Psychiatric diagnosis and treatment - concepts, paradigms, controversies

Iria Grande is Associated Professor at the University of Barcelona, psychiatrist of Hospital Clínic and researcher of the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) and the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) belonging to the Barcelona Bipolar and Depression Disorders Unit in the Hospital Clínic. She is the principal investigator in diverse research projects related to suicide, biomarkers (such as the microbiota–gut–brain axis), functioning and quality of life, machine-learning, and pharmacological treatments for affective disorders. At national and international congresses, Dr Grande has been speaker, moderator, and presented oral communications and posters. She has published over 60 articles in international journals (h-index of 24, and more than 2000 citations), a book about bipolar depression, 14 book chapters, and is reviewer for international journals such as Molecular Psychiatry. In 2011, she received the International Lilly Young Investigator Fellowship in Bipolar Disorder Award from the International Society of Bipolar Disorder (ISBD), and in 2019, the Reference Investigator Award of the Spanish Society of Biological Psychiatry. Since 2019, Dr Grande has been the secretary of the Spanish Society of Psychiatry.

Dan Joseph Stein is Professor and Chair of the Dept of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town, and Director of the South African MRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders. Stein was the Director of UCT's early Brain and Behaviour Initiative, and is currently Scientific Director of UCT's later Neuroscience Institute. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the United States, and at Aarhus University in Denmark. He did his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Cape Town, and his doctorate (in the area of clinical neuroscience) at the University of Stellenbosch. He trained in psychiatry, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship (in the area of psychopharmacology) at Columbia University. His training also includes a doctorate in philosophy. He is interested in the psychobiology and management of the anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and related, and traumatic and stress disorders. He has also mentored work in other areas that are of particular relevance to South Africa and Africa, including neuroHIV/AIDS and substance use disorders. Stein's work ranges from basic neuroscience, through clinical investigations and trials, and on to epidemiological and public mental health research. He is enthusiastic about the possibility of clinical practice and scientific research that integrates theoretical concepts and empirical data across these different levels. Having worked for many years in South Africa, he is also enthusiastic about establishing integrative approaches to services, training, and research in the context of a low and-middle-income country. He chaired the DSM-5 and the ICD-11 workgroups on obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. Both classification systems elected to include a new chapter on these conditions. This decision aimed to improve detection and diagnosis of these commonly overlooked conditions. Stein has authored or edited over 40 volumes, including “Cognitive-Affective Neuroscience of Mood and Anxiety Disorders”, and “The Philosophy of Psychopharmacology: Smart Pills, Happy Pills, Pep Pills”. Other volumes include the "Textbook of Anxiety Disorders", and "Textbook of Mood Disorders".

Awais Aftab, MD is Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. His academic work has focused on philosophy of psychiatry, critical psychiatry, psychopharmacology, and psychiatric nosology. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Laughlin Fellowship by the American College of Psychiatrists and the American Psychiatric Association Leadership Fellowship. He led the popular interview series “Conversations in Critical Psychiatry” for Psychiatric Times, and a book adaptation of the series is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. He is an executive council member of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry as well as the Philosophy Specialty Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is a senior editor for the journal Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, and he has been actively involved in initiatives to educate psychiatrists and trainees. He blogs at https://awaisaftab.substack.com/