Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Sarah Telzak
PhD Clinical Psychology student at Adelphi University’s Derner School of Psychology
Keynote: A Qualitative Examination of the Role of Shame in the Mother-Daughter Relationship
Biography:
Sarah Telzak is a second-year PhD Clinical Psychology student at Adelphi University’s Derner School of Psychology. She obtained her B.A. in Psychology and Religion (double major) from Wesleyan University in 2011, and her M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2017. Previously, she worked as an assistant research scientist at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at NYU, where she completed classroom-observation evaluations. She is a current Psychology extern at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, where she conducts both group and individual therapy.
Abstract:
I will present findings from an original grounded theory-based study that aims to investigate the phenomenological experience of the emotion of shame, as well as how these experiences of shame may be shared, passed, and/or related between mothers and daughters. This study investigates a range of memories and emotional experiences connected to feeling ashamed, including but not limited to self-consciousness, pride, humiliation, and disgust.
Mothers and daughters will are asked about the role of shame in their relationship with one another and how this relationship may or may not have contributed to the role of shame in their lives.
Participants include pairs of mothers and daughters culled from women ages 18+ who are interested in sharing their narratives with me. Data is collected through extensive in-person interviews with three pairs of mothers and daughters. The primary instrument employed is a questionnaire I developed to probe experiences of shame in one’s relationship with oneself and in one’s relationship with one’s mother or daughter. Questions explore various aspects of shame, including early memories related to not living up to standards, recent experiences with self-exposure and self-disgust, and incidents of feeling belittled, humiliated and disgraced both within and outside of the mother-daughter relationship. In addition, some questions have a projective quality, in order to elicit the more unconscious thoughts and feelings of mothers and daughters.
This study utilizes a grounded-theory approach that employs the constant comparison method developed by Glaser and Strauss, intersubjective consistency, and bracketing. I will also analyze the interviews using Carol Gilligan’s Feminist Listening approach in order to more fully understand how participants speak about themselves and perhaps dissociate from their experiences, as well as to gain insight into the interplay of various voices within each individual. Statistical analyses will be utilized to examine the prevalence of various themes and language use.
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:
Location: Montreal, Canada
Session Introduction
Rammohan Shukla
Department of neuroscience, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio USA
Title: An Integrated systems biology approach identifies causal pathways and neuronal subtypes associated with phasic changes in major depressive disorder
Biography:
Dr Shukla with his expertise both in experimental and computational biology is interested in understanding the causal links to different psychiatric illnesses and developing a unified theory explaining the similarities and differences between them. His research interests are shaped by 1) models (both theoretical and animal) explaining the disease mechanisms 2) cellular micro-circuitry changes in psychiatric disorders 3) biostatistical and machine learning approaches and 4) drug-discovery and repositioning advances for a translational output. Over the past ten years, his research agenda focuses on leveraging these approaches for a better understanding of psychiatric disorders. Dr Shukla did his PhD from National institute for Basic biology, Japan (2009-14) and postdoctoral training from the University of Toronto, Canada (2014-19). Starting June 2019, he joined as Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo, USA. He also serve as an associated editor for the Amarican Journal of geriatric psyiatry.
Abstract:
Statement of the Problem: MDD is characterized by heterogeneous symptoms, including low mood, anhedonia and cognitive impairments. The course of the disease often follows a periodic trajectory (Fig1), which includes recurrent episodes of increasing severity, duration, and progressive resistance to antidepressants, separated by gradually shortening partial or full remission phases, often leading to chronic and treatment-resistance depression with deteriorating functional fitness. Notably, studies so far have majorly focused on the differences between control and MDD subjects. Molecular changes in different phases of the MDD largely remains unknown. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: To address this issue we performed RNAseq of 90 post-mortem subgenual anterior cingulate cortex tissue samples obtained from one control (n=20) and four MDD cohorts in 1) first episode of depression (n=20); 2) remission state after first episode (n=15); 3) recurrent stages of depressive episode (n=20) and 4) remission stages after recurrent episodes (n=15). Integrating with the available single cell RNAseq and drug based transcriptomic profile using machine learning and network biology approaches we looked for cell specific molecular changes, causal biological pathways, and drug molecules and their targets involved in MDD. Findings: Genes and biological pathways associated with the different phases of MDD and their cellular correlates were first characterized. A subset of CRH, VIP and SST positive interneuron neuron showed significant association with the disease trajectory (p-value<3x10-3). Using causal probabilistic Bayesian network, we then showed that MDD is associated with biological changes that include immune system process (FDR<8.67x10-3), cytokine response (FDR<4.79x10-27), and oxidative stress components (FDR<2.05x10-3). Drugs and their associated target proteins which replicates or reverses the expression profiles of the causal pathways were mostly those with antidepressant and antipsychotic properties. Conclusion & Significance: These findings support established clinical evidence of MDD at a molecular level and outlines a novel method of drug discovery by targeting disease-causing pathways.