My research interests are diverse and span health psychology, severe mental illness, creativity, treatment of childhood trauma, and health care service delivery, particular in rural and rural minority mental health.

My primary research interests involve studying the determinants and processes of psychological health. This work centers on factors that compensate for or ameliorate psychiatric risk; it has led directly to problems involving how to define "positive outcomes" in people's lives, as well as how to specify the processes that lead up to such happy outcomes.

I am currently using nonlinear dynamic models to study the phenomena of Positive Psychology, as well as other problems such as temporal variations in emotion, stress and social-support recruitment,and in self-reported personality characteristics. Small models, constructed with variables that are defined and measured at a psychological (e.g., as opposed to a physiological) level, and which contain nonlinear dose-response relationships or couplings among subsystems, define what I call Somewhat-Complicated Systems (SCS). These models are very useful in understanding behavioral phenomena and the processes of coping with setbacks and less-than-optimal circumstances in the ongoing courses of peoples' lives.

Current work in my lab is focusing on the short-term dynamics of emotion and other variables related to self-description: Observation, measurement, data analysis, and modeling.

Additional research interests include: Assessment of psychological health and Personal Resourcefulness, creativity, and cognitive styles; symptoms and course in severe mental disorders; trauma and children; negative symptoms in schizophrenia; automated assessment, emphasizing evaluation of format equivalence and validity of computer-generated narratives; cognitive abnormalities; multivariate techniques, categorization, and psychodiagnosis; interpersonal assessment in families and dyads; operational definitions of psychodynamic cognitive constructs; play and projective assessment with children; content analysis; psychotherapy process research; analysis of sequential behavioral and time series data using both linear and nonlinear techniques; cognitive development and information processing; small group research; evaluation of preventive mental health programs; social psychology of health-care settings.

Notice to Applicants for Fall, 2010:

I will be accepting a graduate student for the clinical Ph.D. program under my mentorship to begin in Fall, 2010.

Angstman, S., Schuldberg, D., Harris, K., & Cochran, B., Peterson, P.  (2009). Use of Quality of Life Inventory for measuring quality of life changes in an inpatient psychiatric population. Psychological Reports, 104, 1-8.

Morsette, A., van den Pol, R., &  Schuldberg, D. (2009). Etiology and treatment of PTSD symptoms with American Indian adolescents: A summary of five years of research. Conference Compendium, Intersecting Interests Conference .2008.

Morsette, A., Swaney, G., Stolle, D., Schuldberg, D., Young, M., & van den Pol, R. (2009). Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS): School-based treatment on a rural American Indian reservation. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40, 169-178.

Gori, A., Lauro-Grotto, R., Giannini, M., & Schuldberg, D. (in press). Predicting treatment outcome by combining different assessment tools: Toward an integrative model of decision support in psychotherapy. Accepted for publication in The Journal of Psychotherapy Integration (6/08).  

Giannini, M., Schuldberg, D., Di Fabio, A., & Gargaro, D. (2008). Misurare l’ottimismo: Proprietà psicometriche della versione italiana del Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R) [Measuring optimism: Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R)]. Counseling (Edizioni Erickson), 1(1).

Schuldberg, D. (2007). Living well creatively: What’s chaos got to do with it? In R. Richards (Ed.), Everyday Creativity and New Views of Human Nature: Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Perspectives, Chapter 2. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association Press.

Morsette, A., Swaney, G., Stolle, D., Schuldberg, D., Young, M., & van den Pol, R. (in press). Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma In Schools (CBITS): School-based treatment on a rural American Indian reservation. Accepted for publication in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry.

Schuldberg, D. (2007). Living well creatively: What’s chaos got to do with it? In R. Richards (Ed.), Everyday Creativity and New Views of Human Nature: Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Perspectives, Chapter 2. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association Press.

Gori, A., Lauro-Grotto, R., Giannini, M., & Schuldberg, D. (in press). Predicting treatment outcome by combining different assessment tools: Toward an integrative model of decision support in psychotherapy." Accepted for publication in The Journal of Psychotherapy Integration.

Schuldberg, D. (2006). Nonlinear dynamics of Positive Psychology: Parameters, models, and searching for a systems summum bonum. In A. D. Ong & M. van Dulmen (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Methods in Positive Psychology, pp. 423-436. N.Y.: Oxford University Press.

