Research Interests

OUR PROCESS: STUDENT-CENTERED

By freely sharing ideas, questions, and knowledge our group works together in a supportive manner.  While at any given time there are many projects in various stages of development, all members share in every project to some extent through team discussions, readings, formal presentations, and sometimes hands-on collaboration.  The emphasis is on each team member finding a topic and idea that genuinely interests him or her:  a question which emerges organically from the team member’s readings, clinical work, or current research activities. Weekly research team  meetings are used to hash-out issues of theory, design, and inference, but time is also reserved for clinical case presentations and discussions of clinical technique. The guding training model is that of Socrates: less about pouring infomration into a vessal, and more about kindling a flame.

Below are our current projects.

• THE CASE-BASED PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH PROJECT
  Our research team developed and oversees the Case-Based psychotherapy project which is conducted at the UT Psychological Clinic.  Essentially we track how patients are doing before treatment, then continue to track their progress through the course of therapy. We then apply sound statistical analysis to answer questions not only about whether the patient got better, but how, when, and why.  All lab members are to some degree involved in this project.If you are curious about our work you can download and read our recent American Psychologist article describing our method and findings.
• EMOTIONAL DISTANCE
  Mike Finn is heading-up this project using real-time computer-aided behavior to guage the relationship between emotionality and the experience of distancing. This is the work that has garnered Mike so much attention by the national and international psychoanalytic research communities. The computer instrumentation alone is inventive, promising a way to behaviorally callobrate how the experience of distance shifts with the changes in emotional valance.
• THE HYPNOSIS/PRIMARY PROCESS PROJECT
  Gyrd Lyons, Jared Goldman and Mike Finn are working on a project that tests whether mentation in hypnosis is different than outside hypnosis, Specifically they test if thought processes and emotional regulation during hypnosis is more saturated with primary process.
• COLLABORATIONS IN TRAINING: THEATER AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
  Professors John Sipes (Associate professor of Acting) and Dr. Nash collaborate in an ongoing project exploring the common ground our two programs have, Acting students must communicate character, intent, and relationship in how they move and speak. Clinical psychology graduate students must be attuned to movement, character and intent. In both disciplines the emphasis must be on emotional receptivity with attention to body and movement, in addition to words. Dr. Nash consults with MFA Acting students, deploying what psychology reveals about character, movement, intent, emotion, and defense. Professor Sipes works with doctoral psychology students on movement, embodiment, and emotion. Much of this work orbits around productions in the University theater: Oedipus Rex, Fuddy Meers, Red. John Sipes, professor in the Theater Department is one of the leading movement experts in the nation. We are beginning to experiment with how movement training applied to graduate acting students might be incorporated into graduate training in clinical psychology. The upcoming Theater project will be around the production of “The Whipping man,” a powerful play going into production late fall semester 2013.
• STATISTICS FOR AUTOCORRELATED DATA PROJECT
  We have an ongoing project to further develop and test statistical procedures tailored to the very special characteristics of autocorrelated datastreams, like the ones generated by patients in therapy.  This effort is not the typical laboratory research project because it is purely methodological and mathematically intense.  Still, the product is exceedingly important in a field that (for the most part) ignores how an individual changes over time.  These statistics are necessary for analysis of the case-based studies.If you are curious about this, you can check-out and download (free) the software packages thus far developed.  Go to: http://www.clinicalresearcher.org/Dr. Nash and past-members of the lab lead this effort.

