Keynote Speaker

Carl C. Bell, MD

Contrary to expectations of many psychiatric practitioners, exposure to a risk factor, e.g., a traumatic stressor, does not automatically put a person on a path to develop a psychiatric disorder, e.g. PTSD. Similarly, having a mental disorder does not automatically put a person on a path to do poorly in life, e.g. languish or get depressed. Scientific documentation will be provided that protective factors have the capacity to prevent risk factors from becoming predictive of “bad” mental health outcomes. Further, protective factors can decrease the risk individuals who are exposed to adverse childhood experiences from having serious psychopathology in later life. A theoretically sound, evidence-based, common sense model is offered as a “directionally correct” way to ensure that at-risk populations obtain protective factors to prevent potential risk factors from generating poor health and mental health outcomes.

Bell 6-3-16 Risk Factors are not Predictive Factors due to Protective Factors – Slides in PDF format