Mindy Mechanic, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Psychology

Teaching interests: Undergraduate: Abnormal Psychology, Personality, Forensic Psychology; Law and Psychology; Psychological Responses to Victimization.  Graduate: Legal and Ethical Issues in Clinical Psychology; Psychological Assessment; Trauma, Violence, and Victimization

Research interests: Psychological responses to trauma, violence, and victimization; posttraumatic stress disorder; violence against women, including physical violence, sexual violence, psychological abuse, and stalking.  Also law and psychology and forensic psychology

Brief biography: Dr. Mindy B. Mechanic received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. Dr. Mechanic's work addresses the psychosocial consequences of trauma, victimization, and interpersonal violence. Specific topics she has studied include: traumatic memory, intimate partner violence, stalking, intimate partner homicide, and the co-occurrence of child maltreatment and intimate partner violence.

Dr. Mechanic is also interested in the development of more effective legal, criminal justice, and social policy responses to interpersonal victimization to complement individual psychological intervention strategies targeting posttrauma symptoms. She also works in the area of psychology and law and forensic psychology and regularly serves as an expert witness in complex legal cases involving battered women charged with crimes and in other legal cases involving childhood or adult trauma, victimization and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)