Current Members

Paul Frewen - Principal Investigator

I am an Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology and Graduate Program in Neuroscience at Western University. I received my doctorate in clinical psychology at Western, completing my predoctoral residency at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I currently chair the Traumatic Stress Section of the Canadian Psychological Association and the Practice Committee of the Trauma Division of the American Psychological Association. With Ruth Lanius, I wrote the text Healing the Traumatized Self in 2015. I have published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and several chapters investigating the effects of psychological trauma, sense of self, meditation, neurofeedback, and related topics.

Matthew Brown (MSc Candidate)

I am a first year MSc student in Psychology. I've been working with Paul already for a few years now, looking at the effect of early attachment relationships and maltreament experiences on current dissociative psychopathology. My work on the CARTS and dissociative subtype of PTSD has been published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology and Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. My masters thesis will examine how trauma and dissociation relate to self-destructive behaviours (e.g., self-injury, substance abuse, excessive risk-taking).

Daniel Kharlas (MSc Candidate)

I'm a beginning MSc student in Psychology. I have been studying imagery processes in guided mindfulness meditation (MM) practices, with my paper differentiating visual and embodied forms of imagery as mediators of the association between trait mindful observing and degree of experienced pleasantness during the MM recently published in Personality and Individual Differences. I have also been using qualitative methods to study patient- and therapist-response to an internet-treatment for dissociative disorders. I'm a big fan of travelling and love playing tennis. See you on the courts!!

Alumni

Emily Boughner (MSc Candidate)

I am a second year MSc student in Psychology investigating the Perceived Causal Relations (PCR) between PTSD symptoms and substance use in general, student, and (hopefully) clinical populations. We found that people reported that their PTSD symptoms, and particularly trauma-related dissociative experiences, had strong PCR for their substance use. I am currently preparing to defend my MSc thesis, and will be beginning my doctoral studies in clinical psychology at the University of Regina in September 2016.

Liz Thornley - MSc

Liz's MSc thesis in Psychology investigated the Perceived Causal Relations (PCR) between PTSD symptoms and eating disordered (ED) behaviours in both a community sample assessed online as well as an inpatient ED sample at Homewood Health Centre in Guelph, Ontario. A manuscript based on her thesis is currently in press in the APA journal Traumatology. Liz is currently a PhD Candidate in School and Applied Child Psychology under the supervision of Dr. Shannon Stewart. Read Liz's MSc thesis in Psychology here.

Tanaz Javan - MSc

Tanaz's MSc thesis in Neuroscience investigated the EEG correlates of mindfulness meditation (MM) and neurofeedback (NFB) therapy on self-referential processing using the Visual-Verbal Self-Other Referential-Processing Task (VV-SORP-T). Tanaz is also a skilled painter and the author of the cover art for Healing the Traumatized Self. She is currently a doctoral student in the department of Health Information Science at Western University. Her dissertation will focus on the development of health care interventions for women and children experiencing violence and trauma. Read Tanaz's MSc thesis in Neuroscience here.

Teddy Chow - MSc

Teddy’s MSc thesis in Neuroscience compared mindfulness meditation (MM) and neurofeedback on EEG activity and attentional control. He is currently completing his Doctorate of Optometry at Indiana University. Teddy is an avid meditator, continuously learning how to integrate mindfulness into his daily activities. He enjoys taking time every year to attend meditation retreats at monasteries in the Thai Forest tradition of Ajahn Chah and Jack Kornfield. Read Teddy's MSc thesis in Neuroscience here.