Standing in Two Worlds with Doctor Sam Juni -Episode 29- Covid-19's Collateral Damage: Aggravated Hypochondria and Fresh Phobias

Rabbi Kivelevitz cites a study published in Lancet that proves a precipitous increase of anxiety-related symptomatology during the current Covid pandemic. Doctor Juni responds to this with an exposition of dynamics of anxiety disorders, phobias, and hypochondriasis, as well as a sketch of advisable interventions. The Professor explains what psychosomatic medicine was, and explores the chicken-egg issue of the physiology and psychology of mental illness, along with the psychiatric comorbidity of chronic medical conditions. In general, Juni stresses the irrationality of phobias, while asserting that criteria of rationality are intrinsically socially defined by social norms rather than by unassailable reason. As regards basic anxiety, Juni explains this as a physiological condition with clear genetic origins, not a psychological one. Kivelevitz raises the popular psychoanalytic explanations of symbols as keys to comprehend phobias and the Jungian notions of collective unconscious determinants of specific types of fears, which Juni summarily dismisses as debunked legends holding little medical validity. Juni expounds on his biases toward medication and behavioral conditioning to treat anxiety conditions – in contrast to insight-oriented psychotherapy. Citing examples, such as portrayed in the Hitchcock film Marnie, where the notion of mind over emotions is portrayed as a classic triumph over mental illness, Kivelevitz indicates a quite similar stance in the writings of Rav Mordechai Leiner of Ishbitz and Rav Yisroel Salanter. Juni while equivocating somewhat in respect to these highly regarded religious theorists, recasts the quest for a cure as dependent on emotional corrective experiences. He insists that negative emotionality cannot, unfortunately, be countered by logic or any Eureka moment of insight . Doctor Samuel Juni is one of the foremost research psychologists in the world today. He has published groundbreaking original research in seventy different peer reviewed journals, and is cited continuously with respect by colleagues and experts in the field who have built on his theories and observations. Samuel Juni studied in Yeshivas Chaim Berlin under Rav Yitzchack Hutner, and in Yeshiva University as a Talmid of Rav Joseph Dov Soloveitchick. Professor Juni is a prominent member of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, and has regularly presented addresses to captivated audiences. Associated with NYU since 1979, Juni has served as Director of MA and PhD programs, all the while heading teams engaged in important research. Professor Juni's scholarship on aberrant behavior across the cultural, ethnic, and religious spectrum is founded on psychometric methodology and based on a psycho-dynamic psychopathology perspective. He is arguably the preeminent expert in Differential Diagnostics, with each of his myriad studies entailing parallel efforts in theory construction and empirical data collection from normative and clinical populations. Professor Juni created and directed NYU's Graduate Program in Tel Aviv titled Cross-Cultural Group Dynamics in Stressful Environments. Based in Yerushalayim, he collaborates with Israeli academic and mental health specialists in the study of dissonant factors and tensions in the Arab-Israeli conflict and those within the Orthodox Jewish community, while exploring personality challenges of second-generation Holocaust survivors. Below is a partial list of the journals to which Professor Juni has contributed over 120 articles. Many are available on line Journal of Forensic Psychology Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. International Review of Victimology The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease International Forum of Psychoanalysis Journal of Personality Assessment Journal of Abnormal Psychology Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology Psychophysiology Psychology and Human Development Journal of Sex Research Journal of Psychology and Judaism Contemporary Family Therapy American Journal on Addictions Journal of Criminal Psychology Mental Health, Religion & Culture As Rosh Beis Medrash, Rabbi Avraham Kivelevitz serves as Rav and Posek for the morning minyan at IDT. Hundreds of listeners around the globe look forward to his weekly Shiur in Tshuvos and Poskim. Rav Kivelevitz is a Maggid Shiur for Dirshu International in Talmud and Halacha as well as a Dayan with the Beth Din of America. Please leave us a review or email us at [email protected] This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate