Internet, Disclosure, and Psychotherapy (IDP) Lab

Individuals behave differently online than they do in-person in a variety of ways. One commonly observed online behavior is the self-disclosure of deeply personal thoughts and concerns to other users via social media platforms and forums. The Internet Disclosure & Psychotherapy Lab, led by doctoral student Gus Mayopoulos, aims to better understand the ways in which individuals' online self-disclosures may influence the nature of what is and is not discussed in their psychotherapy, the therapeutic process, as well as their decisions to start and remain in therapy.  The IDP lab is not currently accepting new members.

Internet, Disclosure & Psychotherapy Lab Members

Gus Mayopoulos is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program and has been a member of the Psychotherapy, Affirmation, & Disclosure Lab since 2019. Before coming to Teachers College, Gus received a B.A. in history from Harvard College and researched childbirth-related posttraumatic stress disorder at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is interested in better understanding how the benign side of the Internet's disinhibiting nature can be and is currently used for psychotherapeutic purposes, both inside and outside the therapy room. Wherever he has Internet access, he can be reached at pam2197@tc.columbia.edu.

Teck Kuan Lim is a first-year master’s student in the Clinical Psychology program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Teck received his Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Hong Kong and is a registered social worker in Hong Kong. Prior to joining TC, he has worked as a research assistant for Dr. Hou Wai Kai’s Lab at the Centre for Psychosocial Health, The Education University of Hong Kong. He also has years of experience working with children with autism as an Applied Behavior Analysis therapist. His current research interests lie in understanding the efficacy of online psychotherapy and how it can achieve wide-scale implementation in order to reduce burden in healthcare systems across the world. He can be reached at tl3027@tc.columbia.edu.

Lucy Su is a second-year master’s student in the Clinical Psychology program at Teachers College. Prior to joining TC, she received a B.A. in Mathematics as well as Art History & Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis and worked as a buyer and consultant in the eCommerce industry. In addition to working in the Internet Disclosure and Psychotherapy Lab, she is also an advocate and counselor for the non-profit BelieveNY. Her research interests include community mental health, technological interventions to support treatment of severe mental illness, and cross-cultural barriers to accessing mental health treatment. She can be reached at lys2117@tc.columbia.edu.

Thomas Gatewood is a second-year master’s student at Teachers College studying Clinical Psychology. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Saint Louis University. While there he researched the relationship between accumulated neurobiological markers of addiction and behavioral epigenetics. Previously, he worked as an operator and financial coordinator at a peer-to-peer sexual assault hotline. He is interested in the role online syntax plays in emotional regulation, as well as the potential therapeutic benefits of anonymous text-based communication online. Additional research interests of his range from bias in educational disciplinary practices to the relationship between disordered slow-wave sleep oscillations and memory consolidation. He intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology following the completion of his program. Thomas can be reached at tg2783@tc.columbia.edu.

Roscoe Lachey is a master’s student in Counseling Psychology and possesses a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. His current research focuses on the impact of media technology and digital communication on human behavior and development, with a particular emphasis on sexual and gender minorities. While somewhat of a techno-pessimist, he aims to complicate reductive discourses about technology that focus exclusively on health risk or draw erroneous causal relationships, such as the purported link between video games and violent behavior. Looking through the lens of positive psychology, he questions whether (and how) technology and media can help facilitate processes like healthy identity development and collective action. Roscoe is currently training for licensure and plans to continue his research at the doctoral level. 

Rebecca Zamdborg is a second-year master’s student in Clinical Psychology. She earned a bachelor’s in science in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a minor in Biology. After her undergraduate studies, Rebecca moved to San Jose, CA to work at an at-risk middle school with the Americorps City Year national service program, where she realized her passion for improving the quality of adolescent mental health. Her main research interests consist of adolescent self-harm prevention and the impact of internet communities on adolescent behaviors — and how these communities have evolved over the decades of internet prevalence. 

She is currently an SAT/ACT tutor with a professional tutoring company and hopes the one-on-one interaction with adolescents, despite being in an academic capacity, will help her develop skills for future clinical work. 

Rachel Cherner, MSW, received her Master's degree from Columbia University in Clinical Social Work and her Bachelor’s of Science in Communication from Cornell University. Currently works as a full-time researcher at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York State Psychiatric Institute and volunteers as a research assistant at Teachers College in Dr. Barry Farber’s online disclosure and psychotherapy lab. Her research interests include the pathways to childhood and adolescent psychopathology, specifically using experience sampling methodology to detect and predict depression and suicidal behaviors. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. 

Mark Maley is a second year Clinical Psychology M.A. student. He received his B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021 where he worked as a research assistant studying infant cognition. His primary research interests are oriented towards the refinement of psychotherapy for child and adolescent anxiety through the use of web-based treatment modalities. Outside of his work with the Internet, Disclosure, & Psychotherapy Lab, he volunteers at Believe NY, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting individuals experiencing homelessness with resources to improve their daily lives and is also a research assistant at Montefiore Hospital’s Anxiety and Mood Program. After his Master’s degree, he endeavors to continue his research at the PhD level and ultimately aims to become a clinical psychotherapist. He can be reached at: mm5914@tc.columbia.edu