Psychopathology and Psychotherapy

Faculty in the clinical psychology area of the Department of Psychology at Penn study the psychopathology, assessment, and treatment of mental disorders and also the enhancement of well-being.

Psychology faculty members in this interest area include Dianne Chambless, Rob DeRubeis, Paul Rozin, Ayelet Meron Ruscio, and Martin Seligman.  Their research programs include investigation of the the process and outcome of psychotherapy for anxiety disorders and depression, the dissemination of empirically supported psychological treatments, the boundary between normal and abnormal behavior, the relationships between different forms of disorder such as anxiety and depression, disgust in obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobia, obesity and eating disorders in a cultural context, and the use of positive psychology interventions to reduce or prevent depression and increase well-being. Our faculty also contribute to the development and refinement of research methods that promote advances in their fields of study. 

In addition to the core faculty in the Department of Psychology, the clinical program is enriched by a number of outstanding clinical psychologists who are members of other departments but are members of the Psychology Graduate Group. These include Adrian Raine (psychopathy, conduct disorder) in Criminology; Jacques Barber (psychotherapy research), Paul Crits-Christoph (psychotherapy research), and Edna Foa (obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder) in the Department of Psychiatry; and Robert Schultz (autism) of the Department of Pediatrics.