Tamara Sher

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Tamara Goldman Sher
Dr. Sher with three graduate students.jpg
Sher (left) with three of her graduate students
Born (1962-11-09) November 9, 1962 (age 60)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Michigan, (A.B.) 1984,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (Ph.D.) 1989
Known forher research in Behavioral Medicine, and Couples Therapy
Scientific career
FieldsPsychologist
Institutions The Family Institute at Northwestern University; NIH Behavior Change Consortium
Doctoral advisor Donald H. Baucom

Tamara Goldman Sher, Ph.D. (November 9, 1962) is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. [1] She is a leading researcher in the fields of Behavioral Medicine (Health Psychology) and Couples Therapy. [2] [3] Sher was awarded a $2.4 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which combined both of these fields in a study measuring the benefits of couples' involvement in cardiac treatment. [2] This grant is part of Sher's work with the National Institute of Health's Behavior Change Consortium. [4] Sher's research has been mentioned in the Chicago Tribune, [5] Psychology Today, [6] on Chicago Public Radio, [7] and published in several leading psychology journals. [8] [9] [10]

Contents

Biography

Tamara Goldman Sher is a native of Chicago's suburbs who lives with her husband and two daughters in suburban Cook county. She is the sister of Abigail Helaine Goldman, [11] Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist for the LA Times, [12] and Josh Goldman, an entrepreneur, investor, and venture capitalist who is currently a partner at Norwest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, California. [13]

Sher earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1989) and B.A. from the University of Michigan (1984). [3] After completing her internship training at Rush University Medical Center she spent seven years on medical school faculty where she became head of the health psychology track of the internship program and director of the Couples and Health program. [1] In 1994, Dr. Sher moved to the College of Psychology at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), where she taught for 17 years. In 2007 she became director of clinical training for the College of Psychology. In 2011, Sher left IIT as a full professor to join The Family Institute at Northwestern University as their vice president for research. [1]

In 2000, Sher co-authored (with K. B. Schmaling) a textbook entitled "The Psychology of Couples and Illness." She belongs to several professional societies including the American Psychological Association (APA), [14] the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), [15] and the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM). [16] Sher is regularly invited as a symposium discussant and presentation author to each of these professional societies annual conferences. [15] [17] [18] In addition, she is on the editorial board of the APA Journal of Family Psychology, [14] a member of the National Institute of Health's Behavior Change Consortium, [4] and sits on the Clinical Oversight Committee for the Cancer Wellness Center. [19]

Research description

The goal of Sher's NIH grant was to determine if improvement in a couple's interpersonal relationship would result in sustained changes in health behavior, improvement in the couple's quality of life, and health benefits specific to the cardiac patient. Working out of labs at both the Illinois Institute of Technology and Rush University Hospital, Sher's team recruited 160 participants (approximately 35% minorities, 30% women) in which one member suffered from a cardiovascular event (e.g., myocardial infarction, bypass graft surgery, angioplasty). Using a short term couples intervention strategy designed to optimize relationships and reduce interpersonal stress, the team focused on three areas of change: exercise, weight management, and compliance with lipid-lowering medication. These areas were targeted because of the difficulty many cardiac patients face in maintaining long-term commitments to change. [2] [4]

Currently, Sher is interested in applying what she has learned from previous work to a much wider population of patients through the use of the Internet and telephone. She is particularly interested in reaching patients who do not have the time or resources to participate in intensive out-patient groups.

Interviews

Selected works and publications

Books

Educational Videos

Academic Journals

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitive behavioral therapy</span> Therapy to improve mental health

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most effective means of treatment for substance abuse and co-occurring mental health disorders. CBT focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions and their associated behaviors to improve emotional regulation and develop personal coping strategies that target solving current problems. Though it was originally designed to treat depression, its uses have been expanded to include many issues and the treatment of many mental health conditions, including anxiety, substance use disorders, marital problems, ADHD, and eating disorders. CBT includes a number of cognitive or behavioral psychotherapies that treat defined psychopathologies using evidence-based techniques and strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Histrionic personality disorder</span> Personality disorder involving excessive emotionality and attention-seeking

Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive attention-seeking behaviors, usually beginning in early adulthood, including inappropriate seduction and an excessive desire for approval. People diagnosed with the disorder are said to be lively, dramatic, vivacious, enthusiastic, extroverted and flirtatious.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biopsychosocial model</span> Explanatory model emphasizing the interplay among causal forces

