Kathryn Hagan Bentley, PhD

Clinical and Research Fellow in Psychology at MGH, Depression Clinical and Research Program

Dr. Kate Bentley received her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2017 from Boston University and completed her pre-doctoral internship in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy track at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Her research is largely focused on identifying the proximal risk factors for and mechanisms of potentially life-threatening responses to intense negative affect (namely, suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injurious thoughts and behaviors) and using this information to guide the development, evaluation, and implementation of effective, scalable interventions for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors and co-occurring depressive, anxiety, and substance use disorders.

Her K12 project involved testing a transdiagnostic, emotion-focused, group-based intervention for young adults with substance use disorders and co-occurring emotional distress (depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, or nonsuicidal self-injury).