Holly Orcutt

Holly Orcutt is a full Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northern Illinois University (NIU), affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She specializes in trauma psychology, focusing on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emotion regulation, and biomarkers for psychological disorders.

• Ph.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo (1998)
• Research on trauma exposure, fear conditioning, and sexual risk-taking behavior
• Principal Investigator for major NIH-funded trauma studies
• Supervisor of numerous graduate students in trauma-related research

Her research program examines how psychological responses to trauma, particularly experiential avoidance and self-compassion, influence PTSD development. She has conducted extensive longitudinal studies following the 2008 NIU campus shooting and explored genomic factors in trauma response.

Key grants include multiple NIH R15 awards for trauma biomarker research, fear conditioning studies, and sexual revictimization analysis. Her work bridges clinical psychology, genetics, and behavioral neuroscience to develop interventions for trauma survivors.

She supervises graduate students in projects involving trauma assessment, emotion regulation, and fear physiology. Her lab focuses on reducing psychological suffering through understanding trauma mechanisms and developing targeted interventions.