21 - 30 of 88 results for: PSYC

What is the current U.S. socio-political climate like for Muslims? How is it affecting their mental health? Executive Order 13769, dubbed the "Muslim Ban", suspended the entry of citizens from multiple Muslim-majority countries and banned the entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely. The "Muslim Ban" coincided with the highest level of hate crimes against Muslims in America (91% increase in 2017 per CAIR). These levels are comparable to post-9/11 levels of hate crimes. Decades of research on minority communities has documented how stress associated with stigma, intimidation and discrimination is detrimental to physical and mental health. In this seminar we will explore the historical implications of Islamophobia and its modern-day impact on the global refugee crisis. Students will be introduced to the stigma that surrounds mental health in general and minority communities in particular. Special attention will be paid to the development of the nascent field Islamic Psychology and integrating Islamic spirituality into therapy as a means of addressing the under utilization of mental health services in Muslim populations. A combination of stimulating group discussions, talks by guest speakers, and field trips to community partners will provide students with different perspectives and a deeper understanding of these topics. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

Science is increasingly relevant to society, yet public understanding often falls short. Advancements in media have created new opportunities for scientists to reach the public with scientific information. However, few trainings teach how to do this responsibly and effectively. This course examines how to communicate science through feature articles, podcasts, social media, television, books, documentaries, and videos. Students will learn to accurately translate and communicate science topics in the context of theoretical and methodological approaches, and to apply these tools in an original way to generate a high-quality outreach piece by the end of the course.

Students at Stanford and students at a community mental health site co-learn theories and co-create songs in this community-engaged course. From memes to magazines, "psychoanalysis has returned" - perhaps partly in response to crises of the twenty-first century with no easy, rational answers. How do the participatory arts and music align with contemporary psychoanalytic approaches that act at the level of the psychosocial and institutional? We explore in theory and practice how the psychic is social and the social is psychic. The course culminates in a community song-sharing celebration. Note: no musical training is required to take this course. This is a Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center for Public Service.

In this seminar we want to take a look at women's lives beginning in the past century to the present and the many changes which occurred in conceptualizing and understanding mental illness. The female reproductive system has been linked to mental illness in women for centuries. The womb was believed to be the source of anxiety and depression, leading women to become 'hysterical'. But what does 'hysteria' really mean, and how have historical and cultural attitudes towards women framed the study of women's mental health? How have the expectations of and demands on women and their role in society changed from the 19th to the 20th century? How have advances in health care and changing economic conditions influenced women's health? The course will introduce students to historical and current concepts of mental illness in women. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMS), eating disorders, the hysterias and functional neurologic disorders and infertility and postpartum depression will be analyzed through a historical bio-psycho-social lens. Historical reading will include primary sources, such as women's diaries and physicians' casebooks and medical case records, as well as secondary sources such as advice books, and 19th- and 20th-century medical texts. Guest speakers from the art history and literature departments will stimulate dialogue regarding literary and artistic images and the social and cultural contexts of these disorders. Importantly, we will examine the changing face of "mental illness in women" in art, literature and medicine--the evolution of diversity in represented voices and the current methods of researching and treating the interface between the female reproductive cycle and psychiatric illness in diverse populations of women. Embedded within each lecture will be break-out sessions with opportunities for students to ask questions and to discuss a topic in greater depth. Students will have the opportunity to complete their own interdisciplinary projects for the course. Prior projects have included not only power point presentations of diverse topics, but also short films and stories, and future women's mental health research project proposals.

The next wave of technological innovation and globalization will affect our countries, our societies, and ourselves. This interdisciplinary course provides an introduction to emerging, frontier technologies. Topics covered include artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing and advanced robotics, smart cities and urban mobility, telecommunications with 5G/6G, and other key emerging technologies in society. These technologies have vast potential to address the largest global challenges of the 21st century, ushering in a new era of progress and change.

This course focuses on the topics that will define the next decade of psychedelic research. Drawing experts from across the humanities and sciences, the class features a series of guest lecturers that explore the ways in which socio-cultural forces have shaped the social construction of the "psychedelic experience" both within and outside institutional settings. At the same time, this course also illuminates the ways that psychedelic neurophysiology points towards potentially universal and embodied models of psychospiritual transformation. Ultimately, this course offers students a view towards the cutting-edge of psychedelic research from leadings researchers across a variety of disciplines. N.B.: In accordance with Stanford University policy, neither the instructor, nor the course curriculum endorse the use of illicit or illegal substances. All exploration and analysis of psychedelics in this course is firmly grounded in academic research and critical scholarship

Since time immemorial, humans across the globe have used a variety of psychedelic substances to access visionary states of consciousness. This vast pharmacopeia includes plants, vines, flowers, cacti, herbs, animal excretions, and more recently, synthetic drugs that isolate the most potent compounds in naturally-occurring materials. This course examines how these psychedelic substances have shaped the human story across time and space. Our investigation begins in the neolithic era (circa 10,000 BCE) before moving into humanity's earliest religious communities, then proceeds to the mystery cults of the ancient world, indigenous cultures of "shamanism," and the world's major religious traditions. Attention is likewise focused on psychedelics in the modern world, specifically the postwar culture of hippies, the global boom in ayahuasca tourism, and the current "Psychedelic Renaissance" within medical research. Alongside this historical survey, the course will explore the heterogeneous uses, protocols, and rituals that structure the extreme alteration of consciousness occasioned by psychedelics including lysergic acid diethylamide ("LSD"), mescaline, psilocybin (the active compound in "magic mushrooms"), and dimethyltryptamine ("DMT"). Moreover, our analysis will also seek to problematize the ways in which prejudices born out of the War on Drugs have skewed how psychedelics have been understood within scholarship and the mainstream public in general. Through a combination of lectures and guided class discussion, students will engage the foundational research and core questions that animate the academic study of psychedelics. N.B.: In accordance with Stanford University policy, neither the instructor, nor the course curriculum endorse the use of illicit or illegal substances. All exploration and analysis of psychedelics in this course is firmly grounded in academic research and critical scholarship

Machine learning has driven remarkable advances in many fields and, recently, it has been pivotal in enhancing the diagnosis and treatment of complex brain disorders. Biomedical and neuroscience studies frequently rely on neuroimaging as it provides non-invasive quantitative measurement of the structure and function of the nervous system. Machine and deep learning methods can, for example, refine findings for specific diseases or cohorts enabling the detection of imaging markers at an individual level. This, in turn, paves the way for personalized treatment plans. In this course, we explore the methodological gaps in analyzing high-dimensional, longitudinal, and heterogeneous neuroimaging data and study novel, robust, scalable, and interpretable machine learning models for this purpose.Students have the option to enroll in the class for either 3 or 4 units. All students, regardless of their unit choice, are expected to attend every class session. The primary class content will cover the fundamentals of machine learning, offer some limited hands-on training, and explore the application of ML to neuroimaging. Those opting for 4 units will benefit from an extra hour of instruction weekly, diving deeper into core ML concepts and receiving extended hands-on training. The scheduling of this additional hour will be determined based on the availability of the students enrolled for 4 units to ensure a mutually convenient time slot. Undergraduate students and those who do not have ML backgrounds are advised to take the course for 4 units.

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's remarkable ability to modify its own structure and function. The brain does so in response to changes in the body or in the external environment, adjusting parameters from molecules to neurons. In this course, we will cover the overarching principles of brain plasticity: how the brain comes to mirror the details of the outside world, how it adjusts itself based on sensory deficits, how new sensory capacities can be added, how circuitry is modified by activities and goals, why it's harder to teach an old dog new tricks, how we remember, and disorders of plasticity.