Susan Orsillo, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training
M.A., Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) University at Albany, State University of New York; Internship and postdoctoral work at National Center for PTSD: Behavioral Sciences Division and Tufts University School of Medicine/Boston Department of Veterans Affairs Psychology Internship Consortium.

Contact Information

Suffolk University
Department of Psychology
41 Temple Street
Boston, MA 02114
Donahue 636E
617-305-1924 (Office)
617-367-2924 (Fax)
sorsillo@suffolk.edu

 

Courses Taught

PSYCH 216 Research Methods
PSYCH 718 Research Methods and Ethics
PSYCH 721 Evidence-Based Principles in Psychotherapy

 

Specialty Areas

Acceptance and mindfulness; acceptance-based behavior therapy, trauma and PTSD, anxiety disorders, emotional responding.

I am primarily interesting in developing and refining acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) approaches to treating chronic anxiety disorders.  Acceptance-based behavior therapy involves integrating acceptance and mindfulness-based approaches (such as ACT, MBCT, DBT and MBSR) with more traditionally behavioral approaches to therapy (e.g., psychoeducation, skills training, exposure therapy).  Most recently, Liz Roemer and I received funding from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a randomized control trial comparing ABBT to applied relaxation for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.  Also, I have worked with several of my graduate students to develop acceptance-based prevention programs.  One student created a program aimed at decreasing relational aggression among middle schoolers and another focused on reducing the risk of sexual assault among college students.  My second research interest involves experimentally examining the nature and parameters of the constructs that I am targeting in my treatment development.  Specifically, I research the relationship between several domains of emotional responding including emotional avoidance, suppression, and strategic withholding of emotion across several channels of responding including self-report, facial expression, psychophysiological responding and narrative expression. I am interested in examining how patterns of emotional responding are related to exposure to interpersonal trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder, and to general psychopathology.

Please click here to view the Acceptance, Mindfulness, and Emotion Lab’s Research Web Page

Selected Publications

Lee, J.K., Orsillo, S.M., Roemer, L., & Allen, L.B. (in press). The role of experiential avoidance in generalized anxiety disorder. Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

Vernig, P.M. & Orsillo, S.M. (in press). Psychophysiolgical and self-reported emotional responding in alcohol dependent college students: The impact of a brief acceptance/mindfulness instruction. Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

Roemer, L., & Orsillo, S.M. (2009). Mindfulness and acceptance-based behavior al therapy in practice. New York: Guilford. 

Roemer, L., Orsillo, S.M., & Salters-Pedneault, K. (2008). Efficacy of an acceptance-based behavior therapy for generalized anxiety disorder: Evaluation in a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Orsillo, S.M.  & Roemer, L. (2005). Acceptance and mindfulness-based approaches to anxiety: Conceptualization and treatment. New York: Springer.