What Makes Up Your Mind

the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine
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The Stanford University School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has a great tradition of fundamental science, translational and clinical research, subspecialty expertise, multidisciplinary education, and influential leadership. We invite you to follow our podcast: "WHAT MAKES UP YOUR MIND: Updates from the frontiers of neuroscience, wellbeing, and mental health" hosted by Jane McMillan, broadcast journalist and podcast producer for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

  1. AI for Mental Health: Human-Assist Tools for Training and New Treatment Delivery, with Dr. Shannon Wiltsey Stirman

    11/11/2025

    AI for Mental Health: Human-Assist Tools for Training and New Treatment Delivery, with Dr. Shannon Wiltsey Stirman

    This mini-series episode of What Makes Up Your Mind looks at another aspect of AI for Mental Health (AI4MH), a Special Initiative of the Chair of Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Our guest, Dr. Shannon Wiltsey Stirman, is developing ways to utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance the delivery and availability of the latest mental health treatments for PTSD. As a professor of psychiatry with many years working with the veteran community, Dr. Wiltsey Stirman knows well how the shortage of therapists, and their over-extended bandwidth, limits their access to training and administering the newest in ever-evolving, evidence-based medical care. As co-Director of CREATE – Stanford’s Center for Responsible and Effective AI Technology Enhancement of treatment for PTSD, Dr. Wiltsey Stirman’s work is utilizing this powerful technology to close the research-to-provider-to-patient treatment gap. This is AI as a human-assist for therapists, not a replacement, and our discussion includes what current commercial chatbots can and cannot offer patients. Dr. Wiltsey Stirman is also co-Lead of the Stanford Mental Health Technology and Innovation Hub. More Information About Dr. Shannon Wiltsey Stirman: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/shannon-wiltsey-stirmanCREATE website: CREATECREATE on LinkedinBy & About CREATE: Research and articles Monthly Webinar Series: CREATE Webinars | CREATEThe Mental Health Technology and Innovation Hub: https://thetechhub.stanford.edu/AI4MH Initiative : https://ai4mh.stanford.edu

    32 min
  2. Climate Change: A Coming Storm for Youth Mental Health, with Dr. Britt Wray

    12/09/2025

    Climate Change: A Coming Storm for Youth Mental Health, with Dr. Britt Wray

    If our home, planet earth, is in peril (and it is!), then so are we. As we experience more frequent and ferocious natural disasters, the irreversible loss of life-sustaining habitats, and a climate we’ve turned into an adversary of our very existence, an existential crisis is brewing. Along with concern for our physical security, our mental well-being is being battered in these storms…figuratively, but also quite literally. Among the most affected and concerned are young people who are contemplating their future in a profoundly precarious world. Understanding, documenting, and measuring the emotional cost of their fears and anxiety is the work of Dr. Britt Wray, an instructor in Stanford’s Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Director of CIRCLE - Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership, and Emotional Wellbeing. In this installment of What Makes Up Your Mind, Dr. Wray shares her research into the extent of the trauma of Climate Change on our youth, and her global work in empowering them with tools to manage their mental health in the face of these threats, which includes finding their own ways to take action toward solutions. Dr. Wray's Stanford Profile: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/britt-wray CIRCLE website: https://circle.sites.stanford.edu/

    49 min
  3. AI in Mental Health Research, with Dr. Kilian Pohl

    09/05/2025

    AI in Mental Health Research, with Dr. Kilian Pohl

    In medical research, Artificial Intelligence is a game-changer with its power to collect and cross-analyze masses of data and lab findings to find new discoveries. And more, its ability to be trained to unlock answers to specific medical questions offers a quantum leap in refining diagnoses and treatments. In this episode of What Makes Up Your Mind, Dr. Kilian Pohl (professor in Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and by courtesy, in Electrical Engineering) explains the basics of creating and using AI tools for improving mental health research, including in adolescent substance use, HIV, and lifelong brain development and aging. Listen in on how Dr. Pohl sees this technology bringing better mental healthcare to the entire world. More Information Dr. Kilian Pohl: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/kilian-pohl AI4MH Initiative : https://ai4mh.stanford.edu Computational Neuroscience Lab: https://cnslab.stanford.edu

    37 min
  4. CRAFT: The Anti-Tough Love Approach to Substance Use, with Dr. Karen Osilla

    27/02/2025

    CRAFT: The Anti-Tough Love Approach to Substance Use, with Dr. Karen Osilla

    Anyone who has grappled with substance use, or loves a person with addictive behaviors, knows the wrenching relationship struggles and the often futile-feeling search for workable help. Well, this episode of WHAT MAKES UP YOUR MIND brings you hopeful developments thanks to the research and clinical work of our guest, Dr. Karen Chan Osilla, a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Click LISTEN to learn about an empathy-based program called CRAFT - Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training. A key focus of CRAFT, and Dr. Osilla’s practice, is to support the family and friends of the person with an addiction, thereby empowering them in their own wellness and as effective advocates for their loved one to consider treatment. The positive reinforcement aspect of CRAFT teaches skills that reduce the tension and confrontation that’s so often a part of personal relationships where addiction is present. It’s the opposite of Tough Love. Science shows this approach works, and Dr. Osilla’s research in opioid abuse confirms that. Read more about Dr. Karen Osilla, and find CRAFT resources here: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/karen-osilla

