Implementing LGB-affirmative CBT: A Transdiagnostic Minority Stress Treatment Approach
by John Pachankis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Public Health, Yale University
Director, Yale’s ESTEEM Research Group in New York City
Monday, October 30th, 2017
Registration: 6:00-6:30pm
Speaker Presentation: 6:30-7:30pm
Q&A: 7:30-8pm
Wine and Cheese: 8:00-8:45pm
Albert Ellis Institute
145 E 32nd St, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Topic Description:
Sexual and gender minorities (e.g., individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) are one of the highest risk-groups for psychiatric disorder (e.g., depression, anxiety, substance use) and related conditions (e.g., suicide), likely driven by LGBT people's disproportionate exposure to stigma-related stress. This presentation will review the first evidence-based treatment package to reduce depression, anxiety, and related health conditions by reducing the processes through which stigma-related stress impairs the mental health of this population. Attendees will learn to utilize LGBT-affirmative therapeutic principles and techniques to adapt standard cognitive-behavioral approaches to specifically address the stigma-related stress faced by LGBT people across development. We will review preliminary efficacy data from a recent RCT suggesting that this LGBT-affirmative treatment package, called ESTEEM, can reduce sexual minority men's depression, alcohol abuse, sexual compulsivity, and HIV risk behavior.
You will learn:
1. How to summarize psychiatric epidemiologic findings related to sexual orientation and mental health
2. How to recognize clinical presentations of sexual minority stress
3. How to utilize transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches to reduce the mental health impact of minority stress
Speaker Bio:
Dr. John Pachankis is an Associate Professor at the Yale School of Public Health and the Director of the ESTEEM Research Group in New York City. He has published widely in the areas of stigma, LGBT mental health, and psychosocial mechanisms linking stigma to mental health. This work appears in journals such as Psychological Bulletin, the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, AIDS, and the American Journal of Public Health. His NIH-funded research has had both national and international scholarly, legal, and popular impact, having been referenced in national professional guidelines for LGBT mental health practice, cited in numerous amici curiae briefs before U.S. state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and featured in national and international media outlets, such as The New York Times. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology with a quantitative focus in 2008 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed his clinical psychology internship at Harvard Medical School / McLean Hospital.