Dr. Mark Gapen Honored for Research on Chronic PTSD Treatment

SPRINGFIELD — Dr. Mark Gapen, psychologist and director of the Doctoral Intern Program at Community Services Institute, was awarded the top honor at the annual conference of the Foundation for Neurofeedback and Applied Science in Atlanta on April 28 for his publication of a study of the efficacy of neurofeedback in treating chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The study, published by the Public Library of Science in December 2016, was the culmination of months of research of individuals with chronic PTSD, proving that neurofeedback is an effective, non-medication, treatment for chronic PTSD.

Gapen introduced neurofeedback to the Springfield area in 2012 when he joined Community Services Institute to assist with the training of doctoral interns. The program has since grown into the largest training center for neurofeedback in the U.S. In 2016, Gapen was appointed the director of the doctoral intern program. He is scheduled to present “Neurofeedback101: A Workshop For Providers” on Tuesday, May 16 at TechSpring in Springfield. To register, visit communityserv.com.

Gapen began his career working on an NIMH-funded study of risks and resilience factors for PTSD in a large urban hospital in Atlanta. Additionally, he worked in the Atlanta Veterans Administration and community and academic health settings before beginning a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk at the Trauma Center in Boston.

During his fellowship, Gapen earned a certificate in traumatic stress studies, worked with chronically traumatized individuals of all ages, and was the research coordinator for a study investigating the effectiveness of neurofeedback in ameliorating the physiological symptoms associated with PTSD.

More recently, he was the clinical research psychologist for the Uniformed Services Program at the Brattleboro Retreat. In this role, he provided direct service to police, firefighters, active and retired military, corrections officers, and other uniformed service professionals.

Gapen has extensive experience working in multi-disciplinary settings and incorporates multiple contextual factors into his conceptualization of psychopathology. He is board-certified in neurofeedback. He earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Emory University.