About Willoughby Britton
Willoughby Britton, Ph.D.
Dr. Britton earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona. She completed her clinical residency in behavioral medicine and neuropsychology, along with a 2 year NIH-sponsored post-doctoral fellowship in adult mood disorders treatment research at Brown University Medical School. She was an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University Medical School, an Associate Professor of Behavior and Social Sciences in Brown University’s School of Public Health.
For 20 years, Willoughby Britton Ph.D. directed Brown University’s Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory. She has received multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of meditation.
Her clinical neuroscience research investigates the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and body in the treatment of mood disorders, trauma, and other emotional disturbances. She is especially interested in practice-specific effects and moderators of treatment outcome, or, in other words— “Which practices are best or worst suited for which types of people or conditions and why.” She is perhaps best known for “The Varieties of Contemplative Experience” study which investigated the full range of experiences that can arise in the context of contemplative practices, including experiences that could be considered difficult, challenging, or adverse.
As a clinician, she has been trained as an instructor in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and has taught mindfulness to both clinical and non-clinical populations. She has also completed three years of training for treating trauma and destabilized nervous systems. She now specializes in helping meditators who are experiencing meditation-related difficulties and providing meditation safety trainings to providers and organizations.
Link to Dr. Britton’s care team profile and availability for consultations here.