Louis Castonguay, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Penn State University and a leading figure in contemporary psychotherapy research. With a career spanning decades, Dr. Castonguay has focused on what truly makes psychotherapy work—examining the variables that shape client outcomes, therapeutic relationships, and the process of change. But perhaps what sets him apart most is his leadership in Practice Research Networks (PRNs), collaborative research communities that unite clinicians, resea...
Jul 15, 2025•46 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Dr. Jacqueline (Jackie) Persons is a distinguished clinician, researcher, and Clinical Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She served as president of the Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies (ABCT) in 1999 and currently works in private practice at the Oakland Cognitive Behavior Therapy Center. With over 35 years of experience, Dr. Persons is recognized globally for her pioneering work in integrating research into private practice, particularly in the areas of case ...
Oct 29, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Dr. Patricia Arean is is the Director of the Division of Services and Intervention Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), as well as a clinical researcher and former professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Arean has focused her career on increasing access to mental health services for underserved communities. She has led multiple research initiatives, including the UW Alacrity Center,...
Oct 02, 2024•53 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Tony Biglan, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute and Co-Director of the Promise Neighborhood Research Consortium. For the past thirty years, he has conducted research in the development and prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior. He is a former president of the Society for Prevention Research and was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Prevention. As a member of Oregon’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission, he has helped to develop a strategic pla...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Dean McKay, Ph.D., A.B.B.P. is Professor of Psychology at Fordham University where he is a member of the clinical psychology doctoral program. His lab, Compulsive, Obsessive, and Anxiety Program (COAP) provides instruction to undergraduate, masters, and doctorate levels. Dr. McKay’s expertise is in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behavior, with his current focus being on Covid-19 related stress and anxiety. He has further interest in anxiety pertaining to political conditions, and he has a pass...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Dr. Hayes is a Nevada Foundation Professor of Psychology in the Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. An author of 46 books and nearly 650 scientific articles, he is especially known for his work on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which is one of the most widely used and researched new methods of psychological intervention in the last 20 years. Dr. Hayes has received many national awards, such as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cog...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Jessica Borelli, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine. She is a clinical psychologist specializing in the field of developmental psychopathology, and her research focuses on the links between close relationships, emotions, health, and development. Today Dr. Borelli shares her own experience with balancing her family life and her ambition and drive as an academic. Imagine the silence that would (and did) follow her announcement of “I wa...
Dec 10, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 5
James Kirby, Ph.D., is a researcher and senior lecturer at the University of Queensland in Australia, who studies the effects of kindness and compassion. Jeff Kim, a graduate student under Dr. Kirby, joins my discussion with Dr. Kirby on measuring and incorporating physiological data into their research. Today’s conversation is focused on measuring heart rate variability. Like many of us, Dr. Kirby didn’t take any psychology courses that incorporated physiology when he was in school. But when he...
Nov 11, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Does the thought of practicing open science give you sweaty palms? That’s a normal reaction for those of us who weren’t formally trained in the open-science methodology. The sweaty-palm reaction is really not that surprising since most of us have gotten where we are today because we’ve been meticulous in our work and tried to put out the best work we possibly could. In a nutshell, we tend to be perfectionists. But science, like life, is far from perfect. It’s messy. And it often takes unexpected...
Oct 02, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Jessica Schleider, PhD, is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Stony Book University and a graduate of the Clinical Psychology Program at Harvard University. When in graduate school, she learned about open science – not from her courses but from the Twitter-spere and later from The Black Goat Podcast . What she learned was compelling and unsettling and kept her up at night as she thought about the state of scientific research in general and her research in particular. Wanting to sle...
Aug 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Dr. Maria Karekla is an assistant professor at the University of Cyprus where she studies anxiety and cravings and specializes in utilizing psychophysiological measurements in her research. I decided to interview her because she has one of the few labs in the world that has done research comparing consumer grade wearable physiological measurement devices to research grade stationary devices. I was alerted to this work when I stumbled across a paper that she recently published comparing these two...
Jul 10, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Todd Kashdan, PhD , is a professor of psychology at George Mason University, where he’s senior scientist at the Center for the Advancement of Wellbeing . He’s been a leading researcher in positive psychology from when that area first started to blow up, but often plays the role of someone who challenges established wisdom in that area of research. When looking for the right job, Dr. Kashdan sought the one that would give him the most autonomy in his work. He’s delighted that at George Mason he’s...
