Jonathan Abramowitz, Ph.D. 
Professor of Psychology and Clinical Psychology Program Director, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Arts and Sciences | UNC-Chapel Hill
Raleigh-Durham, NC, UNITED STATES
Professor Abramowitz is an internationally recognized expert on OCD and anxiety disorders.
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Biography
Jonathan (Jon) Abramowitz is a clinical psychologist and professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences. He is head of the UNC Anxiety Lab and director of the UNC Anxiety and Stress Disorders Clinic, He specializes in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders, and is recognized internationally as a leading authority on these topics.
He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses at UNC and also trains clinical psychology graduate students in how to implement state-of-the-art assessment and treatment techniques for anxiety/OCD. He has published more than 200 research articles, book chapters and encyclopedia entries, along with 12 books on anxiety, OCD and related topics. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, and author of the book "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults" (co-written with Ryan J. Jacoby as part of the series on Evidence-Based Psychotherapy).
He has received awards for his contributions to the fields of anxiety and OCD from the National Institute of Mental Health, American Psychological Association, International OCD Foundation, Mayo Clinic and Muhlenberg College.
He helped develop an iPhone app called Anxiety Coach with the Mayo Clinic.
Industry Expertise (1)
Mental Health Care
Areas of Expertise (2)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Anxiety Disorders
Accomplishments (5)
Elected as President of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) (professional)
2013
University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill Psychology Club Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mentoring Students in their Research (professional)
2012
Muhlenberg College Alumni Achievement Award in Social Science (professional)
2011
Elected to the Board of Directors of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (professional)
2010
Appointed as Associate Editor of Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy (professional)
2007
Education (3)
University of Memphis: Ph.D., Clinical Psychology 1998
Bucknell University: M.A., Psychology 1993
Muhlenberg College: B.A. (Hons.), Psychology 1991
Affiliations (7)
- Journal of Obsessive-Comulsive and Related Disorders : Editor in Chief
- Behavior Research and Therapy (Journal) : Associate Editor
- Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) : President
- Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) : Member
- International Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF) : Member
- American Psychiatric Association : Member
- North Carolina Psychological Association (NCPA) : Member
Links (4)
Media Appearances (8)
The OCD stories
podcast online
2018-02-11
In episode 109 Dr Jonathan Abramowitz was interviewed. He is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Chapel Hill, NC specializing in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He is also Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina.
The OCD Stories
podcast online
2018-07-08
In episode 130 of The OCD Stories podcast Dr Jonathan Abramowitz is interviewed for the second time about his book "Getting over OCD."
'Flesh And Bone's Depiction Of Mental Illness In Ballet Is Missing An Important Point
Bustle online
2015-12-06
And, with all these depictions of emotionally tormented dancers, viewers may be wondering if mental illness is rampant in the ballet world. There's no denying that, due to the precise nature of ballet, the practice attracts perfectionists who are often intense and obsessive individuals. Dancers are three times more likely to suffer from eating disorders than the general population, according to a study from the European Eating Disorders Review, and anorexia and bulimia can trigger and intensify depression and anxiety. Jonathan Abramowitz, associate chair of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told ABC that OCD and anxiety disorders are common among ballerinas. (However, no exact statistics are available.)...
Dissociation Shown to Have Key Role in OCD
MedScape Multispeciality online
2015-08-19
Jonathan Abramowitz, PhD, who is professor and associate chair of psychology at the UNC-Chapel Hill Clinical Psychology Program, in North Carolina, said that although he felt the study was interesting, he questioned the role of dissociation in OCD. "Certainly patients with OCD may vary in terms of their degree of insight, but I think when push comes to shove, they can be brought back to reality, whereas when a person has delusions, they are convinced of them, and if you try to show them evidence to the contrary, they will twist reality around to conform to their delusions," he told Medscape Medical News...
Religious OCD: 'I'm going to hell'
CNN online
2014-05-31
Both women say they suffered from a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder known as scrupulosity. A fear of sin or punishment from deities characterizes this condition, said Jonathan Abramowitz, professor and associate chairman of the department of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill...
OCD Children Need Special Parenting
PsychCentral online
2009-06-18
This phenomenon isn’t exclusive to children and parents, said Jonathan S. Abramowitz, Ph.D., an associate professor and associate chairman of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We see it with adults’ spouses and partners, too. In trying to be helpful to the person with OCD, they end up making the problem worse.”...
Can the Presence of Family and Friends Help You Heal?
ABC News online
Jonathan S. Abramowitz, Professor and Associate Chair of Psychology at the University of North Carolina: "I don't know if there are data, but people who are socially isolated, I would believe, would recover more slowly (on average -- of course, everyone is different) because they might have greater stress, which causes chemical changes in the body that interfere with healing. Having the President of the U.S. at your bedside (provided you are able to even realize he's there), would almost certainly cause chemical changes in the body that would be the opposite of a stress response"...
Event Appearances (3)
Emotion reactivity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and cognitions
48th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Philadelphia, PA.
2014-11-01
Measurement of OCD: Comparing self-report measures to the gold standard
48th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Philadelphia, PA.
2014-11-01
Predictors of obsessivecompulsive symptom dimensions: Cognitive fusion and obsessive beliefs
48th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Philadelphia, PA.
2014-11-01
Articles (5)
Uncertainty as an anxiety cue at high and low levels of risk
Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry2015
Obsessive-compulsive related disorders: A critical review of the new diagnostic class
Annual review of Clinical Psychology2015
Tracing “Fearbola”: Examining the psychological predictors of anxious responding to the Ebola virus
Cognitive Therapy and Research2015
Examining attentional bias in scrupulosity: Null findings from the dot probe paradigm
Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy2015
Strategies for improving long-term outcomes in cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: Insights from learning theory
Cognitive and Behavioral Practice2014
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