Biography

Dr. Pratishtha Petwal is currently an Assistant Professor at the Jindal School of Psychology & Counselling. After completing her Bachelors and Masters in Psychology, she pursued her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. Post her Masters she briefly taught core courses in Psychology at an undergraduate level before going on to pursue her supervised training in Clinical Psychology. During her Ph.D. she undertook both clinical and academic responsibilities at the Behavior Medicine Unit and was involved in supervising clinical psychology, psychiatric social work as well as psychiatry trainees at the unit. After completing her Ph.D. she worked as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health, Neuro & Allied Sciences (VIMHANS), New Delhi.

With 6 years of clinical experience, she has worked with diverse populations, ranging from children and adolescents to adults and elderly. Throughout her career, she has focused on addressing issues such as anxiety disorders, depression, trauma-related conditions, personality disorders, and relationship difficulties. Post her PhD, she joined VIMHANS where she was primarily responsible for undertaking psychotherapy for adults presenting with diverse psychopathology and was an active part of the community outreach seminars. Her therapeutic approach draws on cognitive, compassion focused, emotion focused, and trauma informed ideas and she endeavours to work from a social justice framework.

Research Experience

During her M.Phil. she explored the cognitive and affective correlates of rumination in anxiety disorders. She examined ruminative response style, procrastination, self-compassion and perfectionism in patients with anxiety disorders. In extension to this research, her doctoral work involved researching the efficacy of a transdisgnostic rumination focused cognitive behaviour therapy in patients with anxiety and depressive disorders.

Clinical Experience

With 6 years of clinical experience, she has worked with diverse populations, ranging from children and adolescents to adults and elderly. Throughout her career, she has focused on addressing issues such as anxiety disorders, depression, trauma-related conditions, personality disorders, and relationship difficulties. Post her PhD, she joined VIMHANS where she was primarily responsible for undertaking psychotherapy for adults presenting with diverse psychopathology and was an active part of the community outreach seminars. Her therapeutic approach draws on cognitive, compassion focused, emotion focused, and trauma informed ideas and she endeavours to work from a social justice framework.