My research falls under two primary domains. The first is understanding the intersection between psychological distress and human sexuality. Much of this work involves understanding the nature, intervention, and prevention of psychological disorders that have a sexual component. My work in this area includes examinations of LGBTQ mental health disparities, sexual traumas, and compulsive sexual behavior disorder (e.g., problematic pornography use). The second domain involves examining the nature of distressing psychological experiences (e.g., depression, anxiety, trauma) and better ways to treat/prevent them. This is a burgeoning area of interest, and one that I hope to grow in the coming years. Questions I have under this domain include: What makes therapy work? Why does therapy work for some people, but not others? How can we improve our psychological interventions? From a clinical perspective, I orient from a third wave-behavior perspective (ACT), but also draw heavily from emotion-focused and process-based therapies. I am a strong proponent of the scientist-practitioner model and believe research and clinical work should be closely intertwined.
