Dr. Ruth Van der Hallen is an assistant professor of Clinical Psychology at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In 2012, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Psychology at the KU Leuven, Belgium, majoring in Clinical and Health Psychology. In 2016, she obtained a Ph.D. degree in Psychology for her doctoral dissertation titled “Little things, big things: Perceptual organization in children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” and a Postgraduate Degree in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy for her dissertation titled “The fall of the Wall: On renewed (sexual) desire and identity” at the KU Leuven, Belgium.

In terms of research, Dr. Van der Hallen relies on her multidisciplinary background to investigate the interplay between coping, personality and the aftermath of trauma, say "How does one cope with difficult circumstances?". Current projects include (1) an international survey study on the impact of client suicide in mental health practicitioners, (2) a mixed-method investigation of the impact of COVID-19 on families with ASD, (3) a large-scale investigation of the relationship between coping, defense and our tendency to lie and (4) a citizen science-based intervention on coping and resilience in (young) children. Her research typically includes children, adolescents as well as adults, clinical and non-clinical pathology and a diverse range of research methods (longitudinal, cross-sectional, citizen science, interventional, network analysis).

In terms of teaching, Dr. Van der Hallen is active within the Bachelor in Psychology and Master in Clinical Psychology at the EUR. She is the coordinator of a master course on “Personality Disorders” and pratical on "CBT 2: Therapeutic Techniques",  supervisor of both research and practical internships and facilitator of peer-to-peer consultation sessions. She is available as guest lecture on topics related to coping, personality (pathology) and psychoanalytic practice.

Dr. Van der Hallen has been active as a clinical psychologist/psychotherapist since 2012. She specializes in one-on-one psychoanalytic psychotherapy with adults that present with personality pathology, issues related to gender or sexual identity, (sexual) trauma, suicide survivors and loss.

Keywords: Coping; Personality; Personality pathology; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Trauma; Loss; Life events; Suicide Survivors; Posttraumatic growth; Psychodynamic Therapy; Psychoanalysis; Information processing; Predictive Coding