Apr 24, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 13
How many people do you know who have a personal mission statement…and have it memorized…and actually live by it? Well, now you know of one more. Dr. Ken Weingardt’s personal mission statement is to “use technology to improve access to behavioral health services.” An addictionologist by training, Dr. Weingardt held various positions in academia and research -- from faculty appointments at major medical schools to leadership positions of federally funded organizations -- before deciding the grant-...
Feb 12, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Dr. Kelly Wilson is a recently retired, emeritus faculty at the University of Mississippi. He is a leading researcher, theorist, and trainer of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and an important contributor to clinical behavior analysis. He has published nine very well selling books. Dr. Wilson’s path into research is certainly atypical. If you had seen him as a young adult, he would probably have been the last person you would have expected to have a successful research career. He had an active...
Jan 14, 2020•59 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Dr. Averill is an assistant professor in the Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and research fellow in the clinical neurosciences division of the National Center for PTSD VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Her research focuses primarily on studying the neurobiological mechanisms involved in ketamine as a treatment for PTSD and suicidality. Although Dr. Averill originally got her degree in counseling psychology, she later made the switch to neuroscience, which is her current passion...
Dec 13, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Shannon Wiltsey Stirman, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University Medical School and is Acting Deputy Director, Dissemination and Training Division, National Center for PTSD. She’s a leading researcher in the area of disseminating evidence-based therapies. As part of this, she juggles two RO1 research grants from NIMH, working with multiple teams, and having team members scattered across the US and Canada who are conducting research in various settings....
Nov 12, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Dr. Alan Kooi Davis is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at The Ohio State University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Psychedelic Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University. He’s a researcher in the area of psychedelics, especially psilocybin, and how psychedelics can be used in treatment. He has also done research on harm reduction and drug use more generally, but in this episode we decided to focus on how he got into research on psychedelics for people who are interested in doing ...
Sep 27, 2019•53 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Dr. Bonanno is chair of the department of counseling and clinical psychology at Columbia University’s Teachers College. He is a world leader on research around trauma, bereavement, and resilience. His interest in how people cope with difficult events and circumstances has led to studies around grief, trauma, acute medical situations, and other unpleasant events. In this episode, you’ll learn… The rewards and consequences of pursuing controversial questions What to do when your work is published....
Sep 04, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Joanna Arch is an associate professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is also a member of the Cancer Center in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. Her research initially focused on anxiety disorders, but she’s recently added a focus on cancer patients. Being married to an oncologist and having a personal interest in existential issues helped her embrace her initial reservations about entering work on cancer, which can be very emotional and challenging. Once she braved the ...
Aug 08, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Dr. Evan Forman is a professor of psychology at Drexel University and a director of the University’s “WELL Center” (Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science), an interdisciplinary clinic, research, and training center dedicated to developing and sharing innovative solutions to treat obesity, poor diet, sedentariness and disordered eating. In this Episode you'll learn: How to create fertile environments for collaboration How to hire stellar project coordinators How to incorporate behaviora...
Jun 05, 2019•1 hr
Today’s interview is with Dr. Matthew McKay. Dr. McKay is a co-founder of New Harbinger publications and a professor at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. For those who don’t know, New Harbinger is one of the largest publishers of mental health related books. Through New Harbinger, he pioneered the very idea of client workbooks and has written many himself. In addition to being an active researcher, the main thing I wanted to interview Matt about was how he has been able to write more...
May 30, 2019•1 hr 5 min
I’m pretty sure that Jonathan Bricker has more research funding to study Acceptance and Commitment Therapy than any other researcher (it’s hard to confirm this as there is no central database). For this alone he’s a person worth interviewing. He’s also interesting as a researcher who deeply considers how research can help us scale psychosocial interventions to reach millions of people, and thus apps and websites feature prominently in his research. If you are interested in learning how to do cli...
Apr 10, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 3
Dr. Kelly Koerner is currently the Creative Director of the Evidence-Based Practice Institute , a company she founded. Her work combines technology, design thinking, and science to improve mental health care and help clinicians implement evidence-based practices. After graduating from University of Washington, she was one of the earliest pioneers of Dialectical behavior therapy as the first CEO of Behavioral Tech, the main organization responsible for research on DBT and it’s training. After thi...
Mar 22, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 2
For this show I interview Dr. Mike Twohig, a professor at Utah State University. I’ve known Mike since the end of graduate school where I first observed the remarkable ways in which he goes about his research. One thing I have always admired is that he somehow manages to be extraordinarily productive, while at the same time living a balanced life. For example, in addition to being an incredibly productive researcher, he’s a devoted family man and has some hobbies that take up many hours of his t...
Feb 15, 2019•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 1
