Healthy Minds With Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein

The importance of education about symptoms and early intervention to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis, and the value of programs for young people that use a team approach and peer support for patients and their families; substance-induced psychotic disorder and suicide prevention. Guest: Robert O. Cotes, MD., Professor of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine.

Research pioneers turn skin cells from patients with psychiatric conditions into stem cells and then brain cells in cultures to learn how disorders arise to potentially develop therapeutics. Guest: Sergiu P. Pasca, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Founding Director, Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program, Stanford University.

The importance of access to early intervention and the right education plan for autistic children; considering the issues unique to the transition from childhood through adolescence and adulthood with autism. Guest: John N. Constantino, MD., Liz and Frank Blake Chair of Children’s Behavioral & Mental Health, and Chief of Behavioral and Mental Health at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

The key factors for diagnostic assessment of autism – developmental history, degree of symptoms, eye contact, and motor behaviors; studies of genetics and infant eye gaze may lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention. Guest: John N. Constantino, MD, Liz and Frank Blake Chair of Children’s Behavioral and Mental Health, and Chief of Behavioral and Mental Health at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Exploring the unique issues when someone with a psychiatric or neurodevelopmental condition is brought into the criminal justice system as a result of their symptoms or behaviors, including the best way to proceed in that situation, preventative measures, and the value of an independent forensic mental health evaluation for diagnosis and testimony. Guest: Criminal attorney Elizabeth Kelley.

Innovative research uses mathematical models, brain imaging, and behavior assessments to understand and treat the underlying issues of bulimia nervosa and binge eating. Guest: Laura A. Berner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Principal Investigator, Center for Computational Psychiatry, Center of Excellence in Eating and Weight Disorders, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

How excessive acquisition and difficulty discarding possessions leads to hoarding, the genetic and emotional components of the disorder, benefits of cognitive behavior therapy and virtual reality therapy, and how to help family members who don’t recognize their problem. Guest: Carolyn Rodriguez, MD., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine.

How excessive alcohol use - especially begun during adolescence - impacts somatostatin levels in the brain causing anxiety, depression, and future cognitive decline, as well as permanent changes to mood and the brain’s pre-frontal cortex. Guest: Nicole Crowley, Ph.D., Director, Penn State Neuroscience Institute University Park, Associate Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering.

Borderline Personality Disorder patients now have access to several effective therapies including dialectical behavioral therapy, mentalization based therapy and psychiatric management with goals of self-reliance. Guest: Lois W. Choi-Kain, MD. M.Ed., Director, Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

The biology of behavior offers tools for a holistic approach to increase good habits and decrease bad habits including how talk therapy, exposure therapy, meditation and spirituality and more can impact the brain’s pre-frontal cortex to regulate emotion and decision making. Guest:Nii Addy, Ph.D, Albert E. Kent Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine.

New advances in blood tests for biomarkers mean earlier diagnosis and defined categories of Alzheimer’s disease enabling doctors to delay onset of symptoms, with lower costs to patients and higher accuracy. Guest:Howard Fillit, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.

New approaches to psychosis and schizophrenia treat symptoms without the side effects of traditional dopamine blockers; the potential for psychedelics to normalize brain function in depression within a psychotherapy framework; possible psychiatric use of GLP-1 medication to manage side effects and symptoms. Guest: John Krystal, MD., Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine.