Lecture Series in Clinical Psychology:
Friday, September 18, 2026
4:00 p.m. | President’s Reception Room at the Anderson Center
"Treating Couple Distress: Progress and Prospects"
Douglas Snyder, Ph.D.: Former Director of Clinical Training, Professor Emeritus of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University.
Lecture Abstract:
Couple distress has a markedly high prevalence; is among the most frequent concerns reported by individuals seeking assistance from mental health professionals; and has a strong linkage to emotional, behavioral, and physical health problems in the adult partners and their offspring. This lecture will illuminate the efficacy of specific methods of treating relationship distress, culminating in advocacy for a pluralistic integrative approach. Focus will then turn to extensions of couple-based interventions for specific relationship issues, featuring an integrative approach to helping couples recover from infidelity. The lecture concludes with discussion of the challenges and opportunities of working with older adult couples, and an appeal for mental health professionals to expand their skillsets for assisting this growing population.
Learning Objectives
- Evidence regarding strengths and limitations of couple-based treatments for relationship distress.
- A transtheoretical approach to helping couples recover from relationship trauma.
- Challenges and opportunities of working with older adult couples.
91ÉçÇø Speaker: Douglas Snyder, Ph.D.
Douglas Snyder, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University where he served as Director of Clinical Training for 20 years. Dr. Snyder has coauthored over 150 scholarly publications on couple assessment and intervention – and has presented his work to numerous professional groups both in the United States and around the globe. He has coedited several leading texts in couple therapy including the Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy, and has coauthored two books on working with couples recovering from infidelity, including Getting Past the Affair: A Program to Help You Cope, Heal, and Move On.
Dr. Snyder’s couple therapy research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. He received the 2005 Award from the American Psychological Association (APA) for Distinguished Contributions to Family Psychology, and the APA’s 2015 Distinguished Psychologist Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology and Psychotherapy. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and served as Editor of the Clinician’s Research Digest, as Associate Editor for the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Family Psychology
- 2025 Lecture/Speaker
"Parent involvement in childhood anxiety disorders treatment: Lessons learned and clinical and research paths forward"
Wendy Silverman, Director of the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program, Child Study Center, Alfred A. Messer Professor of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, Yale University School of Medicine.
- 2024 Lecture/Speaker
"Clinical Virtual Reality: A Brief Review of the Future"
Albert Rizzo, Director of the Medical Virtual Reality, Institute for Creative Technologies Research Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry and Schoolof Gerontology University of Southern California. - 2023 Lecture/Speaker
"Rewards and the Mood Rollercoaster: A Reward Hypersensitivity Perspective on Bipolar Spectrum Disorders"
Lauren B. Alloy, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Joseph Wolpe Distinguished Faculty in Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University.
Lauren B. Alloy, an internationally recognized researcher in mood disorders, recently presented her work on the Reward Hypersensitivity Model of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders (BSDs). She explained how an overly sensitive reward system can lead to extreme fluctuations in goal-seeking and reward responsiveness, resulting in hypomania/mania and depression.
During her presentation, Alloy shared evidence that reward hypersensitivity is a vulnerability factor for the onset and worsening of BSDs. She discussed how reward-relevant life events can trigger bipolar episodes and examined the neural reward system responses and correlates of vulnerability to BSDs. Additionally, Alloy highlighted the role of social and circadian rhythm disruptions in mediating the effects of reward-relevant life events on BSD symptoms.
She concluded by addressing the implications of reward hypersensitivity for the assessment and treatment of BSDs.
- 2021 Workshop
All-Day Workshop:
"Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Origins, Principles, Applications, & Outcomes"
Alan E. Fruzzetti - 2020 Workshop
All-Day Workshop:
"Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Mental Health Practice"
John Forsyth - 2019 Lecture/Speaker
"Contributions of Psychological Science to the Understanding and Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)"
Terence M. Keane, MA ’76, PHD ’79, SD ’11, National Center for PTSD VA Boston Healthcare System Boston University School of Medicine.
In the past four decades, we’ve experienced remarkable progress in our understanding of the prevalence of trauma exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as well as its assessment and treatment. Many of the advances have resulted from the application of psychological principles to the development of strong clinical assessment instruments and to the application of effective cognitive behavioral interventions to this condition. Reviewing this remarkable progress from the vantage point of a 42-year observer and contributor–from the initial case studies that brought attention to the disorder, to the construction of the most widely used assessment instruments, to participation in President Obama’s National Research Action Plan (2013) that created the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD, this presentation highlighted the current status of psychological treatments for PTSD while providing insights into innovative new directions for future work.
- 2018 Lecture/Speaker
"What Is Psychopathic Personality? Personal Reflections from a Bumpy 30-Year Scientific Journey"
Scott Lilienfeld, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta.
This presentation discussed Scott Lilienfeld's research of the nature and boundaries of psychopathic personality (psychopathy) from the perspective of his own research program, and those of others. Lilienfeld argued that psychopathy is not a single, unified entity and that longstanding efforts (including his own) to identify its cause(s) have been largely misguided. Lilienfeld offered evidence that psychopathy is instead an "emergent interpersonal syndrome" marked by the co-occurrence of at least three separable dispositions that, when present in conjunction, yield socially malignant outcomes. Lilienfeld examined the implications of this controversial view for the assessment, causes, treatment, and prevention of psychopathy.
- 2017 Lecture/Speaker
"The Future of Psychological Treatments: Focus on Disorders of Emotion"
David H. Barlow, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry Founder and Director Emeritus, Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders Boston University.
This presentation discussed Barlow's research, creating and disseminating evidence based treatments, developing the transdiagnostic model, and offering ideas about treatments to come. Barlow highlighted the importance of the role of temperament and the development of new assessment and interventions focusing on underlying common mechanisms of large classes of disorders across the "neurotic spectrum." Finally, Barlow offered new data on the efficacy of transdiagnostic approaches compared to more focused single diagnosis treatments along with applications of this approach to different types of problems such as eating disorders and trauma in global mental health contexts. Dr. Barlow generously made his slides available to students and alumni; you can request a copy from Mary Ellen Gates.
- 2016 Lecture/Speaker
"Alcohol and Drug Problems: How Lessons from Clinicians and Researchers are Shaping Treatment"
Barbara S. McCrady, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychology Director of The Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA) University of New Mexico.
This presentation discussed the evolution of alcohol and drug treatment in the last 40 years, and how the dynamic interplay between research and clinical practice has shaped that evolution. McCrady talked about research on the structure of the treatment delivery system, mutual help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, specific behavioral treatments, and underserved populations. McCrady also discussed the implications of the changing demography of the U.S. and how changing models for delivery of health care services may impact alcohol and drug treatment and research. Dr. McCrady generously made her slides available to students and alumni; you can request a copy from Mary Ellen Gates.
- 2015 Lecture/Speaker
"Suicide: Where We Are, Where We're Going and What's Keeping Us From Getting there"
Marsha Linehan, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology Director, Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics University of Washington.
The presentation discussed where the field of suicide intervention research started, the successes and failures that have been encountered thus far, as well as the critical issues that still need to be addressed in order to move the field forward. It included a summary of the suicide intervention research trials to date and the directions the field is heading toward addressing the complex problem of suicidal behavior.
Stephen A. Lisman Lecture Series in Clinical Psychology
The Stephen A. Lisman Annual Lecture in Clinical Psychology was established in 2015 to sponsor an annual lecture given by a top clinical psychologist in the nation. The lecture series is in honor of Professor Lisman's 43 years of service and his contributions to 91ÉçÇø and the clinical psychology field. The series is meant to enhance the quality of training and education and expose students, faculty and the 91ÉçÇø community to important topics in the profession.
Thank you to all of the alumni and friends whose generosity makes this annual event possible. Please join us in enhancing the graduate education of clinical psychology students at 91ÉçÇø, and provide leadership to practicing clinicians in the community. To support the Stephen A. Lisman lecture series .
For questions, please email Stephen A Lisman.