Teresa Granillo
Graduate Student Department of Psychology e-mail: mgranill@umich.edu

 

 

I am a fourth year student in the joint social work and psychology Ph.D. program. I am originally from Arizona and graduated from the University of Arizona in 2004 with a bachelor in Psychology. Broadly my interests are in how different goal orientations are related to dysfunctional behaviors and mental health. Specifically, I am exploring how having goals to protect desired self-images and/or having goals to support others or contribute to something larger than the self effects disordered eating behaviors and eating disorders. Eating disorders are one of the most deadly psychiatric illnesses and treatment is largely unsuccessful at long-term recovery. Thus, there is a great need to develop and implement more effective treatment options for individuals suffering from these disorders. Previous research suggests that college-aged females with self-image goals are more likely to have disordered eating thoughts and behaviors than college-aged females with goals to support others, or compassionate goals. I am interested in further exploring this relationship among clinical populations as well as determining whether this framework of goals and motivation can be used to develop more effective treatment for eating disorders.