Psychology

Jason Schnittker of the School of Arts and Sciences said that linking mental illness to genetics won’t do much to reduce stigma. Instead, he proposed, “it would help to show that mental illnesses are common, even if they’re not diagnosed, and while they can be severe, they can be managed effectively.”

Paul Rozin of the School of Arts and Sciences found that individuals who frequently eat sushi are more likely to try eating insects.

Michael Thase of the Perelman School of Medicine discussed esketamine, a newly FDA-approved nasal spray developed to combat treatment-resistant depression. Derived from ketamine, the drug is meant to be administered under a doctor’s supervision due to the possibility of temporary anesthetic or hallucinogenic effects.

Sharath Guntuku of Penn Medicine’s Center for Digital Health said that “based on how we use technology, our mental state can be predicted.”

The Perelman School of Medicine’s Michael Perlis recommended cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). However, he noted, its administration is best left to the professionals. “Those that try to do CBT-I to themselves are likely to not be successful,” Perlis said. “But worse is that they will believe that they’ve been there, done that, and so the likelihood of seeking out professionally administered CBT-I goes way down.”