Anxiety and Depression Treatment Specialists,
A Psychotherapy P.C.
"Where Science and Compassion Guide Therapy"
Tomislav D. Zbozinek, PhD
Hello! My name is Dr. Tomislav Zbozinek, and I am a licensed psychologist working in private practice. I am also Associate Director of the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA, where I run a clinical trial for therapy, teach PhD students to conduct therapy, and do research to improve our understanding and treatment of anxiety and depression.
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​​I received my Bachelor's degree from Claremont McKenna College in psychology. After that, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to UCLA's Clinical Psychology PhD program, which was and continues to be the #1 program in the country. At UCLA, I was trained by world-renown expert in anxiety and depression: Dr. Michelle Craske. I completed an APA-accredited pre-doctoral clinical internship at UCLA's Counseling and Psychological Services center and then received my PhD from UCLA. After that, I became a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology, where I led a series of studies on anxiety and depression funded by the National Science Foundation. I even developed and published some math formulas that help explain how we increase or decrease anxiety and depression. Most recently, I returned to UCLA, where I am currently leading a clinical trial funded by the National Institute of Mental Health examining a potential way to improve treatment for anxiety.
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I have published 30+ peer-reviewed articles, mostly on anxiety and depression. These include articles where we explain how to do state-of-the-art exposure therapy for anxiety (see publications below). I was also a text editor in the anxiety disorders section of the main diagnostic manual in psychology: the DSM-5-TR. I also serve on the Editorial Board of the clinical/scientific journal: Behaviour Research and Therapy.
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My personal interests include soccer, exercise, a good cup of coffee, music, travel, and spending time with family and friends.
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As a therapist, I try to be genuine, thoughtful, attentive, rational, caring, devoted, and validating. I think therapy is a very special process where life-changing learning, healing, and growth can occur. If you think we might be a good fit for each other, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you!
Publications
Select Publications
Anxiety Disorder Treatment
Anxiety Disorder Treatment
Diagnostic Manual
Anxiety, Depression, and Complex Pavlovian Learning
Mathematical Formulas for Pavlovian Learning
Anxiety and Decision Making
Describes how to do state-of-the-art exposure therapy for anxiety disorders (updated version).
Craske MG*, Treanor M*, Zbozinek TD, Vervliet B. (2022). Optimizing exposure therapy with an inhibitory retrieval approach and the OptEx Nexus. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 152, 104069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2022.104069
Describes how to do state-of-the-art exposure therapy for anxiety disorders (original version).
Craske MG, Treanor M, Conway C, Zbozinek T, Vervliet B. (2014). Maximizing Exposure Therapy: An Inhibitory Learning Approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 58, 10-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2014.04.006
I was Text Editor for the Anxiety Disorders Section, where I updated the Specific Phobias sub-section. See page Roman numeral x for author listing.
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Anxiety Disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.).
Anxiety and depression are associated with alterations in complex Pavlovian learning, which is relevant to daily life.
Zbozinek TD, Wise T, Perez OD, Qi S, Fanselow MS, Mobbs D. (2021). Pavlovian occasion setting in human fear and appetitive conditioning: Effects of trait anxiety and trait depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 147, 103986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.103986
The mathematical formulas I created that capture how we learn about fear-provoking or rewarding experiences.
Zbozinek TD, Perez O, Wise T, Fanselow M, Mobbs D. (2022). Ambiguity drives higher-order Pavlovian learning. PLOS Computational Biology, 18(9), e1010410. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010410
Anxiety is associated with more cautious decision-making under uncertainty.
Wise T*, Zbozinek TD*, Charpentier CJ, Michelini G, Hagan CC, Mobbs D. (2022). Computationally defined markers of uncertainty aversion predict emotional responses during a global pandemic. Emotion, 23(3), 722. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001088
Outreach and Media
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Mind Field (2x Emmy-nominated show)
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I consulted for and appeared in the Emmy-nominated episode "What is the Scariest Thing?" (11M+ views), where I conducted an on-camera interview and demonstration of fear conditioning (which is highly relevant for anxiety and its treatment).
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Check out the episode on YouTube! I appear starting at 2:59 and 27:38.
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Perseverance
"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."
- Margaret Thatcher