Awestruck: How the New Science of Awe Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Connected – Jonah Paquette, PsyD

What do you feel when you gaze up at the Milky Way, listen to an incredible piece of music or witness an act of great courage? This feeling – often complete with goosebumps and a shiver down our spine – is known as awe. And as it turns out, this underappreciated and often misunderstood emotion just might hold an important key to a happy, meaningful and healthy life. Recent research has shown that awe can help improve our physical health, strengthen our social bonds and help us to become lastingly happier. Experiences of awe strengthen our immune system, improve our psychological well-being and even change our brain in unique ways. In this seminar, participants will explore the nature and benefits of awe and how learning to become more awestruck can improve our psychological, physical and social well-being. Through lecture, vignettes and videos, you’ll learn to harness these breakthrough findings to benefit both your clinical practice and your own life.

Course Objectives

1. Explain the benefits of awe for psychological well-being.
2. Explain the importance of awe as a fundamental human emotion.
3. Explain the positive effect of awe on social relationships.
4. Describe the impact of awe on physical health, including its effect on inflammation and the immune system.
5. Describe the ways that experiences of awe change the body and brain.

Continuing Education Information

Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Programs is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Programs maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The California Board of Behavioral Sciences recognizes the California Psychological Association’s continuing education credits for use by their licensees.

Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Programs designate this live activity for 3.5 continuing education credits for the above-identified licensed professionals.