ABOUT DR PATRICIA COUGHLIN
Patricia Coughlin (Della Selva), Ph.D., is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 40 years of clinical experience. She has held faculty positions at Northwestern University Medical School, Albany Medical College, and the Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine.
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Currently she is Clinical Faculty at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Over the past 20 years she has written professionally, given presentations at professional conferences and conducted workshops for mental health professionals internationally.
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Her first book, Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy: Theory and Technique, is considered a classic in the field. Dr. Coughlin’s book Lives Transformed was written in collaboration with Dr. David Malan, and published in 2006 by Karnac Books. Her book, Maximizing Therapeutic Effectiveness in Dynamic Psychotherapy, published by Routledge in 2016 has been called "extraordinary", "superb", and "an ambitious attempt both to illustrate and justify the practice of short-term dynamic therapy". Her newest book, Facilitating the Process of Working through in Psychotherapy: Mastering the Middle Game, was released in December 2022 and is essential reading for all psychotherapists who are committed to increasing therapeutic effectiveness while enhancing their own personal and professional development.
Dr. Coughlin obtained her undergraduate degree from the Honors College at Ohio University (1976), where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and won the Distinguished Professor Award for outstanding undergraduate student in Psychology.
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She went on to obtain a Masters degree (1978) and Doctorate (1980) in Clinical Psychology from Syracuse University. Her residency was completed at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Upon completion of her residency, Dr. Coughlin was asked to join the faculty and was named Chief Psychologist of the Rehabilitation Program at the Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She maintained a private practice in Chicago from 1981 through 1987.
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Dr. Coughlin moved to Toronto, Ontario Canada in 1987 and began her training in Intensive Short term Dynamic Psychotherapy in 1988 — first at the Ontario Institute, then at the Institute in Rochester, New York; and finally in Montreal, Quebec with Dr. Davanloo, the creator of this method of psychotherapy. ​
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Dr. Coughlin currently maintains a private practice in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
