Golan Shahar
Born1968
Rishon Lezion
NationalityIsraeli
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
InstitutionsBen-Gurion University of the Negev, Yale University School of Medicine
Websitehttp://people.yale.edu/labs/GS239.profile

Golan Shahar is an Israeli clinical health psychologist and an interdisciplinary stress/psychopathology researcher.

Biography and career

Shahar was born (1968) and raised in Rishon Le-Zion, Israel. He received all his academic degrees at Ben-Gurion University (BGU): a B.A. (1993) in behavioral sciences, an M.A. (1997) in clinical psychology, and a Ph.D. (1999) in psychological research. He has received advanced statistical training at the University of Essex, UK, and at the Universities of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Yale, US. He was clinically trained at the Shalvata Mental Health Center in Hod-Hasharon, Israel (1997–1999) and the Yale Child Study Center (2002–2004).

During the years 1999–2000, Shahar served on the faculty of Bar-Ilan University in Israel and received post-doctoral research training in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Yale University, under the tutelage of Sidney J. Blatt, a world-leading personality and clinical psychologist (2000–2002). Shahar than joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry as assistant professor (2002), with a subsequent affiliation with the Department of Psychology at Yale University (2003). In the fall of 2004, he returned to his alma mater, BGU. There, he first served as associate professor of psychology (2007) with a brief affiliation at the Department of Philosophy (2008), and was than promoted to tenured full professor in 2008. In 2016, he was named Zlotowsky Chair in Neuropsychology. Throughout his service at BGU, Shahar maintained his affiliation with the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Academic and clinical work

Shahar's research, scholarship, and clinical practice targets three domains: The role of personality in depressive psychopathology, resilience and stress-resistance, and psychotherapy integration.

Criticism in the self, brain, and relationships

Shahar builds on – but also departs from – Sidney Blatt's theory of personality development and psychopathology. Blatt's double helix theory posits that personality and psychopathology develop along two related pathways, one focusing on interpersonal relatedness (the anaclitic-dependent dimension) and the other on identity and achievement (the introjective-self-critical dimension). While this theory has formidably influenced research and practice, Shahar and others have observed that, empirically, the self-critical dimension confers much more vulnerability than the dependent dimension.[1][2][3][4] Consequently, Shahar decided to decipher the nature of criticism in the self, relationships, and – more recently – in brain structure and function. His empirical work, spanning two decades, has illuminated the central role of self-criticism in diverse psychopathologies. He has identified interpersonal pathways through which self-criticism confers its vulnerability. Specifically, research suggests that self-critical individuals actively create a social environment marred with stress and replete with positive events and social support, which, in turn, brings about these individuals' distress. In adolescence, this distress feeds back to individuals' self-criticism, creating "a self-critical cascade". This cascade is played out both within and outside psychotherapy, and even in the lives of chronic pain patients.[5][6][7][8][9] In his recent book titled Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism (published by Oxford University Press),[5] Shahar offers a novel theory that illuminates the development of self-criticism throughout the life span. The theory depicts criticism in general and self-criticism in particular, as a distorted and addictive form of self-knowledge, which is amalgamated by societal norms and rules as well as by brain structures and functions.[6][10]

Resilience and stress-resistance

Complementing his interest in psychological vulnerability is Shahar's fascination with the notion of resilience, i.e., individuals' ability to develop and thrive in the face of stressful conditions. However, Shahar is critical towards the notion that resilience is distinct from risk. Instead, he posits that any factor may confer both risk and resilience. Underlying this dialectic position on risk and resilience is Shahar's argument, whereby psychosocial factors are inherently multifaceted and multilayered, with some “variance facets” positively associated with health and illness, and others negatively associated with these outcomes.[11] His work on adolescent perceived social support, carried out primarily with his chief collaborator, Prof. Christopher Henrich from Georgia State University, demonstrates this theoretical position. Shahar and Henrich, and their respective colleagues and students, have been examining the effects of social support from friends, parents, and school personnel on adolescents’ psychopathology and risk behaviors. They studied both community-dwelling American adolescents and Israeli adolescents who are routinely exposed to political and terror violence. Their research shows that, in most instances, perceived social support is a double-edged sword, conferring both risk and resilience. An exception to this pattern appears to be perceived social support from family members, which – according to Shahar and Henrich – should be the principal target of preventive interventions.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

Psychotherapy integration

Shahar is a leading figure in the psychotherapy integration movement, which emphasizes the importance of transcending the traditional schools of thought in psychotherapy (e.g., the psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic –existential, and family-systems). He integrates psychodynamic, existential, and cognitive therapeutic techniques into a coherent theoretical gestalt, and applies this gestalt to the treatment of adolescents and young adults who present chronic, comorbid, complex, and treatment-resistant psychopathology.[20][21]

Academic and clinical leadership

During the years 2012–2016, Shahar served as chief editor of the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration (JPI). He is one of the co-founders of OFAKIM, an Israeli movement advocating the bridging of science and practice in Israeli professional psychology, and has also founded an online group listserv discussing the links between psychoanalysis and empirical research. He has served twice as director of Clinical Psychology Track at BGU, and has founded and directed the Center for the Advancement of Research on Stress and related disorders (BGU-CARES). He currently heads the Behavioral Science undergraduate program at BGU.

