“Understanding Mental Illness: Mapping the Brainâ€
BERKSHIRE COUNTY - In recognition of Mental Health Month, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Berkshire County announces that Alex N. Sabo, M.D. will speak on Wednesday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Medical Arts Complex at Berkshire Medical Center, 5th floor classroom, 510 North St. The program is free and open to members, professionals, and anyone interested in mental health issues.In his talk "Understanding Mental Illness: Mapping the Brain", Dr. Sabo will discuss the self, the family, the brain and how all three are impacted by mental illness. Beginning with Paul Maclean’s map of the brain, and how we all try to manage it, he will outline several ways that we process information in our everyday functioning. Finally, he will show how brain function can be disrupted, producing various mental illnesses, and restored, providing pathways to recovery. In easy to understand language, Dr. Sabo's presentation will help audience members begin to understand the complexities of the brain.
Alex N. Sabo completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard College and his medical studies at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He did his psychiatric residency at the Cambridge Hospital, Harvard Medical School and a Fellowship at the Austen Riggs Center. At Mclean Hospital he served as Clinical Director of the Psychosocial Program and later as Director of the Clinical Evaluation Center. He has won teaching awards for medical student and psychiatric resident education at McLean Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Berkshire Medical Center and the American Psychiatric Association.
In Berkshire County from 1994 to the present he has played a leadership role in the integration of mental health and substance abuse services and the outreach of those services to primary care medicine. He is the Chairman and Residency Program Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Berkshire Medical Center (BMC). He has also served as the Director of Psychiatry for the Clinical Collaborative of BMC and the Brien Center for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, whose combined acute units and outpatient clinics served approximately 12,000 residents of the county last year. In April of 2002, this mental health and substance abuse treatment system was given state-wide recognition through the Massachusetts Department of Medical Assistance Commissioner’s Innovation Award for “demonstrating exceptional leadership and vision in developing innovative practices to serve Mass Health clients with chronic needs”.
Dr. Sabo is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His book with Leston Havens, The Real World Guide to Psychotherapy Practice, was published by Harvard University Press in 2000. He is author of articles on Borderline Personality Disorder, suicide risk assessment and other topics in contemporary psychiatry. He has conceived and helped implement health system and community-wide projects involving screening strategies for depression and suicide risk reduction and attenuating the prescription opioid epidemic.
Dr. Sabo will touch upon specific diagnoses, and he will take questions from the audience. For further information about this and other NAMI-BC programs please contact Bonnie Brace, Executive Director, at (413) 443-1666, e-mail: namibc@namibc.org, or visit www.namibc.org.
