Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access

Seth D. Norrholm

Biography

Seth Davin Norrholm, Ph.D. is a translational neuroscientist who studies the acquisition and extinction of learned fear in traumatized combat and civilian populations. The primary objective of his work is to develop “bench-to-bedside” clinical research methods to inform therapeutic interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The most effective treatments for PTSD involve exposure therapy, a clinical analog to laboratory fear extinction, and as such there is a compelling need to further study these processes. Dr. Norrholm has developed a conditioned fear extinction paradigm using fear-potentiated startle; a methodology that has the potential to be an effective outcome measure for PTSD treatment as well as an index of fear recovery. His work has been supported by funding from the Brain and Behavior Foundation (formerly NARSAD), the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program through the Department of Defense (CDMRP/DoD), and the Emory University Research Committee.

Research Interest

Dr. Norrholm collaborates with several international researchers to investigate the interaction between genetic and environmental risk factors that mediate vulnerability to developing PTSD, PTSD symptom severity, and treatment outcome, with a focus on the identification of intermediate phenotypes