Jeffrey Bedwell

Professor

College of Sciences
Clinical Psychology PhD

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Jeffrey Bedwell, PhD began his journey to clinical psychology through an elective course in his undergraduate degree. As a business major at James Madison University, his general psychology elective course caught his attention, pushing him to change majors and earn his bachelor’s in Psychology. Following his bachelor’s degree, he obtained a job as a research assistant for the National Institute of Mental Health. He worked on the childhood-onset schizophrenia unit for two and a half years. This work cemented his passion for continuing in the field of clinical psychology because he watched how the kids, who were inpatients at the research unit, got better over time from the new medications they were testing. Here, he worked with biological data to discover new findings, co-authored publications/presentations and learned about the scientific process.

After receiving his Clinical Psychology PhD from the University of Georgia, Bedwell began his career in academia at UCF as a professor of Clinical Psychology and lab director of the UCF Mood, Personality, and CogniTion Lab (MPACT). “I am rewarded by observing students who I’ve mentored succeed in graduate school and or careers, along with times that research I’ve published ends up making a difference in the field,” he says.

His research focuses on underlying causes of psychiatric symptoms such as lack of motivation, lack of pleasure, and lack of expressed emotion; better understanding of underlying causes of psychopathy; and understanding underlying causes of suicide to develop prevention techniques. With current mental health treatments only showing substantial reductions in two-thirds of individuals across most disorders, he plans on making a difference to these statistics. “My goal is to contribute knowledge of underlying causes and related subtypes of disorders so that we can develop better tailored and more effective treatments and prevention strategies in the future,” says Dr. Bedwell.

When not hard at work on his research, Bedwell performs in a rock cover band called Sublimation with three other UCF faculty members­— Dr. Stephen Fiore (Department of Philosophy), Dr. Corey Bohil (Department of Psychology), and Dr. Daniel McConnell (Department of Psychology). Since 2011, Fiore can be found on the acoustic guitar, McConnell on percussion, and Bedwell on the electric guitar while each takes turns singing lead and harmony vocals. In 2019, Bohil attended Bedwell’s wedding in which Sublimation was performing. After their performance, Bohil offered to join as the bass player. “Our practices/jam sessions become a mix of the music and just hanging out and talking about Psychology and UCF topics, as we are all interested in both,” Bedwell says.

If you are interested in the MPACT lab or recent publications, visit sciences.ucf.edu/psychology/mpact/.