L A B M E M B E R S
L E A D R E S E A R C H E R S
Jeremy Safran, PhD |
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Chris Muran, PhDDirector of the Brief Psychotherapy Research Program
Dr. Muran is Associate Dean of the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University. Learn more |
Catherine Eubanks-Carter, PhDAssistant Director of the Brief Psychotherapy Research Program
Dr. Eubanks-Carter is an Assistant Professor at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Learn more |
A D M I N I S T R A T I V E S T A F F
Christopher Christian, PhD
Clinical Director, Brief Psychotherapy Research Program
Christopher Christian is a psychologist and psychoanalyst. He is on the faculty of the Psychology Department of the New School for Social Research and Director of the New School Beth Israel Center for Clinical Training and Research. He is a Research Scholar Member of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. With Michael J. Diamond, he is the co-editor of the recently released book, the Second Century of Psychoanalysis: Evolving Perspectives on Therapeutic Action, published this summer by Karnac.
As the Director of the New School Beth Israel Center for Clinical Training and Research, he is responsible for overseeing all clinical contact and supervises both the teaching assistants and research assistants. Additionally, all RAs write and a present to Dr. Christian as a part of the intake process. Website
Christopher Christian is a psychologist and psychoanalyst. He is on the faculty of the Psychology Department of the New School for Social Research and Director of the New School Beth Israel Center for Clinical Training and Research. He is a Research Scholar Member of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. With Michael J. Diamond, he is the co-editor of the recently released book, the Second Century of Psychoanalysis: Evolving Perspectives on Therapeutic Action, published this summer by Karnac.
As the Director of the New School Beth Israel Center for Clinical Training and Research, he is responsible for overseeing all clinical contact and supervises both the teaching assistants and research assistants. Additionally, all RAs write and a present to Dr. Christian as a part of the intake process. Website
Christine Anderson, MSCenter Coordinator
Christine is the Center Manager of the New School-Beth Israel Center for Clinical Training and Research, which includes the Brief Psychotherapy Research Program. She organizes externship experience for PhD psychology candidates, and maintains the administrative aspect of the Brief. Christine hails from the Pacific Northwest and received her Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Portland State University prior to relocating to NYC. |
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Madeline August, MA, PhD Candidate
Clinical Manager, Brief Psychotherapy Research Program
Madeline is responsible for overseeing clinical and administrative activities conducted by research assistants, psychology externs, psychology interns, and psychiatric residents taking part in an NIMH grant funded study investigating the role of the therapeutic alliance in treatment outcome with Cluster C personality disordered adult outpatients. Madeline works with the team to address administrative and clinical matters and to maintain the functionality of the research program's resources.
Madeline is responsible for overseeing clinical and administrative activities conducted by research assistants, psychology externs, psychology interns, and psychiatric residents taking part in an NIMH grant funded study investigating the role of the therapeutic alliance in treatment outcome with Cluster C personality disordered adult outpatients. Madeline works with the team to address administrative and clinical matters and to maintain the functionality of the research program's resources.
Lauren Knopf, MA, PhD CandidateLauren manages the collection, entry, and storage of all video data and paperwork for 40 active psychotherapy cases and archival data from the past 20 years. Additionally, Lauren supervises the Tracking Supervisor, Video Tracking Supervisor, Transcription Supervisor, and all Research Assistants in their handling of the data; compiles data sets; and assists with data analysis. |
Erica Gardner-Schuster
Erica’s psychotherapy research interests include addressing ruptures and impasses within the therapeutic relationship; therapist attunement, responsiveness, emotional availability, sensitivity, and mindfulness; patient-centered process-outcome research with at risk, underserved populations; and the training and supervision of therapists in the process of "becoming a therapist". Her Ph.D. dissertation involves developing a coding system looking at therapist attunement, responsiveness, emotional availability, sensitivity, and competence in addressing ruptures in the therapeutic alliance and moments of impasse in psychotherapy sessions.
