Benjamin Swerdlow

Benjamin Swerdlow serves as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lake Forest College, where he teaches courses including Psychopathology & Clinical Science, Personality, and Narratives of Mental Illness & Recovery from his office in Lillard Hall 150.

His academic training includes a PhD and MA in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Psychology and English from Wesleyan University.

Dr. Swerdlow's research centers on clinical affective science, with specialized focus on emotion regulation mechanisms, self-injury, and mood disorders within interpersonal contexts. He employs ecological momentary assessment to capture real-time emotional processes, particularly examining how interpersonal dynamics influence shame experiences and non-suicidal self-injury.

His publication trajectory reveals consistent investigation into emotion dysregulation pathways to psychopathology, with recent emphasis on pandemic-related social consequences and interpersonal emotion regulation failures. Collaborations with Dr. Sheri L. Johnson dominate his work, utilizing both daily assessment methods and transdiagnostic community samples.

Dr. Swerdlow actively mentors undergraduate researchers, as evidenced by student co-authorships on multiple publications. His current work includes systematic reviews of trauma-focused PTSD treatments and pandemic relationship studies, suggesting ongoing externally funded research despite unlisted grant details.