Biopsychosocial models are a class of trans-disciplinary models which look at the interconnection between biology, psychology, and socio-environmental factors. These models specifically examine how these aspects play a role in topics ranging from human development, to health and disease, to information processing, and to conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Applied psychology</span> Application of psychological theories or findings

Applied psychology is the use of psychological methods and findings of scientific psychology to solve practical problems of human and animal behavior and experience. Educational and organizational psychology, business management, law, health, product design, ergonomics, behavioural psychology, psychology of motivation, psychoanalysis, neuropsychology, psychiatry and mental health are just a few of the areas that have been influenced by the application of psychological principles and scientific findings. Some of the areas of applied psychology include counseling psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, engineering psychology, occupational health psychology, legal psychology, school psychology, sports psychology, community psychology, neuropsychology, medical psychology and clinical psychology, evolutionary psychology, human factors, forensic psychology and traffic psychology. In addition, a number of specialized areas in the general area of psychology have applied branches. However, the lines between sub-branch specializations and major applied psychology categories are often mixed or in some cases blurred. For example, a human factors psychologist might use a cognitive psychology theory. This could be described as human factor psychology or as applied cognitive psychology. When applied psychology is used in the treatment of behavioral disorders there are many experimental approaches to try and treat an individual. This type of psychology can be found in many of the subbranches in other fields of psychology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infidelity</span> Cheating, adultery, or having an affair

Infidelity is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and rivalry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinical psychology</span> Branch of medicine devoted to mental disorders

Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.

Couples therapy attempts to improve romantic relationships and resolve interpersonal conflicts.

Depressive realism is the hypothesis developed by Lauren Alloy and Lyn Yvonne Abramson that depressed individuals make more realistic inferences than non-depressed individuals. Although depressed individuals are thought to have a negative cognitive bias that results in recurrent, negative automatic thoughts, maladaptive behaviors, and dysfunctional world beliefs, depressive realism argues not only that this negativity may reflect a more accurate appraisal of the world but also that non-depressed individuals' appraisals are positively biased.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social support</span> Support systems for individuals

Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and most popularly, that one is part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can be emotional, informational, or companionship ; tangible or intangible. Social support can be measured as the perception that one has assistance available, the actual received assistance, or the degree to which a person is integrated in a social network. Support can come from many sources, such as family, friends, pets, neighbors, coworkers, organizations, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gottman</span> American psychologist

John Mordechai Gottman is an American psychologist, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. His work focuses on divorce prediction and marital stability through relationship analyses. The lessons derived from this work represent a partial basis for the relationship counseling movement that aims to improve relationship functioning and the avoidance of those behaviors shown by Gottman and other researchers to harm human relationships. His work has also had a major impact on the development of important concepts on social sequence analysis. He and his wife, psychologist Julie Schwartz Gottman, co-founded and lead a relationship company and therapist training entity called The Gottman Institute. They have also co-founded Affective Software Inc, a program designed to make marriage and relationship counseling methods and resources available to a larger audience.

Emotion dysregulation is a range of emotional responses that do not lie within a desirable scope of emotive response, considering the stimuli.

Psycho-oncology is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of physical, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of the cancer experience for both patients and caregivers. Also known as psychiatric oncology or psychosocial oncology, researchers and practitioners in the field are concerned with aspects of individuals' experience with cancer beyond medical treatment, and across the cancer trajectory, including at diagnosis, during treatment, transitioning to and throughout survivorship, and approaching the end-of-life. Founded by Jimmie Holland in 1977 via the incorporation of a psychiatric service within the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the field has expanded drastically since and is now universally recognized as an integral component of quality cancer care. Cancer centers in major academic medical centers across the country now uniformly incorporate a psycho-oncology service into their clinical care, and provide infrastructure to support research efforts to advance knowledge in the field.

Leslie Samuel Greenberg is a Canadian psychologist born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is one of the originators and primary developers of Emotion-Focused Therapy for individuals and couples. He is a professor emeritus of psychology at York University in Toronto, and also director of the Emotion-Focused Therapy Clinic in Toronto. His research has addressed questions regarding empathy, psychotherapy process, the therapeutic alliance, and emotion in human functioning.

Emotionally focused therapy and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) are a family of related approaches to psychotherapy with individuals, couples, or families. EFT approaches include elements of experiential therapy, systemic therapy, and attachment theory. EFT is usually a short-term treatment. EFT approaches are based on the premise that human emotions are connected to human needs, and therefore emotions have an innately adaptive potential that, if activated and worked through, can help people change problematic emotional states and interpersonal relationships. Emotion-focused therapy for individuals was originally known as process-experiential therapy, and it is still sometimes called by that name.

Common factors theory, a theory guiding some research in clinical psychology and counseling psychology, proposes that different approaches and evidence-based practices in psychotherapy and counseling share common factors that account for much of the effectiveness of a psychological treatment. This is in contrast to the view that the effectiveness of psychotherapy and counseling is best explained by specific or unique factors that are suited to treatment of particular problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald H. Baucom</span> American psychologist

Donald H. Baucom, is a clinical psychology faculty member at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is recognized for founding the field of Cognitive-Behavioral Couples Therapy. Baucom is also recognized as one of the top marital therapists and most prolific researchers in this field. Currently, Baucom's National Cancer Institute funded study, CanThrive, has the largest observationally coded sample of any couples study to date.

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is an intense, family-focused and community-based treatment program for juveniles with serious criminal offenses who are possibly abusing substances. It is also a therapy strategy to teach their families how to foster their success in recovery.

Family therapy is a branch of psychology and clinical social work that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of interaction between family members.

Pediatric psychology is a multidisciplinary field of both scientific research and clinical practice which attempts to address the psychological aspects of illness, injury, and the promotion of health behaviors in children, adolescents, and families in a pediatric health setting. Psychological issues are addressed in a developmental framework and emphasize the dynamic relationships which exist between children, their families, and the health delivery system as a whole.

Marriage and health are closely related. Married people experience lower morbidity and mortality across such diverse health threats as cancer, heart attacks, and surgery. There are gender differences in these effects which may be partially due to men's and women's relative status. Most research on marriage and health has focused on heterosexual couples, and more work is needed to clarify the health effects on same-sex marriage. Simply being married, as well as the quality of one's marriage, has been linked to diverse measures of health. Research has examined the social-cognitive, emotional, behavioral and biological processes involved in these links.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine Northwestern University biography page for Sher
  2. 1 2 3 IIT biography page for Sher
  3. 1 2 IIT profile of Sher.
  4. 1 2 3 "A Couples Intervention for Cardiac Risk Reduction". Archived from the original on 2009-01-15. Retrieved 2008-11-29. NIH description of Sher's research
  5. Sher discusses her NIH funded study for the Chicago Tribune
  6. A Psychology Today article about Sher's work with doctor/patient communication
  7. "Chicago Public Radio - Audio Library: Eight Forty-Eight". Archived from the original on 2006-10-04. Retrieved 2006-11-20. Chicago Public Radio program 848; schedule and audio from Sher's interview on February 14, 2001
  8. Sher, T.G.; Halford, W.K. (2008). "Challenges and opportunities in public health perspectives on family interventions: introduction to the special section". Journal of Family Psychology. 22 (4): 495–6. doi:10.1037/a0012552. PMID   18729663.
  9. Levin, Jennifer B.; Sher, Tamara Goldman; Theodos, Violet (1997). "The Effect of Intracouple Coping Concordance on Psychological and Marital Distress in Infertility Patients". Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings. 4 (4): 361–372. doi:10.1023/A:1026249317635. S2CID   40817582.
  10. Sher, Tamara G; Baucom, D. H; Larus, J. M (1990). "Communication patterns and response to treatment among depressed and nondepressed maritally distressed couples". Journal of Family Psychology. 4 (1): 63–79. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.4.1.63.
  11. Goldman family tree
  12. LA Times biography for Abigail Goldman
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-20. Retrieved 2008-12-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) NVP biography page for Josh Goldman
  14. 1 2 Listed on the editorial board for the APA Journal of Family Psychology
  15. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2008-11-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Listed under program committee on page 8 and symposium panelist on page 193, as well as authorship on several other presentations
  16. [ permanent dead link ] SBN membership listing on page 10
  17. "SBM 2006 Proceedings". Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 31: i–l. 2006. doi: 10.1207/s15324796abm31suppl_1 . PMID   17341167. S2CID   189905729.
  18. Reference to her paper presentation at the Compliance in Healthcare and Research conference on page 3
  19. http://www.cancerwellness.org/ Look under the "Our Staff" tab on the left navigation for a reference to Sher on the Clinical Oversight Committee