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Barbara S. Held is a psychologist and professor known for her research in the fields of clinical psychology and theoretical/philosophical psychology. She received the 2012 Joseph B. Glitter Award that recognizes her "scholarly contribution to the philosophical foundations of psychological knowledge." . She wrote a book called Back to Reality: A Critique of Postmodern Theory in Psychotherapy and has written scholarly articles on psychotherapy.

Biography
Held received her A.B degree In Douglass College. She went to graduate from the University of Nebraska where she obtained her Ph.D. She is currently a Barry N. Wish Research Professor of Psychology and Social Studies at Bowdoin College.

Research
Held conducts research on the topic of positive psychology. Through this research, she suggests that there are two ways in which positive psychology can be negative as well. She suggests that it is possible to be negative about negative ideas, which can lead to health issues (e.g., depression). It is also possible to have negative thoughts towards a positive idea. In the reference article, they found that this idea was implied in the declaration of independence. It was a positive outcome but there were still negative views about it.

In another line of research, Held has contributed to the topic of constructivist epistemology, which she suggests is a healthy framework for family therapy sessions. It allows families to get to the point and explain themselves better. It also allows families to avoid making assumptions during their sessions and to stick to factual information.

Held is one of the authors of the book Humanity's Dark Side: Evil, Destructive Experience, and Psychotherapy. This volume summarizes work suggesting that feeling bad can lead to one having increased "bad" thoughts. These thoughts can continue to grow stronger and allow one to believe in these "bad" ideas, therefore generating "bad" actions. Furthermore these bad thoughts (if not stopped at this point) can take over one's thoughts and replace other thoughts. The same idea also applies to positive and "good" thoughts as well.

Representative Publications