Dr. Nimali Jayasinghe is an assistant professor of psychology within the department of psychiatry. She completed a doctorate in clinical psychology at the New School for Social Research in New York and a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies of Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Jayasinghe later supplemented her training through an NIH-funded fellowship in geriatric mental health services research. Her clinical work and research focus on helping people cope with and access quality care to address the emotional impact of traumatic stress, negative life events, and chronic life stress. Some of the diverse groups with whom she has worked include medically ill older adults, men and women from the military, and disaster relief workers.
Dr. Jayasinghe's current research activities focus on falling which is a serious public health issue affecting one in three older Americans each year. She is the recipient of a De Witt Wallace Pilot Award grant to study the impact of a brief education intervention to help older adults reduce their risk of falling. She is also interested in adapting psychotherapies shown to be effective in reducing the posttraumatic stress disorder, a debilitating psychological condition that can develop after trauma, to help older adults injured by falls. Dr. Jayasinghe's past research included an NIH-funded grant to document the reasons that disaster workers who worked at the site of the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001, did or did not access mental health services.
Dr. Jayasinghe is a New York State licensed clinical psychologist. As a clinician, she works with individuals and their spouses/significant others to optimize recovery and adjustment after trauma, negative life events, or chronic stress. She specializies in treating posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety, specific phobias (such as fear of flying), social anxiety as well as related conditions such as depression or adjustment disorder. She takes a cognitive-behavioral approach to treatment that combines education, building relaxation skills that can be used to reduce tension, teaching techniques to promote adaptive thinking, and exposure (which involves gradual and systematic approach of feared situations). This approach is collaborative, tailored to the individual needs of each person, and evidence-based.
