Drew Westen - Research

Research

His academic research is in the cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes that people use to maintain intimate relationships, with a focus on people with personality disorders, who have interpersonal problems. After several years at the University of Michigan, he then moved to Harvard University, where he was professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Chief Psychologist at the Cambridge Hospital. He is unusual among academic clinical psychologists in being both an active researcher and a practicing clinician for 25 years, who has written on what can be learned from both science and practice.

At Harvard University and at Emory, Westen's work has focused on developing and refining the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure as a tool for researchers and clinicians to help further the understanding of personality and its disorders. He has contributed to the literature on eating disorders as well as to several others, including psychological anthropology, adolescent psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and social and affective neuroscience.

Much of Westen's theoretical work has attempted to bridge perspectives, particularly cognitive, psychodynamic, and evolutionary. He has published 140 research papers in the scientific literature.

He is also a strategic messaging consultant for major nonprofit organizations and a frequent consultant or advisor to progressive and Democratic organizations, including the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses.

In addition, Westen is a frequent commentator on television, radio, in print, and online, most recently as a regular contributor to the opinion page of the New York Times and a frequent writer for the Times' Sunday Review. He also frequently writes for the Outlook Section of the Washington Post, the opinion page of the LA Times, and continues writes occasional pieces for CNN.com and the Huffington Post.