Matthew K. Nock is an American

clinical psychologist Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

, the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, and the Director of the Laboratory for Clinical and Developmental Research at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Nock Lab
. He was named a 2011

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

.Shari Roan, "MacArthur fellow will focus on suicide prevention", LA Times, September 20, 2011, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/20/news/la-heb-macarthur-suicide-20110920Felicia R Lee, "MacArthur Foundation Selects 22 ‘Geniuses’", NY Times, September 20, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/arts/macarthur-foundation-announces-winners-of-genius-awards.html

Research

Nock’s research is aimed at understanding why people behave in ways that are harmful to themselves, with an emphasis on

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

and other forms of

self-harm Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

. His research is multi-disciplinary in nature and uses a range of methodological approaches (e.g., epidemiologic surveys, laboratory-based experiments, and clinic-based studies) to better understand how these behaviors develop, how to predict them, and how to prevent their occurrence. This work is funded by grants from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

and several private foundations, has been published in over 250 scientific papers and book chapters. Nock’s work has been recognized through the receipt of four early career awards from the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the American Association of Suicidology; and in 2011 he was named
MacArthur Fellow
In addition to conducting research, Nock has been a consultant/scientific advisor to the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Survey Initiative, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association DSM-V Childhood and Adolescent Disorder Work Group. At Harvard, Professor Nock teaches courses on statistics, research methods, self-destructive behaviors, developmental psychopathology, and cultural diversity—for which he has received several teaching awards including th
Roslyn Abramson Teaching AwardLawrence H. Cohen Outstanding Mentor Award
and th
Petra Shattuck Prize

Life

Nock was born and raised in New Jersey. He received a bachelor's degree from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, two master's degrees and a PhD in psychology from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, and completed a clinical psychology internship at

Bellevue Hospital Center Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

and NYU Child Study Center. He currently is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Nock Lab in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.

References

External links

A Tragedy and a Mystery: Understanding suicide and self-injury
from

Harvard Magazine ''Harvard Magazine'' is an independently edited magazine and separately incorporated affiliate of Harvard University. Aside from ''The Harvard Crimson'', it is the only publication covering the entire university, and also regularly distributed ...

Nock Lab
at Harvard. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nock, Matthew Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American psychologists MacArthur Fellows Boston University alumni Yale University alumni Harvard University faculty New York University people New York University faculty