Recorded Previous Mental Health Lectures
Mental Health Lecture Series
Leading experts in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and behavioral science share knowledge on a broad range of mental health topics in the Alan Hu Foundation Mental Health Lecture Series. Each presentation has been recorded and grouped into topics.
These presentations are for educational purposes only and are not intended for medical diagnoses. If you have any persistent symptoms, please seek professional help.
Anxiety and Stress Topics
When the World Seems Like a Scary Place: Essential Conversations for Anxious Parents and Worried Children
Abigail Gewirtz, PhD
Child Psychologist, Co-Director of REACH, and Foundation Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University
For many children and adolescents, the outside world can feel scary, with a 24/7 news cycle that focuses on negative events, political divisions and rancor, frightening climate events, and other concerns. Parents, who themselves may be anxious, often lack the tools to help their children. Based on Dr. Gewirtz’s book by the same name this webinar aims to help parents to help their children manage a scary world by using an everyday tool at everyone’s disposal: conversations. The presentation is also recommended for educators, teens, and young adults. Dr. Gewirtz’s research examines preventive interventions to strengthen families affected by traumatic stressors. With her research team, she develops, tests, and examines the widespread implementation of parenting interventions for diverse families. The lecture includes a presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. Dr. Gewirtz is a clinician, researcher, program developer, and trainer of providers. A fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association, she has been invited to speak in the U.S. and across the world on parenting in times of stress.
Moving from Surviving to Thriving in the Context of Chronic Stress
Debra Kaysen, PhD
Clinical Psychologist & Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University
Dr. Debra Kaysen presented a webinar focusing on her work as a leading researcher on the effects of traumatic stress and related mental health concerns. Dr. Kaysen has focused her efforts on ways to help provide more accessible mental health care to those in need, including improving COVID-19 related mental health concerns among healthcare workers. Dr. Kaysen will discuss specific strategies to help mitigate stress associated with COVID-19, and to help build resilience. The lecture includes a presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. Dr. Debra Kaysen is a clinical psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. She is the immediate Past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (www.istss.org). Her clinical and research specialty is in treatment for those who have experienced traumatic events including treatment of PTSD and related disorders. She has conducted critical studies on treatment of PTSD across various populations (sexual minority women, Native Americans, sexual assault survivors, torture survivors, and those in active duty military) internationally (the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq) and settings (primary care, rural settings, telehealth). Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Department of Defense, PCORI and USAID. Dr. Kaysen’s clinical work has been featured on This American Life. (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/682/ten-sessions).
Stress and Mental Health
Robert Sapolsky, PhD
John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor, Professor of Biology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at Stanford University
Dr. Robert Sapolsky explains, “Science has known for close to a century that stress, particularly chronic psychological stress, is bad for the health of virtually every organ in the body. Much more recently it has become clear how stress can adversely impact the brain, with a wide range of implications for mood, cognition and behavior. This lecture will give a non-technical overview of the effects of stress and stress hormones on brain function.” The lecture includes a presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. Dr. Sapolsky’s 2008 National Geographic special on stress and his online lectures have been watched tens of millions of times. The humor and humanity he brings to sometimes sobering subject matter make Dr. Sapolsky a fascinating speaker. He lectures widely on topics as diverse as stress and stress-related diseases, depression, memory, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease. His latest book, "Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst", is a New York Times best-seller, a Washington Post Best Book of 2017, and received the Los Angeles Times book prize. His articles have appeared in publications including Discover, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal. His upcoming book is entitled, "Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will".
Understanding and Managing Problematic Anxiety in Children and Adolescents
Wendy Silverman, PhD, ABPP
Alfred A. Messer Professor of Child Psychiatry; Director of the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program, Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine; Professor of Psychology
Dr. Silverman will provide an overview of the core clinical features of anxiety and its disorders in children and adolescents, followed by evidence-based insights to help parents, educators, and youth themselves manage problematic youth anxiety. These insights will be coupled with key treatment management questions that remain unanswered and serve as a future research agenda to pave the way toward improving the harmful impact and outcomes associated with problematic anxiety in young people. The lecture includes a presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. Dr. Silverman has served as principal investigator of National Institute of Health research grants. She has served as chairperson and member of federal grant review panels, editor and associate editor of major journals in clinical psychology, and past president of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Dr. Silverman has received a NIMH mid-career research-mentoring award, continues to help children and families with problematic anxiety, and supervises the next generation of mental health professionals.
Social Anxiety in Children and Adolescents and How to Treat It
Jacqueline Sperling, PhD
Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, Co-Founder and Co-Program Director of the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program at McLean Hospital, and clinical psychologist
Dr. Jacqueline Sperling will present an overview of social anxiety disorder and the factors associated with its development. She will discuss how social anxiety can manifest in different settings and suggest how it can be treated. Lastly, she will discuss what role caregivers can play in supporting the treatment. The webinar will include 15 minutes for questions and answers following Dr. Sperling’s presentation. Jacqueline Sperling, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and the Co-Founder and Co-Program Director of the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program at McLean Hospital. She is also author of the young adult nonfiction book, “Find Your Fierce: How to Put Social Anxiety in Its Place”, and a contributor to Harvard Health Publishing. Dr. Sperling specializes in implementing cognitive behavioral therapy with exposure and response prevention and working with youth who present with anxiety disorders and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder. She also focuses on caregiver guidance by using treatments such as behavioral parent training to help families address children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. In addition, Dr. Sperling is passionate about disseminating evidence-based information to the community and frequently speaks on the impact of social media use on mental health. Moreover, Dr. Sperling is committed to increasing access to care and participates in advocacy at state and federal levels.
美國華裔精神健康聯盟提供中文同步翻譯
Simultaneous Chinese translation is provided by MHACC
We are deeply grateful for grants from these organizations.
