VMU Community Invited to Participate in International Conference
Over the decades, psychotherapy has developed a body of instruments helping individuals deal with their personal traumas. With an accelerating rate of success, professionals have been applying these instruments in tackling the post-traumatic stress disorders of their patients. Governments, too, have adopted these tools for addressing the needs of such affected groups as war veterans and refugees.
But can the scientific achievements of psychotherapy help larger entities like a nation overcome their collective traumas caused by warfare, ethnic and religious violence, genocide, massacre, or political oppression? Is it feasible to approach and treat a society as a patient? What are the long-term consequences of a collective trauma that remains unattended for generations?
To answer these questions, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with Andrei Sakharov Research Centre of Vytautas Magnus University, the Psychology Institute of Vilnius University and other partners, is organizing an international conference “Dealing with the Trauma of an Undigested Past.” In an unprecedented effort to “marry” psychotherapy with diplomacy, the conference will look into the scope of collective trauma among different nations, explore the cases of success and failure in addressing the traumatic effects and post-traumatic disorders, evaluate these cases from the perspective of psychotherapy professionals, and seek to develop policy recommendations which could help governments and international organizations facilitate peace-building and reconciliation through faster healing of historical wounds.
The conference is bringing together a unique collective of recognized experts from Europe, Asia, and America, including the 2015 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich (Belarus), the four-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Professor Vamik Volkan (USA), novelist, independent thinker, author of international bestsellers Andriy Kurkov (Ukraine), the three-time Oscar nominee, former Minister of State for External Affairs, M. J. Akbar (India), OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities, Ambassador Lamberto Zannier, and many other.
The conference will take place in the Royal Palace of Grand Dukes, Vilnius, Lithuania, from the 5th to the 6th of March, 2020.
