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Evaluation ViewAttendees 5

Oppression and Resilience Minority Health
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 77 - The Body Talks: Psychophysiological Evidence of Contextual Embodiment as a Process through which Marginalized Individuals Thrive, Survive, and Heal

Sunday, November 23, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CST
Location: Bolden 2, Level 2
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Psychophysiology, Race, LGBTQ+
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Brownlow, B. N. (2022). How racism “Gets under the skin”: An examination of the physical- and mental-health costs of culturally compelled coping. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(3), 576-596. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221113762,   Busse, D., Yim, I. S., & Campos, B. (2017). Social context matters: Ethnicity, discrimination and stress reactivity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 83, 187-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.05.025,   Ghabrial, M. A., & Andersen, J. P. (2023). Identity affirmation is associated with adaptive cardiovascular flexibility in response to stress among sexual and gender minority people of color. Social Science & Medicine, 320, 115703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115703,   Rosati, F., Williams, D., P., Juster, R., Thayer, J. F., Ottaviani, C., Baiocco, R. (2021). The cardiovascular conundrum in ethnic and sexual minorities: A potential biomarker for constant coping with discrimination. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15, 619171. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.619171,  

Given mental health disparities among marginalized groups (Biaocco et al., 2021; Robertson et al., 2021), there is a need to understand how minoritized individuals survive and thrive in challenging social environments. Paramount to this is understanding contextual embodiment, or how individuals’ bodies and minds react, adapt, and overcome challenging environments (Schnall, 2017). Psychophysiological methods center the body and have been critical in understanding how contextual embodiment informs, interacts with, and predicts clinical outcomes. They also allow us to better understand how minoritized individuals survive, thrive, and heal.

This symposium brings together a series of talks that integrate cutting-edge clinical science, leveraging psychophysiological methods to elucidate the complex biopsychosocial interplay by which environmental harms are “metabolized” via mind-body transactions. Rather than focusing on isolated stigmatized identities and/or expressions of psychopathology, these talks span populations, developmental stages, and clinical presentations, bringing together seemingly disparate phenomena around shared causal mechanisms of marginalization and the processes through which marginalization is embodied. It aims to stimulate discussion of how contextual embodiment informs clinical science and practice by driving new understandings of how marginalized individuals survive, thrive, and heal. It also challenges the faulty myth that research with social justice aims and impacts is somehow antithetical to rigorous science and methods. This is critical as attacks on research with social justice aims are being leveraged against minoritized groups whose bodies are politicized. Speakers showcase novel studies that span a range of psychophysiological methodologies and represent the multitude of ways that psychophysiology can be used to understand the experiences of marginalized people, highlighting the utility of considering the body, and its social context in understanding clinical outcomes.

The first talk entails a study using heart rate variability data to understand how trans and non-binary (TNB) individual’s past experiences of social support and marginalization predict stress responses to social exclusion. The second presentation leverages salivary cortisol data to understand how TNB individuals’ physiological stress response to trauma reminders is associated with trajectories of recovery, within the context of everyday discrimination experiences. The third presentation utilizes both skin conductance and fetal heart rate data to assess how racial trauma impacts Black mothers and their unborn children. Finally, the fourth presentation uses cardiac indices of self-regulation to examine the relationship between gender, culturally compelling coping, and depressive symptoms among Black Americans.

Presenters bring varied experiences from both a wide range of psychophysiological methods and across diverse groups. The discussant will draw on his expertise in how social environments shape mental health outcomes to highlight how studying bodily responses allows us to better understand the experiences of marginalized people.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Present an overview of the importance of contextual embodiment in understanding marginalized experiences.
  2. Describe the utility of psychophysiological methods in studying marginalized experiences.
  3. Stimulate discussion regarding the role of context in bodily response and the downstream effects on clinical outcomes.
  4. Challenge harmful messaging that research with social justice aims and impacts is somehow antithetical to rigorous science and methods.

Presentations:

  • 12:27 PM - 12:48 PM CST
    (SYM 77) Psychophysiological Correlates of PTSD Risk and Resilience Among Transgender Trauma Survivors

    Speaker: Danielle S. Berke, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Hunter College, City University of New York

    Co-author: Madalyn M. Liautaud, M.A. (she/her/hers) – The Graduate Center, City University of New York

  • 12:48 PM - 1:09 PM CST
    (SYM 77) A Mixed-methods Exploration into the Psychophysiological Link Between Racial Trauma Experiences and Health Outcomes Among Black Women of Reproductive Age

    Speaker: Sierra Carter, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Georgia

    Co-author: Sheila E. Crowell, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Oregon

    Co-author: Elisabeth Conradt, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Duke University

    Co-author: Keianna Moyer, BSPH, MPH (she/her/hers) – University of Chicago

  • 1:09 PM - 1:30 PM CST
    (SYM 77) Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Culturally Compelled Coping, Psychophysiological Regulatory Capacity, and Depression Among Black Americans

    Speaker: Briana N. Brownlow, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Duke University School of Medicine

    Co-author: Jennifer S. Cheavens, PhD – The Ohio State University

    Co-author: Michael W. Vasey, PhD – The Ohio State University

    Co-author: Julian F. Thayer, PhD – University of California Irvine

    Co-author: LaBarron K. Hill, PhD – University of North Carolina at Charlotte