In this NYU Langone Insights on Psychiatry podcast, Dr. Christopher Pittenger, Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and Director of the Yale OCD Research Clinic, is interviewed about the biology and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including novel potential treatments such as psychedelics, neurofeedback, glutamate modulators, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Also discussed is why OCD is so underdiagnosed and what clinicians can do to spot it.
Dr. Pittenger was a guest speaker at a recent OCD Connecticut Lecture Series event at Yale on June 18, 2024, where he discussed the same topics. Click here to go to the podcast.
Dr. Pittenger, a renowned psychiatry researcher, is a leading figure in the field. He earned his MD and Ph.D. from Columbia University and later returned to Yale University, his undergraduate alma mater, for research and residency. Pittenger’s research focuses on the brain’s role in creating thought, feeling, and consciousness, as well as how brain dysregulation leads to mental suffering. His work has been particularly focused on OCD and Tourette syndrome, and the cortico-basal ganglia circuitry. He co-founded the Yale Program for Psychedelic Science, focusing on how molecules like psilocybin and LSD can teach us about brain and behavior, potentially leading to new treatments for neuropsychiatric pathology. Pittenger is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation and OCD Connecticut, and a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, American Psychiatric Association, and American Neurological Association.
Dr. Pittenger’s website is https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/christopher-pittenger/.
The Yale OCD Research Clinic website is https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/ocd/.