Amy Brausch, PhD

Assistant Professor

Western Kentucky University

Department of Psychological Sciences

2015 Recipient Ogden College of Science & Engineering Junior Faculty Research Award

Dr. Amy Brausch received the 2015 Ogden College of Science & Engineering Junior Faculty Research Award. The mission of Ogden College of Science and Engineering is to empower individuals to become leaders through academic achievement, global connections and engagement in research, education and service.

Dr. Brausch is also the recipient of a KBRIN - IDeA Investigator Development Award for her research on "Development of suicide and self-injury in adolescents."

Research interests

Dr. Brausch's research interests fall under the broad category of adolescent and young adult self-harm and risk-taking behaviors. Specifically, she studies risk and protective factors for suicide, as well as non-suicidal self-injury. She is especially interested in the role of the body in self-harm, and how factors such as body image, body protection, and body attitudes are related to an individual’s propensity to inflict harm on oneself. Other research has investigated the overlap between self-injury and risk-taking behaviors such as substance use, unhealthy eating and exercise habits, and self-asphyxial behaviors (known commonly among adolescents as “the choking game”). As a clinical psychologist, she is also interested in the assessment, treatment, and prevention of suicide, non-suicidal self-injury, and eating disorders.