Golan Shahar, Ph.D.

Professor

Golan Shahar, Ph.D., currently serves as a professor of clinical-health psychology and the Zlotowsky Chair of Neuropsychology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and as an affiliated professor at BGU's School of Public Health.  He is the founder and director of the Stress, Self & Health (STREALTH) research lab at BGU.  In addition, Professor Shahar serves as adjunct professor of child and adult psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.

Professor Shahar received his B.A. (Behavioral Sciences, magna cum laude), M.A. (Clinical Psychology, summa cum laude), and Ph.D. (Psychology, summa cum laude) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and did his post-doctoral training in psychopathology and developmental research at Yale University's Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry. 

Professor Shahar previously served on the faculties of Bar-Ilan University (1999-2000) and Yale University (2002-2004). 

His research focuses on stress, psychopathology, and psychosomatics.  His research program has been funded by extremely competitive and prestigious research funds in Israel and the USA and has yielded over 200 publications appearing in top publications in psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, pediatrics, and pain medicine.  His first scientific book, titled Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism, was published in 2015 by Oxford University Press.  His second scientific book, titled Complex Depression: Role of Personality and the Social Ecology, was published in 2024 by the American Psychological Association Press (APA). 

In addition to his empirical research, Professor Shahar is known internationally as a leading clinical theorist and practitioner, advancing an integrative framework for assessment and psychotherapy in complex psychopathological and psychosomatic conditions.  In particular, he integrates psychoanalytic object-relations theory with existential philosophy and psychology and cognitive clinical psychology.  Owing to his unique contribution to psychotherapy integration, Shahar was appointed in 2012 as Chief Editor of Journal of Psychotherapy Integration (JPI), the flagship journal of the Society for Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI), where he served for five years.

In addition to his academic work and research, for the past 25 years, Professor Shahar has provided clinical psychological assessment and integrative psychotherapy for children, adolescents, and adults suffering from complex clinical conditions. 

Professor Shahar also writes and publishes poetry in both Hebrew and English, focusing on issues of mental and physical health, self-development and personal growth.