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. 

        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 culturally informed east-west 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 acceptance & commitment therapy, mindfulness, 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 100 journal articles, 20 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 eastern perspectives 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 has a Ph.D. in American Cultural Studies and works at University of Virginia. Aaron is an Internal Medicine Physcian at Univeristy of Vermont Medical Center. And Liam is a PhD. candidate in Political Science at Kent 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