Rachel Torello

Rachel Torello serves as a Distinguished Lecturer and Coordinator of Undergraduate Psychology within the Psychology Department of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Haven, where she integrates clinical expertise into academic leadership and teaching.

Her educational background includes:

• Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
• M.A. in Clinical Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
• B.A. in Psychology from Quinnipiac University

Dr. Torello's research focuses on clinical psychology with specialized attention to psychotherapy for addiction, PTSD in combat veterans, chronic mental illness, and college student mental health. Her critical scholarship examines psychiatric diagnostic frameworks, particularly through analysis of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, while exploring foundational questions about cultural influences on personality, definitions of normality, and biological versus experiential determinants of human behavior.

As Undergraduate Psychology Coordinator, she mentors students using insights from her clinical fellowships at Yale University School of Medicine and research at the University of Chicago's Clinical Addictions Research Laboratory. Her professional leadership includes past presidency of The Connecticut Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology, reflecting deep engagement with psychoanalytic theory and practice.