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Nancy M. Petry (b. 1968) is a psychologist known for her research on behavioral treatments for addictive disorders, behavioral pharmacology, and impulsivity. She is Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Petry served as a member of the American Psychiatric Association Workgroup on Substance Use Disorders for the DSM-5 and chaired the Subcommittee on Non-Substance Behavioral Addictions. The latter category includes Internet addiction disorder and problem gambling.

Petry received the American Psychological Association (APA) Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology in 2003 for "groundbreaking work on the problem of gambling and substantial contributions to the treatment of other addictive behaviors." Petry's other awards include the APA Young Psychopharmacologist Award (1999), the National Center for Responsible Gaming Award for Scientific Achievement in Gambling Studies (2002), and the Connecticut Technology Council’s Women of Innovation Award for Research Innovation and Leadership (2017).

Biography
Petry completed her bachelor's degree from the Randolph Macon Women's College in 1990. She completed her PhD in Psychology at Harvard in 1994. She conducted clinical research on drug abuse at the University of Vermont from 1994 to 1996, where she evaluated optimal dosing strategies for opioid-dependent patients. Petry joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center in 1996 where she conducts clinical research on the effectiveness of contingency management as treatment for addiction. She is the author of the book Contingency Management for Substance Abuse Treatment: A Guide to Implementing This Evidence-Based Practice, which provides an overview of this form of clinical behavior analysis that utilizes positive reinforcement and stimulus control to treat problematic behavior. She is author of the book Pathological Gambling: Etiology, Comorbidity, and Treatment, and editor of the volume Behavioral Addictions: DSM-5® and Beyond.

Petry's research has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Research
Petry conducts research aims to improve behavioral treatments for individuals with addictive disorders ranging from substance use disorder to pathological gambling to Internet addiction. She aims to increase patient adherence to treatment through contingency management, which is a form of behavior modification.

Petry has been involved analyzing data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a large-scale study involving a diverse sample of over 36,000 individuals. Petry's work on this study examined various forms of impulsive behavior including gambling and shoplifting, and comorbidity of addictive behavior with other conditions including obesity and other medical problems.

Other work has examined delay discounting in relation to impulsiveness. Delay discounting refers to the decline in the value of a reward when there is a delay in its receipt. Petry's work demonstrated that heroin addicts showed a steeper decline in the value of a delayed reward relative to controls, indicative of a stronger preference for immediate rewards. Her work suggests that treatment outcomes may need to have immediate meaning as their value will diminish with any delay. Conversely, treatment strategies that focus on the long-term consequences of substance abuse may not be effective.

Representative Publications

 * Kirby, K. N., Petry, N. M., & Bickel, W. K. (1999). Heroin addicts have higher discount rates for delayed rewards than non-drug-using controls. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 128(1), 78-87.
 * Petry, N. M. (2001). Pathological Gamblers, With and Without Substance Use Disorders, Discount Delayed Rewards at High Rates. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110(3), 482-487.
 * Petry, N. M., Barry, D., Pietrzak, R. H., & Wagner, J. A. (2008). Overweight and obesity are associated with psychiatric disorders: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Psychosomatic Medicine, 70(3), 288-297.
 * Petry, N. M., Stinson, F. S., & Grant, B. F. (2005). Comorbidity of DSM-IV pathological gambling and other psychiatric disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 66(5), 564-574.