SHAME ANGER VIOLENCE
Distinguished Lecture by Dr. David Allen
15 March 2018 (Thursday) | 7:30 - 9pm
HKU Rayson Huang Theatre
Co-organised by:
Department of Social Work & Social Administration, HKU
Faith and Global Engagement, HKU
Visual Psychophysics and Neuroimaging Laboratory, HKU
Anger is often associated as one of the major faces of shame in society. The word shame' has been traced to the root meaning to cover or to hide, exemplified in the Biblical narrative of Adam and Eve. Shame is a deep, hidden feeling produced by the shattering of cherished dreams, wishes and expectations. Because of its hidden nature, the faces of shame in society are anger, violence and abusive relationships. Our research has shown that when a person who is angry and shamed is further hurt, the anger explodes into toxic rage, developing the Evil Violence Tunnel, where a person becomes destructive. The lecture will discuss the brain mechanisms of anger, its different presentations in our lives, and the stages of the Evil Violence Tunnel vignettes of persons who have been the victims of widespread shame and anger. We will conclude by presenting a format of anger management that has proven effective in our research and work.
Dr. David Allen was trained in medicine at Saint Andrew s University, and in Psychiatry and Public Health at Harvard. He has taught at Harvard, Yale and most recently held a clinical professorship in Psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School, in Washington, D. C. He was voted as one of the most outstanding psychiatrists in America, 2002-2003 and 2011-2012. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association for his innovative scientific research, and has been given numerous awards including, the Bahamian Icon Award for Humanitarianism and the RB Bennett Commonwealth prize by the Royal Society of Arts for his international contribution in the field of cocaine addiction research and treatment.
Admission Free. Registration required.
SHAME: 2-part seminar by Dr. David Allen
19 March 2018 (Monday)
HKU Social Sciences Chamber, 11/F Jockey Club Tower
Co-organised by:
Department of Social Work & Social Administration, HKU
Faith and Global Engagement, HKU
Visual Psychophysics and Neuroimaging Laboratory, HKU
Shame and Contemplative Discovery:
A Community Resocialization Process (12:30-2pm)
Set within a fragmented community, The Family: People Helping People project is a group process model that aims to facilitate cultural resocialization through personal transformation. Based on the Contemplative Discovery Pathway Theory (CDPT), the family models a nuclear family, and uses an open discussion approach to address various psychosocial issues within the context of society. In the Bahamas, where the “Family” project was launched, we discovered that as persons share their life stories in a contemplative atmosphere of love, mindfulness, and nonjudgmental listening, a powerful healing bond develops within a group. This healing bond we define as “Family”. Through our qualitative and quantitative research we found that persons attending the Family community groups have experienced decreased anger, violence, revenge, and abusive relationships. This was accompanied by an increase in self-esteem, conflict resolution, benevolence, hopefulness, forgiveness, and gratitude. These findings validated the effect of the Family: People Helping People project in producing character development and resocialization.
Intimacy in a Distant World (4-5:30pm)
Contemplation may be defined as a process which involves the transformation of consciousness, opening us to love and forgiveness. This allows us to release our shame and experience a deeper sense of intimacy within ourselves and toward each other. This counteracts the prevailing sense of loneliness in spite of the burgeoning technology in modern society.
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