Contact Dr. Shauna Springer

If you’re interested, here is some information about my credentials and some of the experiences that have influenced my writing.

Before completing a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Florida, I benefited greatly from the general liberal arts education I received as an English major at Harvard University. If we broadly conceptualize a “Psychologist” as someone who is an expert in understanding and predicting human behavior, then some of the best Psychologists are found within the ranks of great writers and philosophers. I’ve gained as much from reading the works of Shakespeare and modern writers like Julian Fellowes as I have from reviewing hundreds of research articles in the top scientific journals.

At present, I am a licensed Psychologist working within the Northern California Veterans Health Care System. I have particular expertise in stressor effects on marriage, individualized pre-marital preparation, effects of deployment on military marriage and family functioning, trauma recovery, post-divorce counseling, women’s issues, and career planning. Within the VA setting, I run a clinic for couples working to rebuild trust, safety, and connection following combat deployment. Prior to accepting my current position, I’ve worked in a wide range of clinical settings, including a successful private practice, three University counseling centers, a career counseling center, and a clinic specialized in the treatment of OCD and other anxiety disorders.

I also have a range of research experience, including past positions with the Psychiatry Department in Massachusetts General Hospital and the pediatric research division with the Judge Baker Children’s Center, both in Boston, MA. As a graduate student at the University of Florida, I worked under the mentorship of Dr. Benjamin Karney, the Principal Investigator of the Florida Study on Newlywed Marriage and Adult Development (FPNMAD). The FPNMAD project tracked 200 couples over the first four years of their marriages. In addition to interviewing these couples and helping collect this data, I completed a dissertation that examined the effects of stress on marriage in an aggregated sample of more than 164,000 married individuals. My research has been presented at several conferences, including those of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Smart Marriages Conference. For my research and teaching activities, I’ve been awarded the 2005 Outstanding Counseling Psychology Student Award, the 2004 McLaughlin Dissertation Research Award, and a 2004 University of Florida Presidential Recognition for Outstanding Achievement.

I’ve also been involved in outreach and teaching beyond the “ivory tower.” I’ve presented talks in community settings on many subjects including the science of mate selection, effective treatment of anxiety disorders, ethics in Psychology, and effective methods of treating combat trauma. I founded and coordinated the 1st annual National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (NEDAW) Film Screening Benefit of the critically acclaimed independent movie “Lbs” in 2006. More recently, I served as a consultant on the award-winning documentary “Seeking Happily Ever After: One Generation’s Struggle to Redefine the Fairy Tale”

In 2008, I launched the Lifestyle Poll with the goal of profiling the marriages of some of the smartest women I know (and their equally capable friends). It is quite possible that the Lifestyle Poll sample represents the most comprehensive poll of the most accomplished group of females in any research study that has ever been done. I make this assertion based on both the unique design of the survey and the unique demographic characteristics of the 1200 women who responded to over 200 questions (further information about the Lifestyle Poll project). I am currently writing up the results in what will be my first book, tentatively titled Marriage, For Equals: The Successful Joint (Ad)ventures of Well-Educated Couples.

Finally, while I do not believe in the existence of soul mates, I met the love of my life, Utaka Springer, 14 years ago, and we have been very happily married for the past 10 years.