The world-renowned psychiatrist and author Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Twerski will address the professional staff of Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center on the topic: “The importance of self-esteem in mental health” on Monday, September 9, 2019.
Dr Twerski’s clinical career focuses on addiction and substance abuse, and much of his popular writing – he is the author of over 60 books – is on chemical dependency, stress, self-esteem and spirituality.
Self-esteem, which Dr. Twerski defines as a “true and accurate awareness of one's skills, capabilities and limitations,” has emerged as a major theme in his teaching. He believes that negative self-image and low self-esteem are essentially involuntary psychological blocks that are tantamount to physical disabilities.
In his writing, Dr. Twerski shows that the overwhelming number of psychological problems that have no physiological origin are due to low self-esteem - a distorted self-concept in which a person grossly underestimates oneself.
Dr. Twerski is emeritus medical director of the Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburg, clinical director of the Department of Psychiatry at St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, and founder of the Shaar Hatikvah rehabilitation center for prisoners in Israel.
Dr. Twerski’s talk at Mayanei Hayeshua will be introduced by Professor Rael Strous, medical director and chief psychiatrist of the hospital’s Mental Health Center, which treats over 25,000 patients from all over Israel and beyond each year. The dedicated 7-story building houses dozens of different in-patient departments and out-patient clinics, from Eating Disorders to CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
In the three short years since it opened, the Mental Health Center has already established a reputation for pioneering excellence in Israel’s mental health scene. According to the Ministry of Health, Mayanei Hayeshua’s Mental Health Center boasts the shortest average stay in the country, as well as by far the lowest percentage of patients returning for treatment.
The chair of an all-party Knesset health committee recently announced: “We are recommending to the Minister of Health that Mayanei Hayeshua’s Mental Health Center should serve as the model for all psychiatric facilities in Israel.”
The talk will be broadcast live here. For registration details, please call +972-3-577-5499 or email [email protected].