Risk Prediction & Prevention Laboratory

The Risk Prediction and Prevention Laboratory (RiPPL) at the Psychiatry Research Institute at Montefiore Einstein (PRIME) is located at Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. The lab aims to reduce human suffering through better understanding, predicting and preventing self-injurious behavior.

Under the leadership of Dr. Peter Franz, the Risk Prediction and Prevention Laboratory (RiPPL) broadly aims to reduce self-harm by developing accessible and responsive interventions to prevent suicide in our Bronx community and others like it.

With suicide being a leading cause of death, research shows that it is unlike many other leading causes in that suicide rates have not declined over the last 100 years. The Lab’s mission is to understand why people engage in self-injurious thoughts and behaviors and to develop interventions to prevent them.

Our team is actively involved in clinical research, evaluations and collaborations. Current RiPPL research areas include:

• Digital mental health: Gain insight into the role of the internet, including digital social media, and how it impacts suicide risk and other mental health concerns. We aim to better understand how online interactions and communications affect people, and whether we can leverage social media platforms to help prevent suffering. We are especially interested in these social technologies to help us develop low-burden, accessible interventions that can reduce suicide risk for diverse groups of people.
• Suicide and emotional risk factors: Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors occur most often in the context of negative emotions. Our research in this area seeks to better understand why people want to hurt themselves when what they desire is to feel better.