Associate Professor, Psychology
Coordinator, Psychology Program

Contact information

• Office: 508O Lawrence Hall
• Phone: 412-392-8183
• Fax: 412-392-4781
• Email: brobbins@pointpark.edu

Education

• Bachelor of Arts, Psychology and Media Communications, Webster University
• Master of Arts, Psychology, Duquesne University
• Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, Duquesne University

Courses Taught

• Critical Approaches to Psychology
• Psychological Foundations
• Psychology of Emotion
• Happiness, Well-Being, and Human Strengths
• Research Methodology in the Human Sciences
• Senior Thesis

Background

Brent Dean Robbins, Ph.D. is an associate professor of psychology and coordinator of the psychology program at Point Park. He is editor-in-chief of Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, and Phenomenological Psychology, and a recipient of the American Psychological Association's Carmi Harari Early Career Award. His published research includes mixed method investigations of emotion, embodiment, and the medicalization of the body in contemporary Western culture, with particular attention to the implications of these findings for the treatment of mental illness.

Curriculum vitae

Selected Publications

• Drugging Our Children: How Profiteers are Pushing Antipsychotics on Our Youngest and What We Can Do to Stop It with Sharna Olfman, Ph.D., 2012.
  
• Co-author of "A cultural-existential approach to therapy: Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of embodiment and its implications for practice," (with co-author Felder, A.J.) Theory and Psychology, 2011.
• "Conflicts of interest in research on antipsychotic treatment of pediatric bipolar disorder, temper dysregulation disorder, and attenuated psychotic symptoms syndrome: Exploring the unholy alliance between big pharma and psychiatry," (with Point Park students/co-authors Higgins, M.; Fischer, M.; and Over, K.) Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture, 2011.
• Co-author of "Resiliency as a virtue: Contributions from humanistic and positive psychology," Continuity versus creative response to challenge: The primacy of resilience and resourcefulness in life and therapy, 2011.
• "Joy," The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology, 2009.
• "The self-regulation of humor expression: A mixed method, phenomenological approach to the study of suppressed laughter," (Co-authored with Kyla Vandree), and "What is the good life? Positive psychology and the renaissance of humanistic psychology," The Humanistic Psychologist, 2009 and 2008.
• "Lessons from the dead: Undergraduate experiences of work with cadavers," (Co-authored with A. Tomaka, C. Innus, J. Patterson, & G. Styn). Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 2008.

Selected Presentations

• "The Problem of Human Dignity at the Heart of Humanistic Psychology: Retrieving Existential Personalism and a Hermeneutics of Love within the Humanistic Tradition," APA Division 32 Annual Conference, Pacifica Graduate Institute: Community in Difference: Cultivating a Home for Love and Justice in an Indifferent World, Feb. 28 — March 3, 2013.
• Chair and presenter, "The DSM-5 Controversy," Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Orlando, Fla., 2012.
• "Self-conscious emotions and the ontogenesis of the neurophenomenological self," Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Orlando, Fla., 2012
• Keynote address, "Conflicts of interest in research on pediatric psychiatric disorders and their treatment," Second Annual International Conference on Existential Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 2012.
• Keynote address, "Cultivating a sense of joy," Community of Faith Gathering, Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa., 2012.
• Invited speaker, "Finding joy through recovery," Creating Healthy Homes: Embracing Recovery Conference, Community Care Behavioral Health, Pittsburgh, Pa., 2012.
• Invited panelist, "Administration of medication to children," Westchester Women's Bar Association and Westchester County Psychological Association, New York, N.Y., 2012.

Selected Honors

• Incoming president, Society for Humanistic Psychology, Division 32 of the American Psychological Association
• Chair, 2012 Annual Conference of the Society for Humanistic Psychology

In the News

• "Critics blast new manual on mental disorders," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 2013.
• "Drugging Our Children," WESA 90.5, Pittsburgh's NPR News Station, Sept. 4, 2012.
• "Addiction Affliction: Psychiatrists create a stir with broad definitions," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 2012.
• "Doctors ponder broader definition of addiction effect on mental illness diagnosis," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 18, 2012.
• "Over-medication in foster care at issue," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 29, 2012.
• "Guidelines debated for mental disorders," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 30, 2012.

Point Park Features

• "Professors Present on Hermeneutics of Love at Psychology Conference," Point Park University website, March 25, 2013.
• "Psychology Department Hosts National Conference, Builds Programs," The Point, Spring 2012.
• "Professor Brent Robbins Delves into the Science of Happiness," The Point, Fall 2011.
• "Psychology Students, Professor Co-Author Research Paper," Point Park University website, Oct. 2010.