Research Interests

Personality assessment, psychodynamic psychotherapy, marital therapy, play therapy, neuropsychology, hypnosis.

Research statement

My research includes the use and development of personality assessment instruments to assess personality and to link assessment to psychotherapy process and outcome; the assessment of object relations and the therapist-patient relationship; play therapy with children; marital therapy; neuropsychology; construction of object relations test instruments.

• Walter Klopfer Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Literature in Personality Assessment (1997)
• UTK Chancellor’s Senior Research and Creative Achievement Award (1999)
• Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessment, APA (2000-2002)
• Fellow, Society for Personality Assessment
• Editorial Board, Journal of Personality Assessment
• President, Society for Personality Assessment

• Society for Personality Assessment (1994-1998)

Peters, E.J., Hilsenroth, M.J., Eudell-Simmons, E.M., Blagys, M.D., Handler, L. (2006).  Reliability and validity of the social cognition and object relations scale in clinical use.  Psychotherapy Research 16, 606-614.

Handler, L. (2006).  The use of therapeutic assessment with children and adolescents.  In S.R. Smith and L. Handler (Eds), The clinical assessment of children and adolescents: A practitioner’s handbook.  Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Smith, S.R., Handler, L. (2006).  The clinical practice of child and adolescent assessment.  In S.R. Smith and L. Handler (Eds), The clinical assessment of children and adolescents: A practitioner’s handbook.  Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Smith, S.R., Handler, L. (Eds.).  (2006).  The clinical assessment of children and adolescents: A practitioner’s handbook.  Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Dellinger-Ness, L.A., Handler, L. (2006).  Self-injurious behavior in human and non-human primates.  Clinical Psychology Review 26, 503-514.

Handler, L., & Clemence, A. (2005) Klopfer’s Rorschach Prognostic Rating Scale: Reliability and Validity. In J. Masling and R. Bornstein, (Eds.), Scoring the Rorschach: Seven validated systems (pp. 25-54). Washington, DC: APA.

Handler, L. (2005) Two assessments, by and for the assessor. Journal of Personality Assessment, 84, 17-20.

Clemence, A.J., Hilsenroth, M.J., Ackerman, S.J., Strassle, C.G., & Handler, L. (2005) Facets of the therapeutic alliance and perceived progress in psychotherapy: Relationship between patient and therapist perspectives. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 12, 443-454.

Handler, L. (2005) A psychologist grows in Brooklyn: Reflections from the past. Journal of Personality Assessment, 85, 1-16.

Naglieri, J., Drasgow, F., Schmidt, M., Handler, L., Prifitera, A., Margolis, A., & Velasquez, R. (2004). Psychological Assessment on the Internet (Based on APA Report), American Psychologist, 59, 150-162.

Nichols, D., Handler, L. (2003). Introduction to the clinical case applications section: Its purpose and scope. Journal of Personality Assessment 80, 4-6.

Handler, L., Clemence, A.J. (2003). Education and training in clinical psychology. In J.R. Graham & J.A. Naglieri (Eds), Handbook of Assessment Psychology. New York: Wiley.

Handler, L., Martin, B., Campbell, A. (2003). Research in the validity of graphic techniques. In M. Hilsenroth & D. Segal (Eds), Vol 2: Objective and Projective Assessment of Personality and Psychopathology. New York: Wiley.

Handler, L., Clemence, A.J. (2003). Stress in General Scale. 15th Mental Measurements Yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros.

Handler, L., Clemence, A.J. (2003). Coping with health injuries and problems. 15th Mental Measurements Yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros.

Sprohge, E., Handler, L., Plant,D.D., Wicker, D. (2002) A Rorschach study of oral dependence in alcoholics and depressives. Journal of Personality Assessment 79, 142-160.

Mutchnick, M., Handler, L. (2002) Once upon a time…: Therapeutic interactive stories. The Humanistic Psychologist 30, 75-84.

Hilsenroth, M., Ackerman, S., Clemence, A., Strassle, C., Handler, L. (2002) Effects of structured clinician training on patient and therapist perspectives of alliance early in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice and Training 39, 309-323.

Clemance, A., Handler, L. (2001) Psychological assessment on internship: A survey of training directors and their expectations for students. Journal of Personality Assessment 76, 18-47.

Handler, L. (2001) Personality assessment classics in contemporary perspective: Introduction to A.I. Rubin’s An Introduction to Projective Techniques. Journal of Personality Assessment 76, 352-353.

Handler, L. (2001) Introduction to Special Series: Assessment of Men. Journal of Personality Assessment 76, 556-557.

Handler, L. (2001) Assessment of Men: Personality assessment goes to war. Journal of Personality Assessment 76, 558-578.

Meyer, G., Riethmiller, R., Handler, L., Brooks, G., & Benoit, W. (2000). Test agreement and defensiveness: Rorschach and MMPI-2 agreement. Journal of Personality Assessment, 74, 504-506.

Fowler, J., Hilsenroth, M., & Handler, L. (2000). Martin Mayman’s early memories technique: Bridging the gap between personality assessment and psychotherapy. Journal of Personality Assessment, 75, 18-32.