Originally from Bolivia, but now working and living in New Zealand, Dr. Erik Monasterio is a forensic psychiatrist and senior clinical lecturer with the University of Otago, Christchurch School of Clinical Medicine. His research interests include the off-label use of psychotropic medications, metabolic complications associated with antipsychotic treatment, and cross-cultural psychiatry. Dr Monasterio is concerned that the current approach to psychiatric care is overly reliant on psychotropic medications and that excessive use of these medications not only lead to considerable side-effects, but also interferes with an individual’s adaptive potential and resilience. Dr Monasterio is also an experienced mountaineer and has ascended previously unclimbed mountains in all the major mountain chains of the world. In this context, he was involved in a number of search and rescue missions, and has shared the relatively unique sociocultural world of mountaineers and other risk-taking sports people. This has stimulated additional research interest into the personality characteristics of “extreme” sports people and whether there is any similarity in these characteristics to those of antisocial risk-taking (criminal) populations. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and reported in a number of television documentaries.
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