Roger Gould, M.D. is a board-certified psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and former Head of Community Psychiatry and Outpatient Psychiatry at UCLA. He is a leading authority on adult development and emotional eating.

In his first book Transformations, Gould presents his view that adult psychological development consists of the “dismantling of the illusions of safety developed in childhood.” Gould’s theory suggests that these illusions are confronted in a time-sensitive sequence as one progresses through the life-cycle.

Dr. Gould and his team have been creating psycho-educational software for over twenty-five years. The critical thinking process and problem-solving techniques presented in the interactive programs were developed and refined by clinical experience with over 20,000 people and dozens of hospitals and healthcare organizations.

The Smithsonian Institution recognized Dr. Gould as a pioneer in the emerging field of computer-assisted therapy. In 2001 an independent study by Kaiser Permanente and UCLA found that Gould’s method of computer-assisted therapy was “as effective” as traditional therapy.

In 2007, he published a second book, “Shrink Yourself: Break Free from Emotional Eating Forever.” In both the book and the online program, Gould suggests that the powerlessness people feel over their cravings to eat when they are emotionally upset is a cover-up for a deeper sense of powerlessness in areas, or “layers,” of their lives not directly connected to eating. By examining one’s sense of powerlessness in the areas identified, Gould claims one can end emotional eating and other forms of uncontrolled eating.

His work has been featured on national television (ABC, CBS and FOX) and covered in Time Magazine, The New York Times, Bariatric Times, Prevention, Psychology Today, Good Housekeeping, MedHelp and MSN Health.

Books

• Shrink Yourself, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2007

• Transformations: Growth and Change in Adult Life, Simon and Schuster, 1979

Publications (partial list)

• "Reengineering Mental Health." In Curry, W. (Ed.), Reengineering Health, The American College of Physician Executives, 1998

• "The Use of Computers in Therapy." In Trabin, T. and Freeman, M. (Eds.), The Computerization of Behavioral Healthcare, 1996

• "Development, Problem Solving, and Generalized Learning: The Therapeutic Learning Program (TLP)." In Miller, M., Hammond, K., and Hile, M. (Eds.), Mental Health Computing: Computers and Medicine, 1995

• "Brief Psychotherapy and Adult Development and Computer Assisted Therapy in an HMO Setting." In Mental Health and Managed Care, American Psychiatric Press, Inc., 1992

• "Clinical Lessons From Adult Development, Nemiroff, A. and Colarusso, C. A. (Eds.), New Dimensions in Adult Development, Basic Books, Inc.,1990

• "Therapeutic Learning Program (TLP): Computer Assisted short-term Psychotherapy." In Talking to Strangers: Mediated Therapeutic Ablex Publishing Company, l990

• "The Therapeutic Learning Program." In Mezirow, J. (Ed.), Adult Learning, 1990

• Some Pros and Cons of Computer-Assisted Psychotherapy." In The Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 1989

• "Adulthood." In Kaplan, H. I., M.D. and Sadock, B. J., M.D. (Eds.), Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 1989

• Author: "The Therapeutic Learning Program (TLP), A Computer-Assisted Short-Term Treatment Program." In Computers in Psychiatry/Psychology, 1986

• "Three Vice Presidents in Mid-Life." In the Harvard Business Review, 1981

• "The Phases of Adult Life: A Study in Developmental Psychology." In Readings of Adult Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives, 1981

• "Psychoanalytic Theory of Adulthood Consciousness." In Greenspan, S. I. and Pollack, G. H. (Eds.), The Course of Life/III: Adulthood and the Aging Process.

• "Transformations in Mid-Life." In New York University Education Quarterly, 1980

• "Transformations During Adult Years." In Smelzer and Erickson (Eds.), Themes of Love and Work in Adulthood, 1980

• "The Phases of Adult Life: Study in Developmental Psychology." In The American Journal of Psychiatry, 1972

• "Preventative Psychiatry and the Psychoanalytic Field Theory of Reality." In The Journal of American Psychoanalytic Association, 1970

Presentations

• "Aging and Alcoholism." The 26th meeting of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, New Approaches in Psychoanalysis, 1982

• "Recovery from Childhood." The University of Kansas, Division of Continuing Education, 3rd National Conference on the Adult Life Cycle: From Theory to Practice-Developing Through Relationships, 1982

• "Life Transitions as a Challenge to Learning from Experience: Breaking Specific Stress Patterns." New Perspectives on Life Transition and Adult Learning: Implications for Practice, A National Conference for Adult Educators. Teachers College, Columbia University, 1982

• "Developmental Tasks: Men at Mid-Life." In Generations, Western Gerontological Society, 1979

• "Self Tolerance." In Psychology Today, 1975