Department of Psychiatry Faculty

Nancy E. Suchman, PhD Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology) and Yale Child Study Center VA CT Healthcare Center (151D) 950 Campbell Avenue West Haven, CT 06516 Tel: 203-937-3486 ext. 7430 Fax: 203-937-3472 Email: nancy.suchman@yale.edu

Education

1979, B. A., Psychology, Cornell University
1986, M.S., Sociology of Education, Syracuse University
1994, Ph.D., Counseling Psychology, Colorado State University

Research Interest

After completing her Ph.D. in 1994, Dr. Suchman came to the Department of Psychiatry as a postdoctoral fellow in addiction treatment and research. Dr. Suchman’s interest in parenting intervention development began in 1995 when she joined the Department of Psychiatry faculty and worked with Drs. Suniya Luthar and Bruce Rounsaville to develop and evaluate the Relational Parenting Mothers’ Group. In 2002, Dr. Suchman began collaborating with Drs. Linda Mayes and Arietta Slade at the Yale Child Study Center and established a clinic-based laboratory for studying attachment in mothers with substance use disorders caring for infants and toddlers. In 2004, she received NIH funding to develop/evaluate an attachment-based intervention for mothers on site at a substance use treatment clinic. In 2008, she received NIH funding to study the impact of parenting stress on maternal addiction and caregiving sensitivity. She is also a collaborator with Dr. Mayes in the study of the neural circuitry of parent attachment and substance abuse.

Dr. Suchman’s research integrates perspectives from attachment theory, neuroscience of addiction and developmental psychopathology. She has published in the developmental, pediatric, family, adult psychiatry and addiction literature. Her work focuses on the development and evaluation of parenting interventions that aim to enhance representations of children, reflective functioning and caregiving sensitivity in mothers with substance use disorders. She has also evaluated treatment integrity and mechanisms of change in her intervention research. She has applied attachment, developmental and ecological perspectives to the study of substance using mothers’ parenting. She is also developing a program of research examining the role of infant and toddler distress cues in substance-using mothers’ affect dysregulation and relapse to drug use.

Publications of Note

Suchman, N. E., Mayes, L., Conti, J., Slade, A., & Rounsaville, B. (2004). Rethinking parenting interventions for drug dependent mothers: From behavior management to fostering emotional bonds. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 27, 179 – 185.

Suchman, N. E., McMahon, T. J., Slade, A., & Luthar, S. S. (2005). How early bonding, depression, illicit drug use, and perceived support work together to influence drug-dependent mothers’ caregiving. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 431-445.

Suchman, N. E., Pajulo, M., DeCoste, C. & Mayes, L. C. (2006). Parenting interventions for drug dependent mothers and their young children: The case for an attachment-based approach. Family Relations, 55, 211-226.

Pajulo, M., Suchman, N. E., Kalland, M., & Mayes, L. C. (2006). Enhancing the effectiveness of residential treatment for substance abusing pregnant and parenting women: focus on maternal reflective functioning and mother-child relationship, Infant Mental Health Journal, 27, 448-465.

Suchman, N. E., McMahon, T., Zhang, H., Mayes, L., & Luthar, S. (2006). Drug dependent mothers and disruptions in child custody: An attachment perspective. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 30, 197-204.

Mayes, L., & Suchman, N. E. (2006). Developmental Pathways to Substance Abuse. In Cicchetti & Cohen (Eds.) Developmental Psychopathology, 2nd edition, Volume 3, pp. 599-619. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Suchman, N.E., Rounsaville, B. J., DeCoste, C., & Luthar, S. (2007). Parental control, parental warmth, and psychosocial adjustment in a sample of substance abusing mothers and their school-aged and adolescent children. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 32, 1-10.

Luthar, S. S., Suchman, N. E., & Altomare, M. (2007). Relational Psychotherapy Mothers Group: A randomized clinical trial for substance abusing mothers. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 243-262.

Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C., Castiglioni, N., Legow, N., & Mayes, L. (2008). The Mothers and Toddlers Program: Preliminary findings from an attachment-based parenting intervention for substance abusing mothers. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 25, 499-517.

Suchman, N., McMahon, T., DeCoste, C., Castiglioni, N., & Luthar, S. (2008). Ego development, psychopathology and parenting problems in substance abusing mothers. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78, 20-28.

Suchman, N., DeCoste, & Mayes, L. (in press). The Mothers and Toddlers Program: An attachment-based intervention for mothers in substance abuse treatment. In C. Zeanah (Ed.), Handbook of infant mental health, 3rd edition. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Suchman, N., & DeCoste, C. (in press). Parental Psychopathology: A developmental perspective on mechanisms of transmission. In L. Mayes & M. Lewis, (Eds.), The environment of human development: A handbook of theory and measurement. London, England: Cambridge University Press.

Pajulo, M., Suchman, N., Kalland, M., Sinkkonen, J., Helenius, H., & Mayes, L. (in press). Role of maternal reflective abilty for substance abusing mothers. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health.

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