Resilience and Brain Health: A Geriatric Psychiatry Perspective at APA

Helen Lavretsky, MD, shared some of her programmatic contributions ahead of the APA annual meeting—including topics of mentorship, research training, and clinical education.

Lavretsky discussed her second consecutive year participating in the APA's international medical graduate panel, describing her own academic and research career trajectory as an illustrative example for clinicians navigating similar professional paths. She also highlighted her involvement in the APA research colloquium for trainees and a research breakfast specifically focused on geriatric psychiatry, characterizing both as part of the APA's broader effort to cultivate the next generation of psychiatric researchers.

On the content of her caucus sessions, Lavretsky described participation in groups devoted to complementary and integrative psychiatry, spirituality and mental health, and climate and mental health. She noted that one session centered on "what makes us human," a question she also addressed in her forthcoming book, Living from the Soul: The Neuroscience of Spiritual Awakening. She described the book as offering neuroscientific grounding for mind-body interventions, including yoga, tai chi, and meditation, as tools for reducing stress, inflammation, and biological aging, and for promoting neuroplasticity and gray matter volume.^1,2

Lavretsky framed resilience building as a unifying theme across her APA contributions, arguing that cultivating inner resources is essential for both patients and clinicians navigating "a world ridden with conflict and uncertainty." She also referenced her involvement with the Nature Medicine Commission on Brain Capital, describing it as an effort to reframe how the field addresses neuropsychiatric illness through the lens of brain health and resilience.

Dr Lavretsky is a professor in residence in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a past president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She is also on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Jin X, Chen J, Zhang X. Tai Chi exercise and neuroplasticity: a narrative review according to neural mechanisms and clinical utilizations in brain health. Front Neurosci. 2026;20:1769779.

2. Zoila F, de Stefano MI, Sgobbio A, et al. Yoga for neurodegenerative disorders: therapeutic effects, mechanisms, and applications in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Sports (Basel). 2025;13(12):458.