Dr. Awais Aftab is a Psychiatrist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine who has a special interest in the philosophical frameworks of Psychiatry.  He joins Psych Debates for an exciting discussion. For more from Dr. Awais Aftab check out his "Conversations in Critical Psychiatry" for the Psychiatric Times (https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/series/critical-conversations-in-psychiatry). For more episodes and exciting debates visit us at our home at psychdebates.com.

Dr. Tayyab Rashid, clinical Psychologist at the University of Toronto, and the creator of Positive Psychotherapy along with Dr. Martin Seligman. This is a modality of therapy that utilizes the principles of positive psychology in the clinical practice setting. He joins Psych Debates for an exciting discussion. For more information and free resources on positive psychology and therapy visit Tayyabrashid.com and learn more about the great work he has been doing. For more episodes and exciting debates visit us at our home at psychdebates.com.

Roberto Lewis-Fernández — Columbia psychiatrist and lead developer of the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview — argues that Western psychiatry isn't the universal default; it's a cultural product like any other. In this conversation, Lewis-Fernández walks through what the Cultural Formulation Interview actually does, why somatization is the global norm rather than the exception, and why the field's tendency to treat its own framework as 'knowledge' while treating patients' frameworks as 'beliefs' is a 19th century idea that should be discarded.

Topics: the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) and how to use it clinically, why psychiatry itself is a cultural product, somatization across cultures, the knowledge/beliefs asymmetry in clinical practice, working with patients across language and cultural difference, structural determinants of mental health, and the limits of imposing biomedical frameworks on patients who see the world differently.

Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, Director of the NYS Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, and President of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry

Dr. Mark Komrad, psychiatrist and medical ethicist turned activist against the rise of physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, joins Psych Debates for another exciting debate for the motions "This House regrets the rise of physician assisted suicide". Visit us at psychdebates.com.

Dr. Harold Koenig, world renowned psychiatry and spirituality specialist, speaks to Psych Debates about the role of religion and spiritually on mental and physical health. 

Dr. Bandy X Lee, President of The World Mental Health Coalition, Organizer of the "Duty to Warn" conference, and author of  "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" talks to Psych Debates about politics and psychiatry. 

Dr. Allen Frances, DSM 4 task force chairman and chairman emeritus at Duke University, joins Psych Debates in a lively conversation. We discuss the anti-psychiatry movement; a movement with the aims to abolish psychiatric providers, medication, and diagnosis. 

Welcome to Psych Debates! Home for the discussions of the most important topics in mental health. We bring you the biggest experts and exciting debates. Come visit us at Psychdebates.com