Jacob Nyman MA, PhD CandidateTracking Supervisor
Jacob directly oversees the data collection and management activities for therapist and patient self-response measures. This includes helping new research assistants learn how to track data, managing the research assistants in their tracking duties, and reporting results on a bi-weekly basis. He is currently using the Segmented Working Alliance Inventory-Observer Form (SWAI-O) to examine more closely moments of rupture and repair. More specifically he is interested in validating this measure with Brief Relational Therapy (BRT), an experiential condition designed to be especially effective for dealing interpersonal therapeutic difficulties. |
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Madeleine Miller-Bottome MA, PhD Candidate
Madeleine’s research has focused on the development and validation of a transcript-based coding system for classifying patient's attachment in psychotherapy. Currently, she is applying the Patient Attachment Coding System (PACS) to better understand the rupture-resolution process from an attachment-informed perspective.
Madeleine’s research has focused on the development and validation of a transcript-based coding system for classifying patient's attachment in psychotherapy. Currently, she is applying the Patient Attachment Coding System (PACS) to better understand the rupture-resolution process from an attachment-informed perspective.
Samuel Bodian
Sam's research interests include the use of video tools in therapist training and the study of alliance focused training and supervision. He is currently helping to develop a new measure of therapist competency with his senior colleague Erica Gardner-Schuster and mentor Dr. Jeremy Safran
Priyanka Shokeen
Teaching Assistant
Priyanka's research interest lies in studying therapist factors in the process of change with particular interest in therapist self disclosure. Her previous work involved examining the development of alliance patterns in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Brief Relational Therapy (BRT) using patient ratings on the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). It preliminarily explored pattern of alliance using control chart methodology and its implications for outcome.
Eran Barzilai
Transcription Manager
Eran is interested in psychotherapy integration, especially understanding the unique contribution of modality-specific and common factors interventions. For his MA Thesis he is investigating how BRT and CBT interventions can predict treatment outcomes for patients with different interpersonal problems, and in what ways these modalities could be best integrated to achieve the best result.
Eran is interested in psychotherapy integration, especially understanding the unique contribution of modality-specific and common factors interventions. For his MA Thesis he is investigating how BRT and CBT interventions can predict treatment outcomes for patients with different interpersonal problems, and in what ways these modalities could be best integrated to achieve the best result.
Jacob Nacheman
Jacob is interested in a variety of therapeutic techniques and integrated psychotherapy treatment modalities. He is interested in the way that the alliance is approached in different modalities, and how both differential and non-specific factors may affect treatment. Jacob has done research in how therapist’s internal-state awareness and therapist’s awareness of the patient’s mental state (using Experiencing and Reflective Functioning scales) may have an effect on termination measures of symptoms and interpersonal problems. Jacob has coded Adherence, SWAIO, and RF, and trains the Adherence coding group.
Kate Foley
Lab Manager
Kate is interested in studying therapist contributions to in-session process and rupture resolution in order to better understand the factors that underlie global and modality-specific therapist competence. Kate is a trained SASB coder, and leads the new MA training program for first year psychology students. She also leads the Facilitative Interpersonal Skills coding group, and just completed a study investigating the impact of Alliance Focused Training on therapist FIS and emotional awareness.
Scott Mimnaugh
SCID Reliability Manager
Scott's research interests lie in studying therapist competence, with the goal of developing a training tool to help therapists explore their counter-transferential styles. To that end, he is currently working on using impact messages to help develop a therapist training tool. Scott also facilitates the process of allowing students to administer the structured clinical interview to prospective patients. Scott oversees the reliability process for the SCID I and SCID II interviews, working to ensure that everyone administering the SCID has first become reliable in order to accurately diagnose a patient’s target complaints.
Molly Duffy
Safran Lab RA
Molly is a second year Master's student at The New School. She currently leads the a SWAI-O coding group, and is integral member of the Data Management team. Previously, she has researched teacher burnout and factors associated with suicidality. Currently, she is interested in rupture repair and the therapeutic alliance.
Joshua Finklestein
J.D. Finkelstein has a Bachelor's Degree from the New College of Florida in both Religion and Psychology. In the past, Josh has worked on research projects ranging from studying the spacial recognition abilities of dolphins to the translation of ancient Hebrew mystical texts. Josh lives in Brooklyn with two cats
Samara Melwani
Samara is a second year New School MA student and RA at the Brief. She currently leads the SASB coding group, and is interested in taking a fine-grained approach to understanding the therapeutic alliance.
