Journal of Psychiatry

Elimination of violent and intractable self-injurious and assaultive behaviors with humane aversive conditioning

27^th International Conference on PSYCHIATRY & PSYCHOLOGY HEALTH

June 18-19, 2018 Paris, France

Miles Cunningham

Harvard Medical School, USA

Keynote: J Psychiatry

Abstract:

Individuals with developmental disorders, such as intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), can engage in violent behaviors that place themselves and others at dire risk. Many of these patients are refractory to pharmacological and behavioral interventions and are expelled from conventional treatment programs with no recourse. Graduated electronic deceleration (GED) is an aversive conditioning approach that has been shown to be effective in eliminating dangerous behaviors without physical or psychological side effects. However, no mechanism has been offered for its efficacy.

Biography :

Miles Cunningham has earned his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MD from Harvard Medical School with a special interest in Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology. He has completed his residency training at the Massachusetts General and McLean Hospitals while continuing neuroscience research focusing on the study of the corticolimbic circuitry of psychopathology. He presently administers an independent scientific initiative, the Laboratory for Neural Reconstruction, in which emotional circuitry and psychopathology are studied via precision engraftment of genetically engineered neural cells. His clinical roles include serving as the Medical Director of the McLean Hospital Lincoln Residence, working and attending at an addictions medicine clinic and consulting for patients with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.

E-mail: mcunningham@mclean.harvard.edu