Open Mind, a Community Lecture and Film Series and Special Events 2020
December 9, 2020
Dr. Rheeda Walker explores Black mental health in today's world, the forces that have undermined mental health progress for African Americans.
December 2, 2020
JBrett Rapkin, Sasha Cohen and Talin Babikian, Ph.D., discuss the HBO Sports documentary, The Weight of Gold.
November 19, 2020
Judge Katherine Mader (Ret.) discussed her book Inside The Robe, with Jonathan Sherin, M.D., Ph.D, and author Terri Cheney.
November 12, 2020
Terri Cheney, author of the New York Times bestseller Manic: A Memoir, discussed her latest book, Modern Madness with Michael Gitlin, M.D., distinguished professor of clinical psychiatry at UCLA.
October 20, 2020
Sandra Tsing Loh discusses her book, "The Madwoman and the Roomba". Joining her to talk about the indignities, hilarities, and unexpected joys of life in the so-called golden years is Susan Y. Bookheimer, Ph.D.
October 6, 2020
Author David Kessler discussed his book, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief
with Rabbi Steve Leder.
September 15, 2020
Author, psychiatrist, and parenting expert, Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. discussed his book, The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired , co-authored with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. The authors provide steps for parents and caregivers to help children attain success and "feel at home in the world". Based on "attachment science" and "interpersonal neurobiology".
September 2, 2020
AJ Mendez discussed her book, Crazy Is My Superpower, an unflinchingly honest and bravely confessional story about the long road to self-acceptance. Joining the discussion is Katrina DeBonis, M.D., a psychiatrist at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA.
August 14, 2020
Susan Burton, author of the new critically acclaimed memoir, Empty, discussed her experience with both anorexia and binge-eating disorder. Ms Burton was joined in discussion by Danielle Keenan-Miller, Ph.D., Director of the UCLA Psychology Clinic.
June 22, 2020
Dr. Jonathan Salk shares a new message of understanding and perspective for today’s current confusion and conflict that we are experiencing. He provides us with a science-driven basis for hope and a groundwork for how we can achieve a better future for humanity. Susan Smalley, Ph.D., Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA joins Dr. Salk in conversation. Dr. Smalley is a renowned behavioral geneticist, writer and activist.
June 12, 2020
Psychotherapist and author, Lori Gottlieb and Daniel Siegel, M.D. discussed the challenges of parenting during this unprecedented time. Lori Gottlieb is the New York Times best-selling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, and "Dear Therapist" columnist for The Atlantic. Dr. Siegel is a psychiatrist, best-selling author of numerous books including Parenting From the Inside Out, The Whole Brain Child, The Developing Mind, and Co-founder and Director of The Mindsight Institute.
Past Events by year
June 4, 2020
Robert Kolker, renowned author of The New York Times #1 bestselling book, Hidden Valley Road, The Story of a Midcentury American Family discussed the story of the Galvin family who had 12 children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science’s great hope in the quest to understand the disease. Mr. Kolker was joined in discussion by Dr. Stephen Marder, UCLA Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and a world-renowned expert on schizophrenia. Lindsay Galvin Rauch, one of the Galvin family sisters, talked about what it was like growing up in a family with siblings who had severe mental illness.
May 19, 2020
Dr. Robert Bilder and Dr. Wendelin Slusser talk about staying socially and emotionally connected during the Coronavirus Era. Dr. Bilder is Distinguished Professor and Chief of the Division of Psychology at the Semel Institute and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the DGSOM, the Director of the Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity, and the Co-Director of the MindWell Pod of the Healthy Campus Initiative. Dr. Wendelin Slusser is Professor of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and the Director of the UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative Center.
April 23, 2020
Dr. Gary Small, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences , DIrector of the UCLA Longevity Center, and NY TImes best-selling author, spoke about his latest book on Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Small gave a comprehensive overview of this illness and some tips on healthy lifestyle to help stave it off as long as possible.
February 27, 2020
Dr. Jared Diamond, a Professor of Geography at UCLA, discussed his book, Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change.
In Upheaval, Dr. Diamond, whose research lies at the interface between molecular biology and evolutionary biology, attempts to analyze devastating crises (political, economic, civil, ecological etc.) that may destroy whole countries and the multiple reasons causing them.
February 9, 2020
The Los Angeles premiere of The Manic Monologues, a new play that seeks to disrupt the stigma around mental illness. This groundbreaking theatrical drama gives voice to real people whose lives have been touched by mental health disorders.
January 22, 2020
Through narration of wildlife videos and scientific animations, Dr. Natterson-Horowitz demonstrated how animal behavior and evolutionary biology can be integrated with neuroscience to create a powerful and indispensable lens for understanding and helping the adolescents and young adults in our lives.
January 14, 2020
Screening of the critically acclaimed film, "Three Christs", starring Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage, Bradley Whitford, and Walton Goggins. A psychiatrist takes on the particularly challenging case of three men, each of whom believes they are Jesus Christ. The film's director, Jon Avnet joined Dr. Elyn Saks and Dr. Stephen Marder in dicussion following the film.
January 9, 2020
Anne Harrington, Ph.D., author of the new critically acclaimed book, Mind Fixers Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness explored psychiatry’s repeatedly frustrated struggle to understand mental disorder in biomedical terms.
Kelsey Martin, M.D., Ph.D., Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Professor of Biological Chemistry, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences joined the discussion.