About

Dr. Jason Schiffman is a Professor of Clinical Science and the inaugural Director of Clinical Training for the University of California, Irvine's Clinical Psychology program. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California in 2003. Dr. Schiffman is the founder and past Co-Director of the Maryland Early Intervention Program's Strive for Wellness Clinic. His research focuses on refining the identification of young people at risk for psychotic disorders, understanding the effects of psychosocial interventions for adolescents with psychosis, and uncovering mechanisms that can reduce stigma against individuals with serious mental health concerns.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Political Science
• Criminology
• Geography
• Gender studies
• Psychology
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• From Womb to Neighborhood: A Racial Analysis of Social Determinants of Psychosis in the United States

  American Journal of Psychiatry · 2021 · 230 citations

  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology

  The authors examine U.S.-based evidence that connects characteristics of the social environment with outcomes across the psychosis continuum, from psychotic experiences to schizophrenia. The notion that inequitable social and economic systems of society significantly influence psychosis risk through proxies, such as racial minority and immigrant statuses, has been studied more extensively in European countries. While there are existing international reviews of social determinants of psychosis, none to the authors' knowledge focus on factors in the U.S. context specifically-an omission that leaves domestic treatment development and prevention efforts incomplete and underinformed. In this review, the authors first describe how a legacy of structural racism in the United States has shaped the social gradient, highlighting consequential racial inequities in environmental conditions. The authors offer a hypothesized model linking structural racism with psychosis risk through interwoven intermediary factors based on existing theoretical models and a review of the literature. Neighborhood factors, cumulative trauma and stress, and prenatal and perinatal complications were three key areas selected for review because they reflect social and environmental conditions that may affect psychosis risk through a common pathway shaped by structural racism. The authors describe evidence showing that Black and Latino people in the United States suffer disproportionately from risk factors within these three key areas, in large part as a result of racial discrimination and social disadvantage. This broad focus on individual and community factors is intended to provide a consolidated space to review this growing body of research and to guide continued inquiries into social determinants of psychosis in U.S. contexts.

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R03MH076846

  NIH · $138k · 2011

• Administrative Supplement - 3/3: Community Psychology Risk Screening: An Instrument Development Study

  NIH · $1.3M · 2017–2024

• NIH Grant F31MH012803

  NIH · $70k

Frequent coauthors

• Vijay A. Mittal

  Ascension Providence Hospital

  86 shared

• Gloria Reeves

  University of Maryland, Baltimore

  85 shared

• Lauren M. Ellman

  Temple University

  83 shared

• Jordan DeVylder

  Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science

  77 shared

• Emily Kline

  Boston University

  70 shared

• Zachary B. Millman

  55 shared

• Pamela Rakhshan Rouhakhtar

  University of Maryland, Baltimore

  54 shared

• Mallory J. Klaunig

  University of California, Irvine

  54 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology

  University of Southern California

  2003

Similar researchers at University of California, Irvine

• Simin Liuh-187
• Simona Murgiah-181
• Donald R. Blakeh-144
• Eric Rignoth-143
• Alex B Guentherh-131