You Ask, We Answer

Parenting a child with intellectual disability can feel overwhelming at times. But it can also be wonderfully rewarding. Leading IDD expert Dr. Ambrose answers the most commonly asked questions about intellectual disabilities searched online in this episode of You Ask, We Answer.

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Dr Ambrose is currently the Medical Director of the Psychiatry Faculty Practice Organization at Columbia University. Integrating business development with clinical medicine, he also previously served as a subspecialist consultant in operations management and design thinking for industry through the Mass General Brigham Connected Health. For almost a decade, Dr Ambrose has also served as private consultant in user engagement, market entry, diversity/equity/inclusion (DEI) program development, wellness promotion, and burnout prevention for Mid-to-Large Size Companies, and executives and management leaders.

Clinically, Dr Ambrose specializes on treatment resistant mood disorders for both the adult and child & adolescent populations. In interventional neurotherapeutic psychiatry, Dr Ambrose also provides procedures in esketamine, ketamine, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Dr Ambrose completed his medical trainings at Dartmouth and MGH, public health training at the National Center for Primary Center, and value-based healthcare training at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice. He completed the Commonwealth Minority Health Policy Fellowship at Harvard Medical School and has a Master’s in Healthcare Management and Public Policy from Harvard University.

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. In this episode, Marjorie Morrison, CEO of Psych Hub, asks renowned PTSD expert Yuval Neria the most common PTSD questions searched online.

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Yuval Neria is Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology at Columbia University, Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, and Director of Trauma and PTSD at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Neria's body of work was deeply influenced by his extensive war experiences. He was injured in the Yom Kippur 1973 War and at the age of 22 was awarded the Medal of Valor, the highest decoration for combat bravery in Israel, comparable to the US Medal of Honor. Dr. Neria joined Columbia University Medical Center in 2002, and since then has led and collaborated on numerous studies in trauma and PTSD. He studied prisoners of war and war veterans, victims of terrorism and disasters, and people affected by large scale pandemics. In addition to his epidemiological and treatment studies, Neria’s lab is focused on translational studies aiming to identify brain markers for trauma, PTSD, and resilience. By using advanced brain imaging approaches, his lab has been a leader in characterizing brain markers of PTSD, specific PTSD biotypes, and the pursuit for reliable biomarkers of clinical improvement in patients responding to a range of therapeutic approaches. Dr. Neria is highly committed to the mental health care for veterans and their family members. In an effort to address key gaps in availability and expertise of mental health care for large number of US service members who are not eligible, or interested in services provided in VA Centers, he founded the Columbia-NYP Military Family Wellness Center in 2016, where both veterans and family members can receive free evidence-based care to address their PTSD, depression and anxiety problems. Neria’s research is supported by NIMH, philanthropy, and private foundations since 2004. He has authored more than 250 articles and book chapters, and edited four textbooks focusing on the nature and treatment of the mental health consequences of trauma.

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Borderline personality disorder (BPD) impacts a person’s ability to regulate their emotions. This can affect how a person feels about themselves, increase impulsivity, and negatively impact their relationships with others. This episode covers the criteria for  a BPD diagnosis, as well as the symptoms of this disorder. Effective treatments for BPD are available, and this episode also explores treatment options, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

Dr. Beth Brodsky Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University. Dr. Brodsky is also the Associate Director of the Suicide Prevention Initiative at the Center for Practice Innovations at the New York State Psychiatric Center. Her areas of expertise include research and psychotherapeutic treatment of self-destructive behavior in borderline personality disorder, which is the focus of this episode. She has published numerous articles and chapters on the topics of suicidal risk and treatment of suicidal behavior and borderline personality disorder. She is trained in dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and teaches DBT to psychiatry residents and psychology trainees. She has a private practice in Manhattan.

Alcohol use disorder is a common substance use disorder. Identifying factors for alcohol use disorder are, in the past year:

• Has use of alcohol interfered  with functioning?
• Are there times that you've ended up drinking more or for longer periods of time than you intended?
• Have you tried to cut down on drinking or cut back or decrease your drinking and felt like you couldn't or it was harder to.
• Have you spent a lot of time drinking or being sick or recovering from the after effects?
• Have you had really strong cravings?
• Have you found that drinking interferes with taking care of your home or your family or caused work-related issues?
• Have you continued to drink, even though it was negatively impacting or causing conflict  with your family?
• Have you given up or cut back on activities that were important or interesting to you or gave you pleasure?
• In order to use alcohol, have you gotten into situations while or after drinking that increased your chances of getting hurt?
• Have you continued to drink, even though it was affecting your mental health?
• Have you noticed that you've experienced any sort of withdrawal symptoms from drinking?
• Have you had increased tolerance, meaning needing to drink more for the same effect?

If you have more than two or three of these, you may meet criteria for an alcohol use disorder. If you have six or more of these, you might meet criteria for severe alcohol use disorder.

Treatment options are available. This video will overview many of the treatment options you or a loved one can consider for alcohol use disorder.

Featured in this video is Aimee Chiligiris, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health concerns. Dr. Chiligiris is Assistant Director of the Smithers Center and Assistant Professor at Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Chiligiris completes diagnostic assessments, engages in individual therapy, and facilitates substance abuse groups.

If you or someone you know is self-harming, you can text a Crisis Text Line counselor at 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

You can also contact a health professional to learn more about treatment options.

Major Depressive Disorder is a relatively common mood disorder that can impact the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. Learn about the symptoms and frequency that characterize MDD and what treatments are available.

Jared K. O’Garro-Moore, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. O’Garro-Moore specializes in the treatment of adults with mood and anxiety disorders as well as personality disorders. Integrating his advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dr. O’Garro-Moore is able to tailor his treatment to fit each individual’s needs.

Studies show that self-harm is prevalent in more than 20% of people at some point in their lives, and that the average onset for self-harm  is between 11-15 years of age. In this episode of You Ask, We Answer, we explore the topic of self-harm in depth to better understand what it is, why it happens, what are the common myths, how to deal with the urge to self-harm, treatments, and more.

Dr. Kelly Workman is a licensed clinical psychologist at Columbia Doctors and serves on the faculty as a Clinical Instructor in Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). Dr. Workman is also a DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™ and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with specializations in clinical and applied behavior analysis.

If you or someone you know is self-harming, you can text a Crisis Text Line counselor at 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

You can also contact a health professional to learn more about treatment options.

In this episode of You Ask, We Answer, we discuss Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

People with NPD tend to not demonstrate empathy, making it difficult to be in a relationship with them. However, there are things you can do to better navigate the relationship with a person with narcissistic personality disorder–both at work and at home.

Dr. Robert Klitzman is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Joseph Mailman School of Public Health and the Founder and Director of the Masters of Bioethics Program at Columbia University.

He's written eight books, including In a House of Dreams and Glass: Becoming a Psychiatrist and When Doctors Become Patients. He is also the recipient of numerous awards and is a renowned expert on Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

How do you know if you are binge eating or overeating? What is the difference between Binge Eating Disorder and other eating disorders? What can you do if you or someone you know has this condition? In this episode of You Ask, We Answer, we will address all of these questions and more.

Dr. Devlin is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Associate Director of the Eating Disorders Research Unit at New York State Psychiatric Institute. He attended medical school at Columbia and completed his psychiatry residency at New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia-Presbyterian. Following his residency, he joined the Eating Disorders Research Unit at NYSPI under the direction of Dr. Tim Walsh, and he has worked with patients with eating disorders and conducted clinical research there since that time. He served on the American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline Work Group on Eating Disorders. He is an active member of the Academy for Eating Disorders and is a past President of that organization.

People with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are the outliers, the creators, the developers, the entrepreneurs, the disrupters–and the ones who may find it challenging to stay on task or focus at times. According to Dr. Hallowell, if you can maximize the positive aspects of ADHD while minimizing the negative ones, this condition can turn into a superpower.

Edward Hallowell, MD is an American psychiatrist, speaker, New York Times best-selling author and podcast host. He specializes in ADHD and is the founder of the Hallowell ADHD Centers. Hallowell is the author of 20 books, including The Distraction series, co-authored with Dr. John Ratey.