Lily Swistel
Lily is interested in psychoanalytic theory and practice -- especially the object relations school, and D.W. Winnicott's concept of therapeutic "holding". She is curious about both the necessity of and the dangers of illusion and idealization in therapy. She is also interested in the common factors, across modalities, that account for effectiveness in a treatment. Before coming to the New School, Lily earned a B.A. in English from Yale University, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from NYU.
Josh Maserow
Josh is an MA student at the New School and an RA at the New School Psychotherapy Program (NSPP). He is a member of the Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS) task coding group and is interested in how therapeutic intuition and responsiveness impacts working alliance. In a previous life, Josh earned an MA in English Literature and developed educational materials for an education rights organization.
Joanna Diab
Joanna Diab is a first year MA student at The New School and an RA in the Safran lab. Joanna is currently involved in coding, transcribing psychotherapy sessions, phone screen interviewing, and data transfers. Previously, Joanna worked as an RA at the Saint George Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, exploring the effects of non-war childhood adversities in the Arab world. Joanna graduated with honors from the American University of Beirut in 2016 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a minor in Theatre. Joanna seeks to contribute to the on-going research on the therapeutic alliance, and is further interested in the fields of abnormal psychology, trauma psychology, psychoanalysis, and the benefits of expressive arts.
Tristan Chirico
Tristan received his BA in History and Philosophy from Wesleyan University in 2006, and recently completed an MA in psychology at Columbia University Teachers College. He currently participates in the SWAIO coding group, which examines signs of rupture and repair in the therapeutic alliance within therapy sessions. His research interests include common factors in effective treatment, issues in the dissemination and reception of clinical psychology research, and the role of the humanities in psychotherapy training and practice.
Lucy Poe
Lucy is a part of the SASB coding group and is interested in identifying dynamics between therapists and patients which predict the best outcomes in therapy. She also is a part of the video tracking assignment team and the double entry assignment team along with her shared lab duties.
Jennifer Whitney
Jen is an MA New School student and RA at the Brief. She is also a meditation and yoga teacher throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, including leading a Mindful Self-Care community in the Psychology Department at NSSR. She is interested in the intersection of Contemplative Practices and Psychology, with special interests in how that relates to the therapeutic alliance, implicit bias, the ability to align our lives with our values, and deepening our relationships. She also teaches yoga for trauma populations, and hopes to integrate that into her studies as well.
Elena Petrovska
Elena was born in Macedonia and raised in Queens, NY. She is an MA student and research assistant. Elena earned her Bachelor's in psychology from Eugene Lang College at The New School. Starting in high school, she was an avid reader of Freud and became interested in psychoanalysis in college. Elena continues to be interested in transference and counter-transference and how ruptures can be repaired, leading to resiliency in relationships.
Tori Horn
Tori is currently a Masters student working in the SWAIO coding group. Previously, she researched commitment and satisfaction across committed and casual relationships. Currently, she is interested in examining referential activity as it relates to the SWAIO in terms of detecting ruptures and repairs in the therapeutic alliance.
Jerzy Kaufmann
Jerzy is a member of the PSQ data team, as well as the Adherence and 3RS coding groups at the Brief. He is currently interested in the identification of and response to withdrawal ruptures in psychotherapy. Jerzy received his BA in Psychology from Pitzer College, and is a first-year Master’s Student at The New School for Social Research.
Chhavi Singhal
Chhavi is a masters student at The New School and an RA at The Brief. She is involved in patient/therapist intake and termination data and is part of the 3RS coding group. Before coming to The New School, she earned her BA in English literature from George Washington University, and worked as a research assistant for a medical research practice. Chhavi is interested in studying the therapeutic alliance and how it might apply to autism clinical research.
Michi Scharf
Michi is a first year Psychology MA student at the New School and a member of the SASB coding team at the Brief. He received his BA in Philosophy and German from Connecticut College. His research interests include psychotherapy integration, somatic psychology and resilience.
Grace Smith
Gracie is a MA student at the New School for Social Research with a B.A. in Communications and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also studied Fashion at Parsons and worked in the field before coming back to the New School for Psychology. She is a member of the SWAIO coding group at the Brief and is interested in studying attachment mechanisms within the therapeutic relationship.
Greg Weil
Greg is a New School Master’s student and research assistant at the Brief. He is interested in studying therapist intervention behavior among different patient presentations. Within the lab, Greg is a member of the SASB and Adherence coding groups, as well as the PSQ data team. He has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the George Washington University.
