergill has also been serving as a part time member of the Parole Board for England and New South Wales, since 2007.

ANDREW SAMUELSJungian Psychologist and Psychotherapist
London, UK

'I would imagine that a lot of women feel that they are really up against the system, up against the structures of the family in particular…'

ANDREW SAMUELS – Dr Andrew Samuels is amongst the first Professors of Analytical Psychology in the world. A Jungian Psychologist, Dr Samuels is a prolific author, commentator, and a specialist on aggression.

Amongst Britain's best known psychotherapists whose work on politics, men, and fathers has achieved international recognition, Professor Andrew Samuels has worked with politicians, political organizations, activist groups and members of the public in Europe, US, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Russia and South Africa as a political and organizational consultant.

Andrew Samuels began his career running a commune-style radical theatre company in the late 1960s and early 1970s, directing plays in and around Oxford. At the age of 22, he counseled underprivileged children in South Wales. He then gained a Diploma in Social Administration at the London School of Economics, subsequently qualified as a Psychiatric Social Worker and went on to train at the Society of Analytical Psychology.

Andrew is Professor of Analytical Psychology at Essex and holds Visiting Professorships at New York, London and Roehampton Universities.

Some of his publications include: Jung and the Post-Jungians (1985), The Father (1986), Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis (1986), The Plural Psyche: Personality, Morality and the Father (1989), Psychopathology (1989), The Political Psyche (1993), and the award- winning Politics on the Couch: Citizenship and the Internal Life (2001).

JETSUNMA TENZIN PALMOBuddhist Nun
Founder- Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery
Himachal Pradesh, India

'We are no longer centered within ourselves…'

JETSUNMA TENZIN PALMO – Amongst the first Western women ever to be ordained a Buddhist Nun, Tenzin Palmo is the protagonist of A Cave in the Snow, a book that documents her life and her twelve-year retreat in isolation in a remote Himalayan cave. In the film, she comments on the nature and workings of anger from the Buddhist perspective.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is a Tibetan Buddhist nun, an author, teacher and founder of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Born in London in 1943, the daughter of a fishmonger, Tenzin Palmo left for India at the age of 20, following her inner voice. In 1964, she became one of the first Western Buddhist nuns in the Tibetan tradition.

In February 2008, in recognition of her spiritual achievements as a nun, her deep insight and her efforts in promoting the status of female practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism, Tenzin Palmo was given the rare title of "Jetsunma" or ‘Venerable Master’ by the supreme head of the Drukpa Lineage.

Apart from the biographic ‘A Cave in the Snow’, Tenzin Palmo has been profiled in several international publications. She published her own teachings under the title: Reflections On A Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism.

DARIN DAUGHERTYPsychiatrist
Harvard Medical School
Boston, USA

'We know from studies that any behaviour, any emotion that as you activate those circuit in the brain, long term potentiation occurs and it makes those circuits more likely to fire...'

DARIN DOUGHERTY – Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Affiliate at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr Dougherty is a prolific neuro-researcher on anger and inappropriate rage. He elucidates how the brain works during anger and rage attacks.

Awarded the NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and named among the Future Leaders in Psychiatry, Darin Dougherty and his team performed amongst the first brain scans done on people while they wrestled with anger. Their research revealed that in normal subjects, anger increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, a reasoning part of their brains, an area just behind the forehead. This flow inhibits thoughts of rage.

Additionally, his research is also focused on studying neurobiology, the effects of psychiatric drugs on moods, thinking and behavior, and surgical interventions for the treatment of OCD and mood disorders.

Dr. Dougherty has co-authored over 40 original articles in peer-reviewed journals, over 40 book chapters and review articles, and has co-edited two books on neuroimaging.

CRAIG FERRISProfessor and Director
Center for Translational Neuro-Imaging
Northeastern University, Boston, USA

'You’re creating risk or you are creating resilience by how you are raised in your early environment.'

CRAIG FERRIS – Craig Ferris is a Professor of Psychology and Director, Center for Translational NeuroImaging, Northeastern University, Boston Massachusetts.

His academic research focuses on developmental behavioral neuroscience and his interests include the plasticity of the brain and how early emotional and environmental risk factors alter social and cognitive behaviors. The goal of his research is to better understand the brain mechanisms contributing to mental illness and drug addiction in the hope of improving psychosocial and psychopharmacologic intervention strategies.

