Empathy, Stress, Brain Science – the Course!

A Rumor of Empathy with Lou Agosta

A famous person (Heinz Kohut) once said: "Empathy is oxygen for the soul." So if one is feeling shortness of breath, maybe one needs expanded empathy! This course will connect the dots between empathy and neuroscience ("brain science"). For example, empathic responsiveness releases the compassion hormone oxytocin, which blocks the stress hormone cortisol. [This is an over-simplification, but a compelling one.] Reduced stress correlates to reduced risk of such life style disorders as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, weak immune system, depression, and the common cold.

The session engages each of the following modules in the discussion segment, including suggested readings. The course will cover the following topics

1. This is your mind on neuroscience - mirror neurons: do they exist, and if not, so what?
2. MRI research: as when Galileo looked through the telescope, a whole new world opens
3. Sperry on the split brain: the information is in the system: how to get at it
4. The neuroscience of trauma - and how empathy gives us access to it

This episode is also available as a blog post with a link to the Youtube video that includes the visual slides for your convenience: http://louagosta.com/2016/12/18/empathy-stress-neural-science-the-movie/

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