Event recording
Event description
Avigail writes: When I was young, I was fascinated with science. I believed that science had or will have the answers to everything. The thought of well-qualified, rational people, carrying out research for everyone’s benefit gave me a sense of security. I believed there was a logical order that determined what will be researched and that it was all good for us. Only later, through education and personal and professional experience, I began to realise that things were not quite what they seemed.
The reality that organisations where scientific research is carried out refuse even to consider looking into some areas, has little to do with scientific spirit, method or principles and everything to do with human factors, most notably fear. One of the things I have learned is that education and qualifications are not automatically associated with maturity, ethics or morality. They are certainly not a panacea against fear.
I believe that if we don’t address fear, our quest to expand the scope of science will fail. We cannot reason with fear. We cannot convince fearful people to not be afraid of expanding the scope of what they are prepared to look into, when they believe that their jobs could be at stake, that they will suffer ridicule or be marginalised. This is especially so when these are not phantom fears, but are based in reality. Ridicule and marginalisation are real and so is the politics behind research and research funding, professional status and academic positions. In other words, the fears are real and well-founded.
This talk is about fear, what it is and what we can do about it. It is based on my clinical work as a psychotherapist working from the perspective of Interpersonal Neurobiology. I hope you will join me.
Avigail Abarbanel has been a psychotherapist in independent practice for over twenty-two years in two countries. She is BACP Snr Accredited and works with individuals, relationships and families. She is also a clinical supervisor, trainer and writer, and has been a political activist for Palestinian human rights. Avigail’s psychotherapy work is rooted in good science. She is fiercely critical of the prevalent symptom-management approach in her field that she believes is a betrayal of our humanity. Avigail thinks that psychotherapy should help everyone move towards their potential and believes that if done in the right spirit, it also has a role to play in changing humanity. Avigail is an informal student of consciousness. She is engaged in her own spiritual development and considers it central to her work. Some of Avigail’s writings are on Substack and her work website is at: fullyhuman.co.uk