Schuldberg, D. (2006). Complicato, ma non troppo: A small nonlinear model and the good life. In, A. Delle Fave (Ed.), Dimensions of well-being. Research and intervention, pp. 552-566. Milano: Franco Angeli (Selected Papers, 2nd European Conference on Positive Psychology, Verbania Pallanza, Italy). View pdf

Schuldberg, D. (2005). Eysenck Personality Questionnaire scales and paper-and-pencil tests related to creativity. Psychological Reports, 97, 180-182.

Gottlieb, J. D., Pryzgoda, J., Neal, A., & Schuldberg, D. (2005). Generalization of Skills through the addition of individualized coaching: Development and evaluation of a Social Skills Training program in a rural setting. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 12, 324-338. View pdf

Atkins, T., van den Pol, R., & Schuldberg, D. (2006). Safe School Assessment and Resource Bank: A research based instrument to monitor school climate and safety. Communiqué (Newspaper of the National Association of School Psychologists),35 (1), 45-47.

Schuldberg, D., & Gottlieb, J. (2002). Dynamics and correlates of microscopic changes in affect. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and Life Sciences, 6, 231-257. View pdf

Schuldberg, D. (2002). Theoretical contributions of complex systems to positive psychology and health: A Somewhat-complicated affair. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and Life Sciences, special issue on creative theory, 6, 335-350. View pdf

Schuldberg, D. (2000-2001). Six subclinical "spectrum" traits in "normal creativity." In special issue of Creativity Research Journal, edited and with commentary by L. A. Sass and D. Schuldberg, 13 (1), 5-16. View pdf

Schuldberg, D. (1999). Chaos theory and creativity. In M. Runco & S. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Creativity, Volume 1, pp. 259-272. N.Y.: Wiley. View pdf

Schuldberg, D., Quinlan, D. M., & Glazer, W. (1999). Positive and negative symptoms and adjustment in severely mentally ill outpatients. Psychiatry Research, 85, 177-188. View pdf

Schuldberg, D., & Guisinger, S. (1991). Divorced fathers describe their former wives: Devaluation and contrast. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 14, 3/4, 61-87.

Schuldberg, D. (1990). Varieties of inconsistency across test occasions: Effects of computerized test administration and repeated testing. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 168-182. View pdf

Representative Presentations:

Gori, A., Giannini, M., & Schuldberg, D. (2008). Mind and body together? A new measure for planning treatment and assessing psychotherapy outcome. Paper presented to the Congress of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI), Boston, MA, May 4, 2008.

Morsette, A., Schuldberg, D., van den Pol, R., Stolle, D., Swaney, G., & Campbell, D. (2008). Examining the role of grief in the etiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms (PTSD) in an American Indian adolescent population. Poster presented to the National Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) All-Network Meeting, March, 2008.

Langley, A. K., Van Den Brandt, J., Stephan, S., Green, M., Rosen-McGill. E., Sullivan, K., Pitchford, J., Stolle, D., Schuldberg, D., van den Pol, R., Morsette, A., Jaycox, L., Wong, M. (2007). School-based mental health programs for children exposed to trauma. Symposium presented to the 23^rd International Society for Traumatic Stress (ISTSS) Meeting, November, 2007.

Waldemayer, K., & Schuldberg, D. (2007). Risk factors associated with females’ use of aggression in dating couples. Paper presented to the International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference, Portsmouth, NH, July 8-10, 2007.

Morsette, A., Schuldberg, D., Stolle, D., & van den Pol, R. (2006). Culturally informed CBT for trauma symptoms: Preliminary Lessons Learned. Poster presented to the meetings of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA., August, 2006.

Schuldberg, D. (2006). How stable are traits, really? Assessing and evaluating temporal fluctuations in a short Big-Five measure. Presentation to the Department of Psychology, University of Florence, Italy, March 28, 2006.

Guisinger, S., & Schuldberg, D. (2007). The A-BPST: A Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa based on evolutionary theory, with pilot data. Presented to the Academy for Eating Disorders meetings, Baltimore, MD, May 4, 2007.

