Kim L. Gratz, PhD

Associate Professor
Director, Personality Disorders Research
The Personality and Emotion Research and Treatment (PERT) Laboratory

• B.A., Gender Social Psychology, Tulane University, 1996
• M.A., Clinical Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, 2000
• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, 2003
• Clinical Psychology Internship, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 2002-2003
• Clinical and Research Fellow, Center for the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder, McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 2003-2004
• Assistant Research Psychologist, Center for the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder, McLean Hospital, 2004-2005
• Research Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychology Program and Director of Personality Disorders Division, Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research, University of Maryland, 2005-2008
• Assistant Professor, Division of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2008-2010
• Associate Professor, Division of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2010-present

Dr. Gratz's clinical and research interests focus on the role of emotion dysregulation and experiential avoidance in borderline personality disorder (BPD), deliberate self-harm, and other risky behaviors. In particular, her research focuses on understanding the nature and consequences of emotional dysregulation and avoidance in these conditions (through the use of novel behavioral/experimental paradigms), and applying this understanding to the development of more effective treatments. Recent projects include: experimental investigations of emotion dysregulation, experiential avoidance, and emotional unwillingness in BPD and deliberate self-harm; an experimental investigation of the validity, markers, and associated consequences of an anxious-avoidant subtype of BPD; an examination of the personality traits and underlying processes associated with borderline personality symptoms in childhood; an examination of the rates and correlates of deliberate self-harm among children and adolescents in low-income communities; a laboratory-based study of BPD-relevant personality traits and emotion regulation capacity among women and their 12-23 month-old children; the further development of an acceptance-based, emotion regulation group therapy for deliberate self-harm among women with borderline personality traits; and a longitudinal laboratory-based investigation of emotion regulation as a prospective predictor of sexual revictimization and its proximal risk factors. Dr. Gratz currently serves as Principal Investigator on an R34 funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Co-Principal Investigator on a large Operating Grant funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PIs: Chapman and Gratz), and Co-Investigator on an R01 funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (PI: DiLillo) and a Pilot Research Grant funded by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (PI: Bagge).