Wayne State University School of Medicine

Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences

Chairman's Grand Rounds 

Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Time: 1-2pm 

Venue: Blue Lecture Hall - Scott Hall

Speaker: Shivani Kaushal, MD - Resident, General Psychiatry Residency Program, Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine

Discussant: Rebecca Klisz-Hulbert, MD

No Commercial Relationship

Topic: "Trauma, Identity Formation, and Self-Diagnosis in the Digital Era"

Objectives:

1. Describe how trauma disrupts the integration of affects, memory, self-representation, and relational expectations. 

2.  Explain how psychodynamic mechanisms (Dissociation, defense, and relational coding) contribute to identity organization after trauma.

3. Appreciate why psychiatric labels become compelling identity tools during adolescence, particularly in trauma-exposed youth. 

4.  Identify how digital environments amplify diagnosis-centered identity narratives.