• Fellow, American Psychological Association
• Fellow, Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
• Diplomate in Clinical Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP)
• UT Chancellor’s Award for Research and Creative Achievement
• Phi Beta Kappa Certificate of Merit in the Social Sciences
• Psi Chi Outstanding Undergraduate Faculty Award
• Golden Key Honor Society Award for Outstanding Contribution to Undergraduate Education
• Bernard B. Raginsky Award for Leadership and Achievement
• Editor, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
• Erika Fromm Award for Teaching Excellence
• The Hans Strupp Award for Teaching in Psychoanalysis
• Presidential Commendation for extraordinary mentorship

Dr. Nash has published over 130 research articles, books and papers.  The articles below are a selected sample of 20:

RECENT BOOK

• Nash, M. R., & Barnier, Amanda.  (Eds.) (2008) The Oxford handbook of hypnosis:  Theory, Research, and Practice Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. (book description)

TWENTY SELECTED ARTICLES

• Borckardt, J.J., Nash, M.R., Murphy, M. D., Moore, M., Shaw, D., & O-Neil, P. (2008).  Clinical practice as natural laboratory for psychotherapy research.  American Psychologist, 63, 77-95.
• Benham, G., Woody, E., Wilson, K. S., & Nash, M. R. (2006). Expect the Unexpected: Ability, Attitude, and Responsiveness to Hypnosis.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 342-350.
• Nash, M. R. (2005).  The importance of being earnest when crafting definitions:  Science and scientism are not the same thing. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 53, 265-280.
• Kruesi, M.E., Borckardt, J.J., Younger, J., Nash, M.R., & Shaw, D. (2004). Perceived links between physical problems and stress may be clouded by dissociative processes. Journal Of Trauma And Dissociation, 5, 121-128.
• Borckardt, J.J., Younger, J., Winkel, J., Nash, M.R., and Shaw, D. (2004). The use of the computer-assisted cognitive imagery system in the management of pain. Pain Research and Management, 9, 157-162.
• Borckardt, J. J., Murphy, M. D., Nash, M. R., Moore, M. A., and Shaw, D. (2004).  An empirical examination of visual analysis procedures for clinical practice evaluation.  Journal Of Social Service Research, 30. 55-73.
• Borckardt, J. J., Sprohge, E., & Nash, M. R. (2003).  Effects of inclusion and refutation of peripheral details on eyewitness credibility.  Journal of Applied Social  Psychology, 33, 2187-2197.
• Killeen, P. R., & Nash, M. R. (2003).  The four causes of hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 51, 195-231.
• Borckardt, J., Engum, E. S., Lambert, E. W., Nash, M. R. (2003). Use of the CBDI to detect malingering when malingerers do their “homework”.  Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 18, 57-69.
• Heaps, C., & Nash, M. (2001).  Comparing recollective experience in true and false autobiographical memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 27, 920-930.
• King, B. J., Nash, M. R., Spiegel, D., & Jobson, K (2001)  Hypnosis as an intervention in pain management: A Brief Review. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 5, 97-101.
• Nash, M. R.  (2001).  The truth and hype of hypnosis.  Scientific American, 285, 46-55.
• Nash, M. R., Neimeyer, R. A., Hulsey, T. C., & Lambert, W. (1998).  Psychopathology, associated with sexual abuse:  The importance of complementary designs and common ground.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 568-571.
• Ray, C. R., Engum, E. S., Lambert, E. W., Bane, G. F., Nash, M. R.,  & Bracy, O. L. (1997).  Ability of the Cognitive Behavioral Driver’s Inventory to distinguish malingerers from brain-damaged subjects.  Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 12, 491-504.
• Repka, R. J., & Nash, M. R. (1995).  Hypnotic responsivity of the deaf:  The development of the University of Tennessee Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale for the Deaf.  International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43, 316-331.
• Nash, M. R., Hulsey, T. C., Sexton, M. C., and Harralson, T. L. (1993).  Long-term sequelae of childhood sexual abuse: Perceived family environment, psychopathology, and dissociation.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 276-283.
• Nash, M. R., Hulsey, T. C., Sexton, M. C., and Harralson, T. L. (1993).  Sexual abuse, family environment, and psychological symptoms:  On the validity of statistical control.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 289-290.
• Nash, M.  (1987).  What, if anything, is regressed about hypnotic age regression:  A review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 45-52.
• Nash, M. R., Johnson, L. S., & Tipton, R. (1979).  Hypnotic age regression and the occurrence of transitional object relationships.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 547-555.