Dr. Thomas R. Lynch, PhD
Professor Emeritus in Clinical Psychology, University of Southampton
Dr Thomas Lynch is currently the director of the Radically Open Institute. The Institute provides oversight of all therapist, supervisor and trainer pathways as well as various research and developmental initiatives and committees. He is the developer of the Blended Learning Program and other training materials. He is the author of the RO DBT treatment manual titled "Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Disorders of Overcontrol" as a well as the RO DBT Skills Training Manual (2018; Context Press).
Dr Thomas R. Lynch was the Director of the Duke Cognitive Behavioral Research and Treatment Program in the USA from 1997 - 2007 and is now Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton in the UK. He is the treatment developer of Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO DBT), an evidence-based treatment that is supported by 25 years of clinical experience and translational research that parallels established guidelines for treatment development (e.g., UK Medical Council, 2008).
Dr Lynch has received five research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH USA), a National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) research award, an American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) research award, and a John A. Hartford Foundation award. He was the Principal Investigator on two National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA R01s) studies while at Duke University. One was a multi-site study of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for borderline personality disorder with opiate dependence and the second a virtual reality study examining novel methods to enhance cue exposure treatment for cocaine addiction. He was also the Chief investigator of a multi-centre RCT funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation program and Medical Research Council—Project REFRAmed—REFRactory depression: Mechanisms and Effectiveness of radically open dialectical behavior therapy.
He has been a standing Member of the Interventions Committee for Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Personality Disorders, and Disorders of Late Life at the National Institute of Mental Health Grant Review Committee (ITSP NIMH; USA; 2005-2007) and his research has been recognized in the Science and Advances Section of the National Institute of Health FY 2005 Congressional Justification Report. He is a recipient of the John M. Rhoades Psychotherapy Research Endowment, a Beck Institute Scholar, a Grandfathered Fellow in the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Professor Lynch is also well-known for being an authoritative, entertaining and charismatic speaker. He is in frequent demand as a speaker internationally—e.g., Europe, USA, and Canada.
