Dr. Joel R. Sneed is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Queens College of the City University of New York, an adjunct Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute in the Departments of Geriatric Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. Dr. Sneed is the Director of the Lifespan Lab and is currently funded by a Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. As director of the Lifespan Lab, his research interests focus on the diagnostic validity of vascular depression, the role of executive dysfunction in late-life depression, and the development of personality and personality disorder across the life span.

In addition to being a full-time researcher, Dr. Sneed is also a clinician in private practice in New York City. As a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Sneed has received extensive training in the assessment and treatment of anxiety, depression, and personality disorders. His clinical focus, however, centers on the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Dr. Sneed has received training in the use of specific approaches to BPD including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP). DBT is a cognitive-behavioral treatment consisting of both of group skills training sessions and individual psychotherapy. TFP is a psychoanalytic-based psychotherapy consisting of twice weekly individual sessions organized around the concept and interpretation of transference, the reenactment or reactivation of early relationships in the therapeutic relationship.

Dr. Sneed’s belief is that our central motivation is to seek out and maintain strong emotional bonds with important others. When this is blocked (in the past or present), we don’t give up on that need. We learn ways of connecting that are dysfunctional and wreak havoc on our emotional lives. Thus, we often find ourselves saying, "Why is it always me?" or "Why do I always do that?" or "Why am I always alone?" He believes the key to growth and happiness is in understanding how your thoughts, which we are often unaware of, influence your feelings and behavior in the context of your relationships. While his overall approach to psychotherapy is relational, he believes strongly in integrated treatment.