No reservations needed and there is no fee. Bring a photo ID for NYU Security. 

All are welcome. One does not have to be affiliated with NYU to attend. 

This is a public service that has been meeting almost monthly for 20 years. For more information: NYC@isps-us.org.

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Psychotic States:Updated Integration of Brain, Mind & Culture

Brian Koehler, PhD

David Brendel (2006), a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in his excellent volume “Healing Psychiatry: Bridging the Science Humanism Divide” noted: “...clinicians and theorists who favor a full-blown merger of neurology and psychiatry tend either to overlook or undervalue the importance of psychosocial causation of mental disorders and the adaptive, purposive, and meaningful nature of psychiatric symptoms” (p. 114). 

We are social beings with social brains living in a social world. Psychiatric disorders have multiple causes spanning the biopsychosocial spectrum and may be imbued with profound existential and interpersonal meanings.The concept of meaning can be a bridge between subjectivity and neurobiology (Frank, 2012). Meanings, e.g., the threat of social exclusion and non-relatedness, can alter gene expression, neuronal activity and even brain structure (e.g., hippocampus) in measurable ways, and these epigenetic stress-related changes may be potentially transmitted across generations, e.g., through multiple microRNAs in the father’s sperm. The most recent risk factors for “schizophrenia” across multiple domains of the genome, epigenome, neurobiome, connectome, immune system,  microbiome, attachment and the social envirome, etc., will be covered. Social processes, both proximal and distal, significantly influence the initiation, course and outcomes of distressing psychotic states.

In addition, the term “schizophrenia,” an open construct for many researchers, will be challenged on scientific and ethical grounds.

I hope to show that an important thread that runs through, and can help to explain the widely diverse neuroscience, immune, phenomenological and sociocultural findings in “schizophrenia” is that of chronic and profound stress/anxiety. This stress, spanning multiple domains, can arise from a number of surprising sources, potentially including transgenerational processes.  These sources, including psychobiological-psychodynamic processes observed by such psychoanalysts as Gaetano Benedetti and Harold Searles, will be covered and discussed. Finally, an integrative model will be proposed that does justice to the whole human being in her or his psychosocial context across development and generations.

The following videos, although not necessary to view, may help to prepare for this talk:

1. "The Role of Psychotherapy in the Age of Neuroreceptors and Genes"

Philoctetes Center, Mar 1, 2010

1 hour 52 minutes: 

Watch on YouTube

Roundtable discussion with Brian Koehler (psychologist-psychoanalyst), Ze'ev Levin (Director, Psychiatric Residency Program, NYU Langone Medical Center), Charles Marmar (Chair, Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical Center), and Ira Steinman (psychiatrist and author, San Francisco).

2. "Brian Koehler on Social Factors in Psychosis, NYU, February 30, 2016"

https://vimeo.com/154396555

Brian Koehler PhD is an Associate Adjunct Professor in the doctoral and MSW degree program of the NYU School of Social Work and the master’s Psychology program at New York University and CUNY. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University, Teachers College in the Master’s Clinical Psychology and  Masters Neuroscience program. 

Brian has taught and supervised at many psychoanalytic institutes, including the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Brian is former president of ISPS-US (International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis) and executive board member of ISPS, an Affiliate Member of the World Psychiatric Association.

Brian is an Associate Editor of the journal “Psychosis: Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches.” He has published many articles and book chapters on integrative models of psychotic states and psychodynamic approaches to the psychoses.

Brian is in full time private practice in Manhattan, NY.

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