Sam Vaknin

Title : IntraPsychic Activation Model (IPAM)

Abstract:

Our experience of reality is comprised of data from both the external and the internal environments.

These inputs are mediated, structured, and reframed via constructs which activate introjects to produce automatic thoughts. These thoughts affect behaviors intended to modify the environment to conform to a self-state, buttress, and validate it.

Constructs also select memories in order to prevent dissonance and anxiety between recall and self-state. They dissociate memories, alter their emotional content and correlates via attribution and reframing, and impose selectivity.

The construct organizes the output from the introjects according to an algorithm (“identity”) which provides, for each specific environment, selection criteria of self-states and corresponding introjects.

Biography:

Sam Vaknin is a former Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia and Professor of Finance and Psychology in CIAPS (Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies). Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited and other books about personality disorders. His work is cited in hundreds of books and dozens of academic papers. He spent the past 6 years developing Cold Therapy: a treatment modality for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Over the years, with dozens of volunteers, he found that it was effective with clients suffering from a major depressive episode as well. Sam Vaknin's primary interests lie in the realm of personality disorders