From Po to Poster!

Conference/  The timing of this trip was decided because I was presenting a poster at a conference on PTSD at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  My poster is theoretical, exploring how the Mirror Neuron System could potentially be a factor in posttraumatic stress disorder, or at least give us some new perspectives. I won’t go into the content now;  if you’re interested you can see the poster and read it at http://www.pwillsonphd.com  – but suffice it to say the original title was “Subverting the Dominant Paradigm” because this would challenge a lot of the common ‘wisdom.’

Researching and working out the ideas over six months, then boiling and hacking it down to poster scope (even a LARGE poster), layout, design, graphics, etc. was a gigantic, although rewarding, and not cheap task. It could not have happened without tremendous effort by my daughter Shasta, and several patient and supportive friends, and I am really grateful to all. Thank you, David, for last minute hand-holding and slap upside the head!

So today was the big day, and I was steeling myself against disappointment, after realizing yesterday that what I find to be an astonishing new angle may seem a tad unsettling to the ‘big dogs,’ most of whom have built  their careers  looking at PTSD exclusively through the lens of fear conditioning.  I had mildly challenged them on that in a different matter, and to say it was like confronting a suddenly unified pack of snarling  jackals defending their  wildebeast carcass would be a ridiculous exaggeration…  it was more like, “Did you hear something? Did somebody say something?  “No, no — I think someone just farted is all. Now  — what were we talking about?”   A couple people quietly gave me thumbs up afterwards for the effort, but it did cut into my naivete. 

It was a slow start once the poster was up, mainly because of how they were set up — poor display area — and fortunately Shasta had demanded we put it up on a website. In fact at one point she wouldn’t release the poster to me until I picked a domain name.  But first an older couple got into it – they especially were attracted by the graphics — and they quickly understood the implications of the ideas. Then an Israeli psychiatry researcher (we can consider him a  biggish dog and extremely well-connected) walked by.  He liked the brains, then really liked some of the quotes, and then really liked the ideas, and was very encouraging. Next one of the top US researchers in Virtual Reality therapy totally got excited, which was great fun.

A couple more people came by and you could see their eyes light up as they read, nodding as one does when a new idea suddenly seems completely logical. And then Dr. Huge Dog came by, sniffed that it was “just” conceptual, pursed lips to learn that I have no research affiliation, and said the ideas needed to be fleshed out (It’s a  %$#!&*%^ POSTER!) and didn’t entirely approve of hand-painted brains or the display set up, but allowed that it was interesting and he’d look at it online.  (Insert roll-eyes smiley here.)  Wish I’d gotten his protege instead, who is one of those guys who leaves a careless  trail of genius behind him like Pigpen leaves muddy footprints.  He’s so bright he almost seems to not be quite physical  —  like there’s too much mental energy for his cell structure to contain and it shimmers when he speaks.

Finally the very 1960’s Californian Dr.Dude running the first legal Ecstasy research with severe chronic PTSD wandered over (which  – gleeful jig here – he said may possibly neurochemically reverse some of the exact Mirror Neuron changes I described in my poster!) And his partner breathes respectfully, “Wow. What cool brain scans — is that a new PET technique?”  Bada-bing!   The lead researcher was a very nice guy as you might expect of someone with a boatload of MDMA echoing through the neural corridors.

And now the trip is all gravy from here.  Maybe I can start getting some sleep. So far the jet-lag acclimatization is not as good as usual, but tomorrow I get to sleep in,  and I plan to meander and shop.   The relaxation will be nice.