Failure to Launch is a term often used to describe young adults who seem unable to move forward into independent adult life. In this talk, psychiatrist Jeremy R. Mack, M.D. looks beyond labels to explore the psychological and relational forces that can stall development. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, he examines how family dynamics, expectations, anxiety, and unspoken emotional loyalties can quietly interfere with independence, motivation, and agency. The talk is designed for parents, educators, and community members seeking a deeper understanding of why capable young people can feel so profoundly stuck—and what helps growth resume.

• 3o min lecture

• 30 min Q/A

Jeremy R. Mack, M.D. is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and in Sherman. He did his residencies in adult and child psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and has held faculty and leadership positions at Mount Sinai and the NYU–Bellevue Hospital, where for many years he was the head of the child psychiatry clinic. He has spent decades working with children, adolescents, and families and has talked and written on ADHD, elective mutism, childhood schizophrenia, the perception of time and space, claustrophilia, Primo Levi and the Holocaust, the mind-brain connection, the conduct of psychotherapy, and family dynamics. He is the author of Phantoms of the Hotel Meurice:A Guide to the Holocaust in Paris, which won a starred review from Kirkus.  Dr. Mack will talk about the causes of failure to launch and measures to deal with it.