Paul Siegel, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology
School of Natural and Social Sciences

Office:
Tel: (914) 251-6655
Fax: (914) 251-6603
Email: paul.siegel@purchase.edu

Paul Siegel graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College in 1996, majoring in Psychology and English. He earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, in 2002, and post-doctoral certification in child/adolescent clinical psychology from Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 2003. Formerly Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology at New York University, he is currently Assistant Professor of Psychology at Purchase College and Westchester Community College.

Dr. Siegel's research interest is the study of unconscious processes in psychopathology and personality.  His primary research program focuses on subliminal exposure to fear-arousing stimuli in anxiety disorders. With Dr. Joel Weinberger, he has developed an experimental paradigm for studying the effects of such subliminal priming. In a twist on behavior therapy for phobias, which involves extended exposure to fear-relevant stimuli in order to get people to approach such stimuli, Dr. Siegel is investigating if subliminal exposure to such stimuli can result in greater approach behavior.

A second research program focuses on prototypical patterns of emotional behavior in personality. Dr. Siegel is particularly interested in the maladaptive cases of such patterns that characterize personality psychopathology. He has developed a method for assessing these patterns from the stories that people tell and unknowingly retell about their lives, and sometimes enact in psychotherapy.

Education

Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY (2002 – 2003).  Postdoctoral Fellowship, certification in Clinical Psychology.

The Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY (1996-2002). M.A., Clinical Psychology (1997).  Ph.D., Clinical Psychology (2002).  Mentor: Joel Weinberger, Ph.D., protégé of David McClelland.

Amherst College, Amherst, MA (1986-1991).  B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Psychology. 

Academic Experience

Assistant Professor of Psychology, SUNY/Purchase College (2006-present).

Assistant Professor of Psychology, SUNY/Westchester Community College (2003 - present). 

Visiting Professor of Psychology, New York University (2004-2005). 

Publications

Siegel, P. & Weinberger, J. (in preparation).  The Irrepressibility of the Dynamic Unconscious:  A Critical Review of Research on Arachnophobia, Homophobia, and Other Hobgoblins.

Siegel, P.  (submitted).  The FRAMES Approach to Personality Psychopathology: A Longitudinal Case Study.

Siegel, P., Sammons, M., & Dahl, H. (2003).  FRAMES: The Method in Action and the Assessment of its Reliability.  Psychotherapy Research, 12, 59-77.

Siegel, P. (2003).  Dissociation and the Question of History: “What, precisely, are the facts?”  Psychoanalytic Psychology, 20, 67-83.

Siegel, P., Josephs, L., & Weinberger, J. (2002).  Where’s the Text?: The Problem of Validation in Psychoanalysis.  Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 50, 407-428.

Siegel, P. (2002). Book Review: Cognitive Psychodynamics, by Mardi Horowitz, M.D.  Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 12, 247-253.

Weinberger, J., Siegel, P., & DeCamello, A. (2000). On Integrating Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science.  Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 23, 147-175.

Siegel, P. & Weinberger, J. (1998). The Oneness Motive.  In R. Bornstein and J. Masling (Eds.), Emprical Perspectives on the Psychoanalytic Unconscious.  Washington: APA Press.

Sammons, M. & Siegel, P. (1998).  A Comparison of FRAMES, the CCRT and CRA.  Revista Argentian de Clinica Psicologica, 7, 131-145.

Siegel, P. (1996).  The Meaning of Behaviorism for B.F. Skinner.  Psychoanalytic Psychology, 13, 343-365.

Demorest, A. P. & Siegel, P. (1996).  Personal Influences on Professional Work: An Empirical Case Study of B.F. Skinner.  Journal of Personality, 64, 243-261.

Selected Presentations

Siegel, P. (2005).  “Am I really afraid of spiders?”: An Experimental Paradigm for Subliminal Exposure to Phobic Stimuli.  Invited Speaker to commence the NYU Psychology Department’s Ninth Annual MA Psychology Research Conference. New York, NY April 26.

Siegel, P. (2004).  The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Contemporary Research on Dynamically Unconscious Processes.  Paper presentation to the faculty and psychology students at SUNY/Westchester Community College. Valhalla, New York, April 27. 

Siegel, P. (2002).  Measuring Personality Patterns and Their Evolution of Change in Psychotherapy.  Child Rounds presentation at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, White Plains, New York, May 2.

Siegel, P. (1999).  FRAMES as a Measure of the Clinical Process.  Panel presentation at the international meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. Braga, Portugal, June 18.

Siegel, P. (1998).  FRAMES as Idiographic and Nomothetic Measures of Personality.  Panel presentation at the international meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research.  Snowbird, Utah, June 26.

Siegel, P. & Sammons, M. (1998).  A Comparison of the FRAMES and CCRT Methods and a Proposed Integration.  Panel presentation at the Plenary Session on CCRT Research at the international meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research.  Snowbird, Utah.  June 24.

Siegel, P. & Sammons, M. (1997).  The Construction, Reliability and Evolution of FRAMES the Case of Mrs. C: A Pilot Study.  Panel presentation at the international meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Geilo, Norway, June 26.

Clinical Experience

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY, THE NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, White Plains, NY (2001 – 2002). 
Completed a selective, full-time postdoctoral fellowship in the Outpatient Department of Psychiatry that emphasized cognitive-behavioral approaches to child and adolescent psychopathology.  Met clinical supervision requirements for licensure in New York State.
Supervisors: Paulina Kernberg, M.D., Ken Barish, Ph.D.

INTERN, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER, Bronx, NY (1999 – 2000).  Completed a highly selective, full-time, APA-approved doctoral internship in clinical psychology that emphasized cognitive-behavioral approaches to adult psychopathology.

Grants and Awards

Dissertation Award, Derner Institute, Adelphi University, 2000-2001.

Distinguished Instructor, Derner Institute, Adelphi University, 1999.

Research Grant Award, Research Division of the International Psychoanalytic Association, 1998.  Less than 3% of proposals awarded.  Only proposal submitted by a doctoral candidate that was fully funded. 

Predoctoral Research Fellowship, National Institute of Mental Health, awarded by a Principal Investigator at the Derner Institute, Adelphi University, 1995-1997.

Summa Cum Laude (Psychology), Magna Cum Laude (English), Amherst College, 1991.

Phi Beta Kappa (junior year), representing the top 1% of the class in academic standing, Amherst College, 1990.