In 1979, Dr Ferris was awarded the National Student Research Forum, Roche Laboratories Award in Neuroscience. In the following year, he won a Postdoctoral Fellowship NIH Training Program in Endocrinology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. In 1989, he received the Joseph P. Healey Award given by the University of Massachusetts, Board of Trustees and in 1997, he was elected to the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.

He has been interviewed by several media networks including the Discovery Channel, Ivanhoe Broadcast News and the Associated Press to talk about aggression, adolescence, young minds, crime, violence and the use of neuro-imaging.

SANJEEV JAINProfessor of Psychiatry
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India

'There is a finite limit to how much stimuli the brain can actually perceive.'

SANJEEV JAIN – A professor of Genetics of Psychiatric Disorders, the History of Psychiatry and Biological Psychiatry, Sanjeev Jain practices at the reputed National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore in India. NIMHANS is a multidisciplinary Institute for patient care and academic pursuit in the area of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences.

In 2000, NIMHANS conducted one of India's most ambitious and exciting genetic research projects - a multi-institute study to understand the complex nature of man's susceptibility to Schizophrenia through "establishing an uniquely Indian base". With scientists from UK, Germany, US, Scotland and France , the Project in India was led by Dr Jain.

Dr Jain, on NIMHANS faculty since 1986, has worked on the biology of Manic Depression. Since his return from the United Kindgdom in 1994 following a Commonwealth Fellowship to University of Cambridge, (where he specialised in molecular genetics), Dr Jain has pursued molecular studies on both Manic Depression and Schizophrenia.

KAVITA ARORAChild and Adolescent Psychiatrist
New Delhi, India

'I think the balance is fairly skewed…The balance really is about the amount of stimuli you are taking in and the interpretation you are making of them…'

KAVITA ARORA – Kavita Arora is a consultant psychiatrist at several institutions in Delhi, which include Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, Action for Autism, Sparsh-A Special Education and Therapy Centre, and Children First.

She specializes in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Parenting and Transgenderism (Gender Dysphoria issues) in young people and adults.
Dr Arora has served as a Consultant Psychiatrist in Child and Family service at the National Health Service, UK.

DOUGLAS PORPORA Professor of Sociology
Drexel University
Philadelphia, USA

'It’s not just the people, it’s the situation that we’re in.'

DOUGLAS PORPORA – Douglas Porpora is Professor of Sociology at Drexel University in the Department of Culture and Communication. He has written widely on social theory, including an extensive study of how the Iraq war was debated morally—or not―in the op-ed pages of American newspapers. He organized the 2007 IACR Conference at Drexel.

Douglas’ areas of research are War, Genocide, Torture, and Human Rights, Contemporary Social Theory, Moral and Political Communication and Religion.

Dr Porpora is a prolific author. He has several publication to his credit on War, Truama, Rationality and Religion, besides others.

His books include How Holocausts Happen: United States in Central America (1990) and Landscapes of the Soul: The Loss of Moral Meaning in American Life (2001).

PAUL ROZINProfessor of Psychology
University Of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, USA

'Too much choice is actually paralysing and unpleasant;, people do not want to consider 50 digital cameras when they want one.'

PAUL ROZIN – Paul Rozin is known as one of the founding fathers of cognition-and-culture studies and as a psychologist with a rich set of interests.

A Professor of Introductory Psychology for about 30 years at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr Rozin has chaired the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches brain and behavior, dreams and psychoanalysis, learning, sensation and perception, memory, thinking, appetite, and interpersonal relations.

His current work focuses on the psychological, cultural, and biological determinants of human food choice. He also serves as co-director of the school's Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethno-political Conflict.

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award for 2007, Dr Rozin was an editor of the journal, Appetite, for ten years. Paul is a member of the Society of Experimental Psychologists, has twice been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Dr Rozin earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1956 and doctoral degrees in biology and psychology from Harvard University in 1961.

AMIT SENChild & Adolescent Psychiatrist
New Delhi, India

'I think we all are struggling hard to come to terms with the rapid change that we see in society today.'

AMIT SEN – Amit Sen is a Senior Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist.

In the past, Dr Sen has served in Indian Army’s Medical Corp. After finishing his residency, He served as Consultant Psychiatrist at the Delhi Psychiatric Centre. He has also served at the National Health Service, UK, for several years.

He has written on subjects such as Internet addiction in young children, bullying, parenting, autism, and child health for reputed publications including The Telegraph, The Tribune, India Today, Mail Today, Hindustan Times, Indian Journal of Psychiatry and The Times of India.

He is also associated with the Music Therapy Trust which is a registered charity, providing music therapy to children and adults with special needs in the India since 2005.

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