Zohaib Jessani, MA

I am a Master's level clinician at Old Town Psychology, pursuing the fourth year of my PhD at the Catholic University of America. I completed my Master's degree in Clinical Psychology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

As a therapist, I hope to provide a space that is collaborative, nonjudgmental, and supportive. My treatment approach includes an emphasis on collaborating with the patient to develop specific treatment goals and using evidence-based treatments to improve patient outcomes. With an emphasis on evidence-based treatments, I aim to integrate cognitive-behavioral, acceptance-based, attachment, and interpersonal techniques during sessions. My work with patients and families involves reducing psychopathology, improving quality of life, and managing overall mental health. I also have extensive experience conducting psychological testing with children, adolescents, and young adults.

In addition to providing psychotherapy and conducting assessments, I teach undergraduate psychology courses at Catholic University. My research aims to disseminate brief, online evidence-based treatments to community settings for racial and ethnic minority youth with anxiety, mood, and eating disorders.

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Publications

Repke, H.E, Jessani, Z., Alvord, M.K., & Rich, B.A. (under review) Resilience-based school intervention: Improved classroom engagement and associated academic benefits.

Rich, B.A., Jessani, Z., Zeng, G., Cummings, C.M., Starin, N.S., & Alvord, M,K. (under review) Targeting self-regulation to reduce internalizing problems in children: The predictive effect of resilience.

Mandel, A. A., Revzina, O., Jessani, Z., & Brown, G. K. (2022). Revised Attentional Fixation on Suicide Experiences Questionnaire and its relationship with suicidal ideation and behavior: A cross-sectional study. Suicide & Life-threatening Behavior, 10.1111/sltb.12904. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12904

Jessani, Z., & Harris, P. (2018). Personality, politics, and denial: Tolerance of ambiguity, political orientation and disbelief in climate change. Personality and Individual Differences, 131, 121-12.

Posters/Presentations

Jessani, Z., Leary, M., & Rich, B.A. (2023). The Effects of the Resilience Builder Program® (RBP) on Youth with Comorbid ADHD and Anxiety. Poster presented at the Annual University Research Day of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

Godovich, S.A., Thomas, H.M., Jessani, Z., Guajardo, K.B., & Rich, B.A. (2022, November 17-20). Peer and supervisor influence on school mental health provider attitudes toward evidence- based treatment. In M.E. Crane (Chair), Evaluating strategies to disseminate information about evidence-based practices to stakeholders [Symposium]. Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies 56th Annual Convention, New York, NY, United States.

Reid, M., Jessani, Z., Evangelista, J., Clawson, A., & Rich, B. (2021). Suicidal Ideation in Autistic Youth. Poster presentation, 33rd Annual Association for Psychological Science conference, Virtual.

Jessani, Z., Repke, H., Lim, J., Evangelista, J., Alvord, M.K., & Rich, B.A. (2021). Examining the effectiveness of the Resilience Builder Program® (RBP) in improving symptoms of depression in low- income, racial/ethnic minority children. Poster presentation, 41st Annual Anxiety and Depression Association of America conference, Virtual.

Jessani, Z., Abitante, G.A., Howard, K.R., & Reinecke, M.A. (2019). Improvement in anhedonia predicts short- and long-term improvement in quality of life among depressed adolescents. Poster presentation, 53rd Annual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies conference, Atlanta, GA.

Jessani, Z., Heidinger, L., Ortega, M.P., Schneider, N., Reilly, J., Wang, L., Raij, T.A., & Goldman, M.B. (2019). Flipping a Diagnostic Marker into a Therapeutic Tool with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): A single case analysis. Poster presentation, 53rd Annual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies conference, Atlanta, GA.

Jessani, Z., Meglio, N., & Conelea, C. (2017). Measuring tic duration in an experimental suppression paradigm: A single case analysis. Poster presentation, 51st Annual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies conference, San Diego, CA.

Jessani, Z., McLaughlin, N., Georgiadis, C., Kemp, J., Schreck, M., Ramanathan, A., Freeman, J., Garcia, A., & Case, B. (2017). Differences in executive functioning in pediatric OCD based on symptom dimensions. Poster presentation, 24th Annual International OCD conference, San Francisco, CA.

Georgiadis, C., Jessani, Z., Ramanathan, A., Kemp, J., Schreck, M., Freeman, J., Garcia, A., & Case, B. (2017). Elevated depression and impairment in youth with sexual obsessions. Poster presentation, 37th Annual Anxiety and Depression Association of America conference, San Francisco, CA.

Ramanthan, A., Kemp, J., Schreck, M., Georgiadis, C., Jessani, Z., Freeman, J., Garcia, A., & Case, B. (2017). Assessing parent accommodation and symptom reduction in an OCD partial hospitalization setting. Poster presentation, 37th Annual Anxiety and Depression Association of America conference, San Francisco, CA.

Jessani, Z., & Harris, P. B. (2017) The relationship of family norms to climate change beliefs. (2017). Poster presentation, 125th Annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington DC.

Jessani, Z., Harris, P. B., & Perez Diaz, C. (2017). Personality, politics, and climate change denial: A mediated model. Poster presentation, 63rd Annual Southeastern Psychological Association conference, Atlanta, GA.

Jessani, Z., Harris, P. B., & Tabrez, M. (2017). Parent-child political ideology: When families value family values. Poster presentation, 63rd Annual Southeastern Psychological Association conference, Atlanta, GA.

Jessani, Z., & Harris, P. B. (2016). Personality and attitudes towards anthropogenic climate change among college students. Poster presentation, 62nd Annual Southeastern Psychological Association conference, New Orleans, LA

Jessani, Z., & Harris, P. B. (2016). Planet, politics, and personality: Individual differences in the acceptance of anthropogenic climate change. Poster presentation, 17th Annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, San Diego, CA.

Ladis, I., & Jessani, Z. (2015). Eyes on the prize: The interplay of narrowed attention, perceptual representation, and exercise behavior. Symposium, New York University’s 2nd Annual Diversity Summer Student Research Conference, New York, New York.

Jessani, Z., & Granot, Y. (2015). We the jury blame the victim: The role of threat to self and belief in just world on victim blame. Symposium, New York University’s 2nd Annual Diversity Summer Student Research Conference, New York, New York.

Jessani, Z., Satterwhite, A., & Allen, D. (2015). The relationship between narcissism, empathy, and driving behavior. Poster presentation, 61st Annual Southeastern Psychological Association conference, Hilton Head, S.C.