Marie Karlsson
Senior lecturer

Presentation

Ph.D. in clinical psychology; assistant professor; licensed psychologist and psychotherapist.

My research focuses on interpersonal trauma, abusive relationships, female victimization, and trauma sequelae and treatments. Within these domains, I have a special interest in underserved and at-risk populations.

I am interested in individuals’ experiences with trauma and interpersonal violence. For instance, I study factors that impact the connection between childhood exposure to violence, such as witnessing interparental abuse, and exposure to dating violence as a teenager and adult. What are some of the risk and protective factors between generations and across relationships? Although my main focus is to understand the experiences of victims, I also study the associations between victimization and perpetration (e.g., bi-directional or mutually abusive relationships).

Furthermore, my research focuses on the psychological impact of trauma and best practices for treatment. I am especially interested in interpersonally victimized and marginalized women who have limited access to psychological services. For instance, an on-going project involves evaluation of an exposure-based group treatment for incarcerated women with histories of sexual victimization called SHARE (Survivors Healing from Abuse: Recovery through Exposure).

I am originally from Sweden but lived in the USA for an extended period of time. Received my PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas, completed my clinical internship at the Medical University of South Carolina, and worked as an assistant professor at Murray State University (Kentucky) before returning to Sweden in 2019.