1. Psychopathology and Delinquency:

We are conducting data collection and data anaylsis on a series of studies conducted with delinquent youths in a vareity of settings. We collaborate with local and state agencies in this project and are aiming to establish a model program in integrated juvenile justice and psychiatry. Such a program will utilize the insights of modern medicine and criminology to provide the best possible interventions for delinquent youths aiming at restoring them to healthy and productive lives.

2. Screening and Treating High Risk Youth:

We are active in several school districts in the Bay area examining youths, systems and issues pertaining to the prevention of delinquency and violence, the education of high risk mothers regarding child rearing, the early identification of psychoapthology leading to adverse outcomes in youths.

3. Clinical Trials of Psychopharmacological Agents in the Treatment of Maladaptive Aggression:

The treatment of maladaptive aggression suffers from a dearth of data regarding effective biological interventions which would be helpful. We are conducting clinical trials with a whole range of medications aimed at ameliorating maladaptive aggression. We employ mood stabilizers and other related compounds, and are always exploring the usefulness of new medications in this context.

4. The Health and Resilience in Elite Athletes:

We are involved in working with student athletes and administrators and other
clinicians in establishing the special protective factors and strengths which allow some individuals to perform at elite levels in sports. At the same time, we also wish to explore realistic prevalence estimates of mental health and mental disorders in student athletes in an effort to appraise the risk of being active in elite athletics, and facilitate adjustment when adversity strikes and when the student transitions into other phases in their lives.

5. The Stress Inducing Speech Task:

This protocol builds on clinical psychiatric procedures to elicit narratives under standardized conditions regarding topics of the researcher’s choice. The protocol combines methods of self report, psychophysiology and psycholinguistics to identify themes in narratives, modes of narration (such as defensive and non-defensive), latent and manifest content and subtle indicators of conflict. We are also exploring the impact of directed change of narratives onto emotions and adjustment.