    28 min
  5. Mental Health in the Islamic Tradition, with Dr. Rania Awaad

    07/01/2025

    Mental Health in the Islamic Tradition, with Dr. Rania Awaad

    Our conversation with this nationally recognized researcher and leader in Muslim Mental Health delves into her work of creating bridges between the science of medicine and the spiritual life of patients. Specifically, blending modern psychiatric and psychological treatments with the beliefs, customs, and rituals of Islam. Dr. Awaad’s research has renewed the recognition of the Islamic tradition of holistic care of mind, body, and spirit, reaching back more than a millennium. And, while her focus is on meeting the mental health needs of the Muslim community, the approach of welcoming a patient’s belief system into a treatment plan is applicable to all faiths, philosophies, and cultural experience. For more on Dr. Awaad, her work, and additional appointments at Stanford: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Rania_Awaad Director of the Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology Lab https://med.stanford.edu/mmhip.html , where you will find all research publications and links to Dr. Awaad’s many books Chief of centerspace Clinic, providing trauma-informed care within cross-cultural dynamics) https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/patient_care/centerspace.html

    44 min
  6. Neuro Gene Mapping – Charting a Course For Cures, with Dr. Tamar Green

    12/07/2024

    Neuro Gene Mapping – Charting a Course For Cures, with Dr. Tamar Green

    For neuro disorders like Autism, Attention Deficit, and Hyperactivity, causes and cures have largely remained a mystery. Yet, promising work in Stanford Psychiatry’s BRIDGE Lab is going after answers in the very nucleus of our cells, our genes, the infinitesimal carriers of information that determine the traits of all living things. Dr. Tamar Green, with help from participating families, is scanning the brains of kids with neuro conditions, mapping their genetic pathways to recognize, understand, and eventually intervene in disease-causing mutations. This intricate and microscopic research, sometimes involving more than 30-thousand genes in a single brain cell, is hoped to yield big and wide-raging benefits for treatments and, someday, cures. More Information About Dr. Tamar Green: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/tamar-greenThe Brain Imaging, Development, and Genetics (BRIDGE) Lab: https://med.stanford.edu/bridge-lab.htmlResearch Participation: https://med.stanford.edu/bridge-lab/for-families-and-participants.htmlResearch Support: https://my.supportlpch.org/give/489426/#!/donation/checkout

    29 min
  7. CNI-X Mini-Series: The Staff Mentor Experience, with Nicola Manalili and Abhi Anand

    11/04/2024

    CNI-X Mini-Series: The Staff Mentor Experience, with Nicola Manalili and Abhi Anand

    In this episode in our CNI-X Mini-Series on WHAT MAKES UP YOUR MIND we meet two of the Staff Mentors who add a unique dimension to Stanford Psychiatry’s Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience for high school students. Throughout the two week program, these college-age mentors - usually CNI-X alums themselves - share their knowledge and experience in neuroscience, facilitate discussion, and support participants as they gain confidence in exploring new subjects. Just by their presence, they offer the students an example of where they may choose to be in just a year or two in the future as college students, perhaps on their way to a career in mental healthcare. In this mini-pod, meet Nicola Manalili, who combined her love of science and the desire to make the world a better place and is now in her third year of college studying Public Health. Joining Nicola is Abhi Anand who fell in love with psychology in high school and caught the business bug watching Shark Tank with friends. He put the two together in a recent degree in Business Psychology and Marketing. Learn more about CNI-X, the role of mentors, and how to apply at https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/CNIX.html

    22 min
  8. CNI-X Mini-Series: Circadian Rhythms, with Dr. Jamie Zeitzer

    11/04/2024

    CNI-X Mini-Series: Circadian Rhythms, with Dr. Jamie Zeitzer

    The subject is Circadian Rhythms, and you’re going to be surprised at the influence this intricate interaction of body clocks exerts over our lives! The high school participants in Stanford Psychiatry’s two-week Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience (CNI-X) always are when they meet Dr. Jamie Zeitzer, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Division of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Zeitzer researches the mysteries of the system that drives almost every living thing on earth, and in humans impacts not just sleep, but everything from our temperature to the quality of our decision-making. As with all of the CNI-X presenters, Dr. Zeitzer’s research and discoveries make for an invaluable lesson in life and self-awareness, as well as science. For more on CNI-X, Dr. Zeitzer, and all the program presenters: https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/CNIX

    20 min
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About

The Stanford University School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has a great tradition of fundamental science, translational and clinical research, subspecialty expertise, multidisciplinary education, and influential leadership. We invite you to follow our podcast: "WHAT MAKES UP YOUR MIND: Updates from the frontiers of neuroscience, wellbeing, and mental health" hosted by Jane McMillan, broadcast journalist and podcast producer for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Information

  • Creator
    the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    26
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    What Makes Up Your Mind