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Title: Do your findings have implications for treatment? Causal Data Science to determine treatment targets for mental disorders
Keynote Speaker: Glenn Saxe, MD, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Abstract: Most human studies on etiological factors for mental disorders are observational, with findings based on the statistical associations between hypothesized etiological factors and mental disorder outcomes. However, for a factor associated with an outcome to represent a promising intervention target, it must have a causal effect on the outcome. Intervention targeting a non-causal factor cannot result in outcome change. It is commonly believed that the etiology of mental disorders is very complex. Such belief almost certainly entails that a much greater proportion of observed statistical associations will be non-causal than causal and cannot indicate promising intervention targets. This presentation provides an overview of these basic concepts of causality. It introduces Causal Data Science as a set of methods to advance knowledge on intervention targets for mental disorders. The presentation will include examples of the successful application of Causal Data Science to mental disorders, particularly studies on etiological factors for traumatic stress.
Biosketch: Dr. Saxe is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the New York University Grossman School Medicine. His primary research and clinical interests are the emotional, behavioral, and developmental consequences of traumatic events in children. His research, funded by NIMH and NICHD, applies advanced computational methods, including Causal Data Science, to advance knowledge on the prediction of mental disorder outcomes and to identify intervention targets to improve outcomes. Dr. Saxe’s research also focuses on developing, evaluating, and implementing interventions for traumatized children and their families. He is the director of the Center on Causal Data Science for Child and Adolescent Maltreatment Prevention (the CHAMP Center), a newly funded NICHD CAPSTONE research center on child maltreatment; and the NYU Center for Child Welfare Practice Innovation, a SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) center dedicated to advancing interventions for traumatized children in the nation’s child welfare systems. He and his colleagues developed the treatment model Trauma Systems Therapy (TST), a widely used intervention for children with traumatic stress who live in environments with ongoing adversities.
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