Topic: THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF SURPRISE. Surprise is a reflex of the autonomic nervous system. Depending on one's life experience, a “violation of expectancy” induces FEAR and resulting feelings of rage, shame, reverence, or humor. Through the story of a chance engagement between a man and a coyote, her talk sheds light on the how and why of this body/brain event.
Marythelma Bio
Marythelma Brainard Ransom, PhD, has been a practicing therapist since 1978 when she moved home to Albuquerque from California where she had been a high school English teacher and reading specialist, and had been selected as a Title 1 Coordinator dedicated to the intensive teaching of reading and math to children of poverty. It was in this latter position that she learned “to prevent childhood problems one needs first to remediate adults.”
After earning a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Santa Clara, Marythelma worked at Laguna Pueblo as a teacher, therapist, and as a counseling supervisor, while completing work for her PhD at The University of New Mexico.
From 1987 to 2002, she taught and supervised residents at the UNM School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. She also served on the faculty of Los Cumbres, New Mexico, Infant Mental Health Commission.
During this time, and since, she has maintained a private practice with individuals, couples, and groups, with an emphasis on the dynamics of relationships.
In 2020, she received a prestigious award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis for work with one of her groups known as the True Self Project. It was at this time that she became a member of the Humanist Society of New Mexico.
Humanist Society of New Mexico, A Nonprofit Corporation * P.O. Box 27293, Albuquerque, NM 87125-7293 * Contact@HumanistsNM.org
