Department of Psychiatry Faculty

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

As a counseling psychologist, I am interested in applying multidimensional, developmental perspectives of parenting to examining how drug addiction and its psychosocial correlates influence the parenting experiences and practices of drug-addicted women. I am currently involved in three ongoing projects: The first two projects involve testing the efficacy of a manualized interpersonally-oriented parenting group intervention for substance-abusing mothers enrolled in methadone maintenance and mothers referred for outpatient substance-abuse treatment by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. The Relational Psychotherapy Mothers' Group (RPMG) focuses on supporting mothers to identify their own unmet psychosocial needs while fostering the development of basic relational parenting skills. The second project involves developing ways to assess drug-addicted mothers' conceptions of and affective responses to the parenting role and examining how these "internal working models" of parenting function as mediators between distal stress (i.e. sociodemographic disadvantage, impoverished upbringing, psychopathology) and specific parenting behaviors.

Publications of Note

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.

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.

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.

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., 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.

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