Dr. William O'Brien

        William H. O'Brien, Ph.D., ABPP is a Professor in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at Bowling Green State University.  He is board certified in Cognitive Behavioral Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.  Dr. O'Brien coordinates the Clinical Health Psychology Track and the Mindful Behavior Therapy and Psychophysiology Lab at Bowling Green State University. He is also the Graduate Coordinator in the Psychology Department at BGSU and Director of Behavioral Medicine at Elmwood Healthcare Center in Green Springs, Ohio.

        Dr. O'Brien provides clinical services and supervises doctoral students who provide clinical services at regional medical and mental health facilities. Areas of particular clinical interest are:  The use of third-wave cognitive behavioral therapies (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, and the functional analysis of behavior) for anxiety disorders, psychosomatic disorders, and psychophysiological disorders. Dr. O'Brien also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in cognitive-behavioral assessment and therapy, research methods, behavioral medicine, and psychophysiology.

        In addition to teaching and clinical service, Dr. O’Brien has authored or co-authored over 60 journal articles, 18 book chapters, and two books.  These publications are the result of research conducted in the following areas: (a) evaluating interrelationships among stress, mindfulness, acceptance, and psychophysiological reactivity, (b) evaluating the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness interventions for psychophysiological disorders, and (c) clinical decision making and case formulation in cognitive-behavioral therapy.

        Dr. O’Brien has three children, Anna, Aaron, and Liam who are, of course, awesome. Anna is a Ph.D. student in American Culture Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Aaron is a Neuroscience/Pre-med major at Ohio State University. And Liam is a Political Science/Pre-Law major at Bowling Green State University.

        Outside of work, Dr. O’Brien enjoys skiing, ice hockey, duck hunting, listening to classical music, motorcycle riding, and reading.  He was raised in upstate NY in a family of five boys. He aspires to one day ski Corbet’s Coulior at Jackson Hole, Colorado and Mount Blanc at Chamonix, France.

Anna, Aaron, Liam O'Brien

Kaosiung University, Taiwan

Corbet's Coulior