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Journal Clinical Psychiatry and Cognitive Psychology | Volume 3
allied
academies
March 18-19, 2019 | London, UK
6th World Congress on
Anxiety, Depression and Stress Management
Excessive stress can epigenetically alter an individual’s DNA
and affect mental health. For in- stance, women who have
been exposed to domestic violence have been found to have
psychopathological alterations in their behaviors and in their
hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. However,
these changes are reversible, because people can change
their genetic makeup by changing their thoughts and beliefs.
This provides an opportunity for domestic violence survivors
to acquire behavioral and cognitive practices that support
healthier epigenetic modifications in the expression of genes.
The use of strategies centered on spirituality has been proposed
as a skill that can enhance resilience, which is the ability to adapt
to stress and adversities. Similar to the epigenetic mechanisms
involved in excessive stress, resilience can also alter gene
expressions, which can support healthier neuropsychological
functioning. For victims of domestic violence, enhancing their
spirituality through prayers, meditation, or cognitive reframing
can lead to neuropsychological changes that can offset the
negative psychopathological alterations that occur during
excessive stress. A study that frames spirituality as a buffer
for stress caused by domestic violence could be significant
in further illuminating the power of thoughts and beliefs in
influencing our neurological functioning.
Speaker Biography
Maysar Sarieddine is an architect, a businessman, a philosopher, and a psychologist. He
completed his doctorate in Depth Psychology with an emphasis on Community, Liberation,
and Ecopsychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California. His dissertation topic was
an attempt to understand the dynamics of violence in Lebanon and the Middle East,
specifically domestic violence against women, and to provide possible solutions that
could be integrated in a more holistic way in society. He is the founder of The Inner Space
, and a Professor of Psychology at both The Lebanese American
University (LAU, Lebanon) and Phoenecia University (PU, Lebanon). Maysar Sarieddine is
interested in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed and in applying insights in a wide variety of
organizational development and transformation; His motto in life is, “EDUCATING FOR THE
PURPOSE OF LIBERATION.”
e:
Maysar Sarieddine
The Inner Space, Lebanon
Learning spiritual behaviors as a means to reverse harmful epigenetic changes
resulting from domestic violence