Dr. Bruce Zahn joined the core faculty in the Psychology Department at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in July 1999, and serves as associate professor and director of clinical training.  Dr. Zahn is a licensed psychologist who has a broad variety of clinical experiences with patient populations ranging from children to older adults.  Within the PCOM community, Dr. Zahn has served as a member of the Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee and the Academic Appeals Committee.  In addition to his responsibilities at PCOM, Dr. Zahn maintains a part-time private practice in Spring House, PA, serving adolescents and adults.  He also is a Board Member of the Inter-faith Housing Alliance of Ambler, serving families in Montgomery County to overcome homelessness (http://www.i-fha.org/ourstory.html).

In his capacity as Director of Clinical Training, Dr. Zahn is leader of the Clinical Training Committee and is responsible for the direction and coordination of all practicum and internship activities.  He also acts as the Clinical Training Committee consultant to the Student Progress and Evaluation Committee (SPEC).  Dr. Zahn is the program's lead delegate to the NCSPP (National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology).

Dr. Zahn completed his undergraduate degree in psychology at Rutgers University and received his master's degree in clinical psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ.  He completed his doctoral studies in school psychology at Temple University.  Dr. Zahn is Board Certified in Clinical Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, is a Fellow of the Academy of Clinical Psychology, and is listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.   Dr. Zahn's mentoring and research interests are in the areas of psychological testing (including projective personality assessment), clinical supervision, diversity issues in clinical training and practice, and cognitive therapy with older adults.

Dr. Zahn's teaching responsibilities include courses in Assessment III: Projective Assessment; Administration, Consultation and Supervision in Behavioral Health Care Services; and Practicum Seminar. 

Dr. Zahn has nearly 30 years of clinical experience with a diverse range of patient populations.  Before coming to PCOM, he served as Director of Psychological Services and Cognitive Therapy Program at the Presbyterian Medical Center of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.  In this capacity, Dr. Zahn collaborated with David D. Burns, MD, the author of Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, The Feeling Good Handbook, and Ten Days to Self Esteem on adaptations of the cognitive therapy model for inpatient and outpatient populations that have traditionally been thought of as too difficult to treat with traditional CBT.

From 1978 to 1991, Dr. Zahn served as a senior psychologist at the Devereux Foundation's Institute for Clinical Training and Research, specializing in issues related to the intensive treatment of adolescents and adults with exceptional emotional, behavioral and learning difficulties.  He has been devoted to supervision and training of beginning and advanced graduate psychology students for over 27 years.

Dr. Zahn has given workshops and presentations at national conferences including the American Psychological Association, the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, the American Association for Partial Hospitals, the Association of Mental Health Administrators, the National Head Injury Association, and the American Association of Children's Residential Centers.

Dr. Zahn's leisure interests are in the performing arts.  He is a former trumpeter, and he studied with Seymour Rosenfeld, second trumpeter with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He also was a supernumerary with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera and the Grand Opera Companies, performing non-singing "bit" acting roles with such greats as Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, and Richard Tucker. 

Recent Publications:

DiTomasso,R.A., Freeman, A., Carvajal, R., Zahn, B.S. (In press).  Cognitive concepts of anxiety.  In D. J. Stein and E. Hollander, Eds. Textbook of anxiety disorders. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press.

Zahn, M. R. &  Zahn, B.S. (2006).  Mature Adults: Working with the Depressed Aging Patient. In T. Ronen and A. Freeman Eds. Cognitive behavioral approaches in social work practice.  New York: Springer.

Zahn, B.S. & Diefenbeck, C.  (2004).  Mature adults: Working with the aging patient.  In S. M. Freeman and A. Freeman Eds. Cognitive behavioral approaches in nursing practice.  New York: Springer.

Zahn, B.S. (2003). Rorschach and Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Strange bedfellows, or a perfect match?  Society for Personality Assessment Exchange, Fall, 2003.

Zahn, B.S. & Davis, B. (2002).  When the golden years turn blue. Unpublished manuscript.

Recent Lectures and Presentations:

January 17, 2008. Zahn. B.S.  PCOM Multicultural and Diversity Initiatives: From Classroom to Practice.  National Council for Schools of Professional Psychology, Austin, TX.

November 17, 2007.  Ferguson-Thomas, C. and Zahn, B.S. Older Adults and Depression:  The Relationships between Distorted Thinking, Quality Of Life, and Depressive Themes. Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapies Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA.

November 17, 2007.  Serrano., M. and Zahn, B.S. Grounded Theory: Latino Mental Health Providers Perceptions of the Mental Health Beliefs of Latino Clients. Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapies Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA.

November 12, 2007.  Zahn, B. S.  Inpatient Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Older Adults.   Workshop presented at Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, PA.

Zahn, B.S.  Successfully Navigating the APPIC Internship Application Process. Workshop sponsored by the Philadelphia Society of Clinical Psychologists, presented at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, September 15, 2006. 

Zahn, B. S.  Basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with older adults.   Workshop presented at the Fall meeting of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, Exton, PA, October 28, 2005. 

Golden, B. A. and Zahn, B.S.  Psychology across the lifespan in urban
healthcare centers: Challenges/opportunities.  Presentation at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Toronto, ONT, August 9, 2003.

Zahn, B.S. Coping strategies for adult caregivers: How to take care of yourself while taking care of your loved ones.  Presentation at Chestnut Hill Hospital/Evergreen Rehabilitation Center, May 5, 2003.

Zahn, B.S. and Diefenbeck, C.  Cognitive Behavior Therapy for depression in the elderly.  PCOM Friday Speaker Series, Philadelphia, PA.  April 11, 2003.

Zahn, B.S. When silence isn't golden: Treatment of the selectively mute child.  Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA.  November 16, 2001. 

Zahn, B.S.   Cognitive Therapy with the elderly: New solutions for old problems.  Workshop presented at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania conference on New Directions in Geriatric Behavioral Health, Philadelphia, PA.  October 25, 2000.

Zahn, B.S.  Case conceptualization from two points of view: Psychodynamic/family systems and cognitive behavioral perspectives.  PCOM Friday Speaker Series, Philadelphia, PA.  March 10, 2000.