FPR-UCLA 4th Interdisciplinary Conference: Cultural and Biological Contexts of Psychiatric Disorder: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Early: May 7 – November 13, 2009
Late: November 14 – December 11, 2009

Please visit the conference page for the latest information and updates:
http://www.thefpr.org/conference2010/overview.php

WHAT: FPR-UCLA 4th Interdisciplinary Conference

Cultural and Biological Contexts of Psychiatric Disorder: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment

WHEN:  Friday--Sunday, January 22-24, 2010

WHERE: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Neuroscience Research Building Auditorium

SYNOPSIS: Our concept of mental illness in the West is largely shaped by the DSM diagnostic model. The DSM categorization of psychiatric disorders has been useful in driving research, and psychiatric neuroscience has made enormous strides in identifying some of the brain-based factors that contribute to mental disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, as well as suggesting possible drug therapies. However, both neuroscientists and anthropologists have raised questions about the validity and utility of these categories. Neuroscientists are concerned that the categories obfuscate the key brain-behavior linkages underlying pathological processes. Anthropologists on the other hand argue that the categories are largely social constructions and that the current neurobiological zeitgeist minimally attends to social and cultural processes of mental illness. Much still remains unknown, particularly how the social and cultural worlds interact with neurobiological processes to produce mental symptoms that we recognize as depression or psychosis in everyday life and what this interaction implies for diagnosis and treatment.

The aim of this conference is to improve the quality of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment by giving specific attention to biological and cultural contexts and their interactions. Given the abundant criticism directed to both the biological and cultural validity of current DSM diagnostic categories, the focus is particularly important and timely. Revisions are now underway that attempt to incorporate divergent cross-cultural aspects of mental illness, as well as underlying neurobiological factors common to different disorders. Both areas will be addressed at the conference in presentations and panel discussions.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: The conference is designed to appeal to a wide audience: clinicians, researchers, social workers and therapists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and others interested in the science, experience, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:

Simon Baron-Cohen <http://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/pages/staffweb/baron/>
  (Cambridge University)
Anne Becker <http://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/people/faculty/becker/>
(Harvard University)
German Berrios
<http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?berrios>
  (Cambridge University)
João Biehl <http://www.princeton.edu/anthropology/faculty/joao_biehl/>
  (Princeton University)
Robert Bilder <http://psychology.npih.ucla.edu/Bilder/index.html>
(University of California, Los Angeles)
Tyrone Cannon <http://www.cannonlab.psych.ucla.edu/>  (University of
California, Los Angeles)
Byron Good <http://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/people/faculty/good_byron/>
(Harvard University)
Mary-Jo Del Vecchio Good
<http://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/people/faculty/good_maryjo/>  (Harvard
University)
Daniel Geschwind, MD, PhD http://geschwindlab.neurology.ucla.edu/
(University of California, Los Angeles)
Roy Richard Grinker
<http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eelliott/faculty/grinker.cfm>  (George
Washington University)
Devon Hinton (Harvard University / Massachusetts General Hospital)
Kay Redfield Jamison
<http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Psychiatry/Faculty/J/Jamison.html>
(Johns Hopkins University)
Eric Kandel <http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/kandel.html>
(Columbia University / Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
J. David Kinzie
<http://www.ohsu.edu/health/meet-our-staff/doctors/doctor.cfm?id=11221>
  (Oregon Health & Science University)
Laurence Kirmayer <http://www.mcgill.ca/tcpsych/faculty/>  (McGill University)
Robert Lemelson <http://ibs.med.ucla.edu/Bios/LemelsonR.htm>
(University of California, Los Angeles / FPR)
Roberto Lewis Fernández
<http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/bec/staff/lewis_fernandez.html>
(Columbia University)
Emily Martin  <http://anthropology.as.nyu.edu/object/emilymartin.html>
  (New York University)
Emeran Mayer <http://www.cns.med.ucla.edu/Bios/MayerE.htm>
(University of California, Los Angeles)
Elinor Ochs <http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/ochs/>
(University of California, Los Angeles)
Mary L. Phillips http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/research/PhillipsML/
(University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Institute of Psychiatry,
UK)
Elyn Saks <http://law.usc.edu/contact/contactinfo.cfm?detailID=300>
(University of Southern California Gould School of Law)
Moshe Szyf <http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/pharma/mszyflab/>  (McGill
University)

Please visit the conference page for the latest information and updates:
http://www.thefpr.org/conference2010/overview.php

(h/t H-MED-ANTHRO)

_____________________________________________

This looks like a wonderful conference on an important topic.  The list of confirmed speakers is particularly impressive.