T. Byram B Karasu, MD

Dr. Karasu, a graduate of the Department of Psychiatry of Yale School of Medicine, is a widely renowned psychiatrist, educator, author, master psychotherapist, and executive coach with extensive experience in the treatment of depression and personality disorders.  

Dr. Karasu is the founding chairman of UBA, a steadily growing non-profit behavioral health organization since its inception 1992, and co-founder of the Annual Tarrytown Leadership Conference, continuously successful since 1972. These and many other leadership experiences in widely divergent fields and his decades-long work with executives culminated in the publication of his highly praised book on leadership: The Mind of the Leader - A Psychological Primer on Leadership.

He is the editor-in-chief emeritus of the American Journal of Psychotherapy, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). He chaired two commissions and one task force for the APA. The first commission reviewed all psychological and somatic therapies as practiced in the U.S. and studied their efficacy. The second commission established treatment standards for all psychiatric disorders. These commissions published six volumes, and were praised as being: “...twenty-five years ahead of its time,” by Atlantic Monthly, and “the best psychiatric book ever,” by Contemporary Psychiatry.  The APA Task Force, under Dr. Karasu's leadership, developed the first Practice Guidelines for Major Depressive Disorder in Adults.

He is a bestselling author whose works have been translated into many languages. He has published 22 books, including on the theory and practice of psychotherapy: Wisdom in the Practice of Psychotherapy; Deconstruction of Psychotherapy; The Psychotherapist as Healer; Life Witness: Evolution of the Psychotherapist; two popular books on spirituality: The Art of Serenity and The Spirit of Happiness; two novels: Of God and Madness and Gotham Chronicles: The Culture of Sociopathy; two books of poetry, Rags of My Soul and The Remnants of Time; and two books of philosophical reflections: Maxims Minimus: Reflections in Microstyle and Eight Brief Lessons on Life.

In addition to being a prolific writer, Dr. Karasu has been a visiting professor, scholar, and titled lecturer at many academic institutions, including: Harvard Bicennenial Lecturer at Mass. General Hospital; Alfred H. Stanton Lecturer at McLean Hospital; Hamilton Ford Lecturer at the Titus Harris Society; Hincks Memorial Lecturer at McMaster University; Ralph M. Patterson Memorial Lecturer at Ohio State University; Frederick L. Weniger Lectureship at the University of Pittsburgh; twice Royal College Speaker at Mount Sinai Hospital of the University of Toronto; Winkelman Lecturer at the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center; Frank O. Shobe Lecturer at Washington University; Nolan D.C. Lewis Visiting Professor and Scholar at the Carrier Foundation; Jeffrey Greenbaum Memorial Lecturer at Long Island Jewish Medical Center/Hillside Hospital; Susanne Housman Memorial Lecturer at the New York University Medical Center; Jacob E. Finesinger Lecturer at the University of Maryland at Baltimore; the Harry Stack Sullivan Speaker at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital; Dean's Lecturer at Weill Cornell Medical College; and the John A. Graft Lecturer at the Mayo Clinic. He is the recipient of the Sigmund Freud Award of the Psychoanalytical Physicians' Association; APA Presidential Commendation; and the Yale University School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry Distinguished Alumni Award.