Skip to main content

Verified by Psychology Today

Mark L. Ruffalo M.S.W., D.Psa.

About

Mark L. Ruffalo, M.S.W., D.Psa., is a psychotherapist in private practice in Tampa, Florida, and serves as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and Adjunct Instructor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. His main interests include the history of psychiatry, particularly mid-20th century American psychiatry; the conceptualization of mental illness; and the psychoanalytic treatment of mood and personality disorders, conversion disorder, and schizophrenia.

He has become known for his work on communication dilemmas, paradoxes, and double binds in personality pathology. He was the first to describe double bind communication as a feature of borderline personality disorder.

Ruffalo received his bachelor's degree in psychology summa cum laude and his master's degree in social work from the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his internship at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His doctoral project, titled "Understanding Schizophrenia: Toward a Unified Biological and Psychodynamic Approach," was published in the journal Psychoanalytic Social Work.

The views expressed on this blog are solely his own and do not reflect the views of any of his employers. His website is drruffalo.com.

Recent Posts