The Psychotherapy Research Lab

Michael J. Constantino, PhD, Director 

Directed by Dr. Michael J. Constantino, The Psychotherapy Research Lab is part of the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Broadly, our research focuses on diverse aspects of psychotherapy process, outcome, integration, and implementation. More precisely, we are keenly interested in examining patient and dyadic characteristics and in-session processes that influence treatment outcomes; developing and testing context-responsive therapeutic interventions; and establishing, understanding, and leveraging therapist differences in effectiveness. We are also interested in developing and testing clinical theory at the intersections of psychotherapy, personality psychology, and social psychology. 

Across the preceding interrelated domainsand in the context of both controlled studies and naturalistic, community-based caremy lab adopts diverse and complementary research designs, including randomized treatment efficacy and effectiveness trials, quantitative correlational and longitudinal process research, quantitative meta-analyses, qualitative research, community-based participatory surveys and focus groups, and lab-based clinical analogue studies.

Accentuating our wide-ranging contributions across multiple domains of psychotherapy science, our team contributed a comprehensive review chapter on “Patient, therapist, and relational factors” (Constantino, Boswell, & Coyne, 2021) to the latest edition of Bergin and Garfield’s Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change—the foremost research compendium in the field.

The Psychotherapy Research Lab suite is housed in 143 & 145 Tobin Hall at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. To learn more about the Lab and its related projects, please browse the relevant links on this website, or email Dr. Constantino or one of the lab members directly. You can also contact us at therapyresearchlab@gmail.com.

** GRADUATE STUDENT ENROLLMENT NOTICE -- Dr. Constantino  WILL NOT be accepting applications for Fall 2024 entry into our graduate program.