References

  1. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Blatt, Sidney J.; Zuroff, David C.; Pilkonis, Paul A. (2003-06-01). "Role of perfectionism and personality disorder features in response to brief treatment for depression". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 71 (3): 629–633. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.71.3.629. ISSN 1939-2117. PMID 12795586.
  2. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Henrich, Christopher C.; Blatt, Sidney J.; Ryan, Richard; Little, Todd D. (2003-05-01). "Interpersonal relatedness, self-definition, and their motivational orientation during adolescence: A theorical and empirical integration". Developmental Psychology. 39 (3): 470–483. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.39.3.470. ISSN 1939-0599. PMID 12760516.
  3. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Blatt, Sidney J.; Zuroff, David C.; Krupnick, Janice L.; Sotsky, Stuart M. (2004-04-01). "Perfectionism Impedes Social Relations and Response to Brief Treatment for Depression". Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 23 (2): 140–154. doi:10.1521/jscp.23.2.140.31017. ISSN 0736-7236.
  4. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Priel, Beatriz (2003-07-01). "Active vulnerability, adolescent distress, and the mediating/suppressing role of life events". Personality and Individual Differences. 35 (1): 199–218. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00185-X.
  5. 1 2 Erosion. Oxford University Press. 2015-09-10. ISBN 9780199929368.
  6. 1 2 Shahar, Golan (2016-09-01). "Criticism in the Self, Brain, Relationships, and Social Structure: Implications for Psychodynamic Psychiatry". Psychodynamic Psychiatry. 44 (3): 395–421. doi:10.1521/pdps.2016.44.3.395. ISSN 2162-2590. PMID 27603804.
  7. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Blatt, Sidney J.; Zuroff, David C.; Kuperminc, Gabriel P.; Leadbeater, Bonnie J. (2004). "Reciprocal Relations Between Depressive Symptoms and Self-Criticism (but Not Dependency) Among Early Adolescent Girls (but Not Boys)". Cognitive Therapy and Research. 28 (1): 85–103. doi:10.1023/B:COTR.0000016932.82038.d0. ISSN 0147-5916. S2CID 24807900.
  8. ↑ Lerman, Sheera F.; Rudich, Zvia; Brill, Silviu; Shalev, Hadar; Shahar, Golan (2015). "Longitudinal Associations Between Depression, Anxiety, Pain, and Pain-Related Disability in Chronic Pain Patients". Psychosomatic Medicine. 77 (3): 333–341. doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000158. PMID 25849129. S2CID 42890327.
  9. ↑ "War news bad for your health". Israel21c. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  10. ↑ "The Hazards of Self-Criticism". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  11. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Elad-Strenger, Julia; Henrich, Christopher C. (2012-05-29). "Risky Resilience and Resilient Risk: The Key Role of Intentionality in an Emerging Dialectics". Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 31 (6): 618–640. doi:10.1521/jscp.2012.31.6.618. ISSN 0736-7236.
  12. ↑ Henrich, Christopher C.; Brookmeyer, Kathryn A.; Shahar, Golan (October 2005). "Weapon violence in adolescence: Parent and school connectedness as protective factors". Journal of Adolescent Health. 37 (4): 306–312. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.03.022. PMID 16182141.
  13. ↑ Henrich, Christopher C.; Shahar, Golan (September 2008). "Social Support Buffers the Effects of Terrorism on Adolescent Depression: Findings From Sderot, Israel". Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 47 (9): 1073–1076. doi:10.1097/chi.0b013e31817eed08. PMID 18664998.
  14. ↑ Henrich, Christopher C.; Shahar, Golan (June 2013). "Effects of Exposure to Rocket Attacks on Adolescent Distress and Violence: A 4-Year Longitudinal Study". Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 52 (6): 619–627. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2013.02.016. PMID 23702451.
  15. ↑ Henrich, C. C. (2006-04-01). "Supportive Relationships and Sexual Risk Behavior in Adolescence: An Ecological-Transactional Approach". Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 31 (3): 286–297. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj024. ISSN 0146-8693. PMID 15827352.
  16. ↑ Kidd, Sean; Henrich, Christopher C.; Brookmeyer, Kathryn A.; Davidson, Larry; King, Robert A.; Shahar, Golan (2006-08-01). "The Social Context of Adolescent Suicide Attempts: Interactive Effects of Parent, Peer, and School Social Relations". Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 36 (4): 386–395. doi:10.1521/suli.2006.36.4.386. ISSN 1943-278X. PMID 16978093.
  17. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Cohen, Guina; Grogan, Kathryn E.; Barile, John P.; Henrich, Christopher C. (2009-08-01). "Terrorism-Related Perceived Stress, Adolescent Depression, and Social Support From Friends". Pediatrics. 124 (2): e235–e240. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2971. ISSN 0031-4005. PMID 19596732. S2CID 38248792.
  18. ↑ Shahar, Golan; Henrich, Christopher C. (2016). "Perceived family social support buffers against the effects of exposure to rocket attacks on adolescent depression, aggression, and severe violence". Journal of Family Psychology. 30 (1): 163–168. doi:10.1037/fam0000179. PMID 26690329.
  19. ↑ "Does Chronic Exposure to Rocket Attacks Increase Severe Adolescent Violence?". in.bgu.ac.il. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  20. ↑ Shahar, Golan (2013). "An integrative psychotherapist's account of his focus when treating self-critical patients". Psychotherapy. 50 (3): 322–325. doi:10.1037/a0032033. PMID 24000844.
  21. ↑ Zuroff, David C.; Shahar, Golan; Blatt, Sidney J.; Kelly, Allison C.; Leybman, Michelle J. (2016). "Predictors and moderators of between-therapists and within-therapist differences in depressed outpatients' experiences of the Rogerian conditions". Journal of Counseling Psychology. 63 (2): 162–172. doi:10.1037/cou0000139. PMID 26937789.
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