Roger Gould, M.D.
Founder and CEO of Digital Therapy, INC.
Dr. Roger Gould is a renowned American psychiatrist, professor, author, and respected authority on adult psychological development.
Dr. Gould is the former Head of Outpatient Psychiatry at UCLA, and subsequently pioneered a Smithsonian Award-Winning technology to enable meaningful digital therapy that mirrors and replicates the high level of therapeutic work traditionally expected from in-person sessions, but with the revolutionary distinction of aiming to give clients direct access to the tools and techniques so that they can access the therapy the need at any time, from anywhere.
In his 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. His research was used extensively in Passages, by the celebrated author, Gail Sheehy.
Dr. Gould is known as a groundbreaking leader in the use of computer-assisted and web-based therapy. He was honored by The Smithsonian Institution as a pioneer in the field of computer-assisted therapy. In 2001, Gould’s method of computer-assisted therapy was found to produce results that were remarkable close those achieved through traditional in-person therapy.
Gould is also the founder of Shrink Yourself, an online, weight-loss program that uses his web-based therapy techniques to eliminate emotional eating, binge eating, overeating, and other forms of excessive-compulsive or uncontrolled eating.
In 2007, he published a second book, Shrink Yourself: Break Free from Emotional Eating Forever, based on the Shrink Yourself online program. In both the book and 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 uncontrolled eating.
Dr. Gould also developed a new method to detect the bias in potential jurors in the famous and historical Pentagon Papers case, and later published the results in the American Journal of Psychiatry. This innovative method was based on the subtle use of language and gestures when the judge questioned the potential jurors, codifying observations, then applying clinical skills used in therapy to serve another socially useful purpose.
Dr Gould and Erik Erickson: Dr. Gould was honored to be invited to join Erik Erikson and five other carefully selected world experts on adult development, to learn from one another and provide new insights that would push advancements in the field. Dr. Gould's specific contributions to that gathering were published in Erikson's last book on the subject.
Dr. Gould's work has been featured on national television (ABC, CBS and FOX) and covered in Time Magazine, The New York Times, Prevention, Psychology Today, Good Housekeeping, Bariatric Times and MedHelp.