Louis G. Castonguay, PhD, is Liberal Arts Professor of Psychology at The Pennsylvania State University. After his undergraduate studies in Psychology at the University of Sherbrooke and a
Masters degree in Counseling Psychology at the University of Montreal, he completed
his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook, a clinical internship at
U.C. Berkeley, and a Post-doctorate at Stanford University. He is currently Liberal Arts
Professor of Psychology at The Pennsylvania State University.
His research focuses on the process of change in psychotherapy. Within this context, he
has investigated several factors related to the client (e.g., emotional experience), therapist
(e.g., differential level of effectiveness), therapeutic relationship (e.g., working alliance),
and therapeutic interventions (e.g., treatment focus). He has also been involved in the
development and investigation new integrative treatments for generalized anxiety
disorder and depression. Over the last several years, he has been conducting practiceoriented research aimed at better understanding and possibly improving psychotherapy as
practice in natural settings.
He has more than 200 publications, including 10 co-edited books: On empirically based
principles of change in psychotherapy (one with Larry Beutler, and another one with
Michael Constantino and Larry Beulter); psychopathology research and psychotherapy
(with Thomas Oltmanns); the therapist effects (with Clara Hill); insight in psychotherapy
(with Clara Hill); corrective experiences in psychotherapy (with Clara Hill); the
integration movement in psychotherapy (with Conrad Lecomte); the integration of
practice and research in psychotherapy (with Christopher Muran); and two books on the
legacy of influential figures of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, SPR (one with
Bernhard Strauss and Jacques Barber, and another with Christopher Muran, Lynne
Angus, Jeffrey Hayes, Nicholas Ladany, and Tim Anderson).