Leigh McCullough

Leigh McCullough was a psychotherapist, researcher and pioneer of short-term dynamic psychotherapy (STDP). Her treatment model focused on the learned fears of experiencing certain emotions, or what she called affect phobias.

Treatment of affect phobias progresses similarly to the exposure technique of behavioral therapies, with the difference that affects could be viewed as an internal phobia instead of external phobias such as fear of spiders or heights.

McCullough was an associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, director of the Psychotherapy Research Program at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a visiting professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim, Norway). She was the 1996 Voorhees Distinguished Professor at the Menninger Clinic and received the 1996 Michael Franz Basch Award from the Silvan Tomkins Institute for her contributions to the exploration of affect in psychotherapy. Dr. McCullough was on the editorial board of the journal Psychotherapy Research and of the Journal of Brief Therapy, and conducted training seminars in the Affect Phobia model worldwide.

Leigh McCullough was diagnosed with ALS in 2010 and passed away in June 7th 2012

Bibliography

• McCullough Vaillant, Leigh (1997). Changing Character: Short-Term Anxiety-Regulating Psychotherapy for Restructuring Defenses, Affects, and Attachment. BasicBooks.
• McCullough, Leigh et. al. (2003). Treating Affect Phobia: A Manual for Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy.

See also

• David Malan
• Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy. The first wave of STDP developed by Habib Davanloo since the 1960s which McCullough draws extensively on, but also differs from in important aspects, especially the amount of confrontation vs. supportive anxiety-regulation. McCullough specifically called for a "healing connection", which she thought would be suitable for therapists with a less confrontative style, instead of Davanloo's prefered "head-on collision", which only certain therapists manage to do.
• Silvan Tomkins