Stolle, D., van den Pol, R., Schuldberg, D., Morsette, A. (2006). Trauma and Northern Plains Indian children: Elements of recovery through a school based trauma treatment program. Paper presented to symposium, “Promoting the Mental Health of Ethnically/Racially Diverse Adolescents: School & Community-Based Approaches to Addressing Trauma” (Jessica Goodkind, Chair; Marlene Wong, Discussant), biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA., March 24, 2006.

Schuldberg, D. (2004). Complicato, ma non troppo: A small nonlinear model and the good life. Paper presented to the 2nd European Conference on Positive Psychology Verbania Pallanza, Italy, July 5 - 8, 2004. (See http://www.gallup-europe.be/PositivePsychology/presentations.htm)

Schuldberg, D. (2004). Living well creatively: What’s chaos got to do with it? Invited paper accepted for Division 10 symposium, “Everyday creativity and new views of human nature” (Ruth Richards, Chair), 2004 Convention of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI.

Schuldberg, D. (2004). An appreciation and some criticisms of Seligman’s Authentic Happiness: In which our virtues become our vices, and vice versa. Presentation to the Philosophy Forum, The University of Montana, September 14, 2004.

Schuldberg, D. (2003). “Writing the dissertation” and “Developing (and using) your CV” (co-presenter). Presentations to the Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, Miami, FL, October 30-November 2, 2003.

Gottlieb, J., & Schuldberg, D. (2004). Aspects of cognitive vulnerability as predictive of general and specific themes of delusional ideation in individuals at risk for psychosis. Presented to the 38th annual AABT meetings, New Orleans, LA., November 18-21, 2004.

Pryzgoda, J. & Schuldberg, D. (2004).Thought suppression, self-reflection, and posttraumatic thought: An examination of proposed pathways to growth. Presented to the 38th annual AABT meetings, New Orleans, LA, November 18-21, 2004.

Gottlieb, J. D., Rothman, W., Pryzgoda, J., Belcourt-Dittloff, A. M., & Schuldberg, D. (2003). Elucidating the relationship between risk for psychosis and problematic alcohol use: The role of alcohol expectancies in relation to symptomatology. Poster presented to the meetings of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Boston, MA. November 20-23, 2003.

Schuldberg, D. (2003). The nonlinear dynamics of Positive Psychology: It’s just somewhat complicated. Paper presented to International Positive Psychology Summit, Gallup Organization, Washington, D.C., October 2-5, 2003.

Schuldberg, D., & Waltz, J. A. (2003). Dynamic correlates of “Emotional numbing.” Paper presented to the annual meeting of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences, Boston, MA, August, 8-10, 2003. Abstract available on-line: http://www.societyforchaostheory.org/conf2003/abstracts.html.

Schuldberg, D. (2002). Health psychology challenges. Paper presented in symposium, "Nonlinear Dynamics (Chaos) in psychology: Progress report from the frontier." American Psychological Society annual convention, New Orleans, L.A., June 9, 2002.

Schuldberg, D. (2000). Creativity and chaos in positive psychology. Invited address for the program of APA Division 10 (Psychology and the Arts), Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D. C., August 4-8, 2000.

Schuldberg, D., & Guisinger, S. (2000). Female choice in the evolution of language: Evidence from an analogue study of sperm donor preferences. Paper presented to the meetings of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Amherst, M.A., June, 2000.

Young, Q-R, Schuldberg, D., Seekins, T., & Ravesloot, C. (1999). Two applications of a cognitive health promotion intervention: Evaluation of an application for older adults and a pilot with cardiac patients. Presentation to the Society of Behavioral Medicine, San Diego, C.A., March 6, 1999.

Click here to see a list of selected publications organized by topics, with links to the documents

Psychopathology, assessment, psychometrics,   creativity, health psychology, assessment and treatment of child   traumatic stress , Nonlinear Dynamical Systems

Integrazione delle scuole interpersonali: Le teorie e le applicazioni [Integration of the interpersonal schools: Theory and applications], two-day workshop presented (in Italian) to the Scuola di Psicoterapia Comparata [School of Comparative Psychotherapy], Florence, Italy, June 13-14, 2009.

Visiting Professor, Professore di Chiara Fama (“clear fame”) Program, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy, March 20-30, 2006. Collaborative research with prof. Marco Giannini.