Dr. Tom Ettinger

Tom Ettinger, Ph.D.  Tom Ettinger is a NY licensed clinical and forensic psychologist.  He teaches Psychology of the Artist and works with Dr. Acosta on Parkinson’s Disease and Art Therapy in collaboration with the NYU Medical Center.  Earlier projects with Dr. Acosta include introducing art therapy to Jamaica (2010); curating 9/11 Arts: A Decade Later (2011), and organizing the symposium War, Trauma, and Public Art (2012).  Prior to this, he was founding coordinator of the Forensic Psychology specialization within NYU’s MA Psychology Program, GSAS (2006-2009).  His forensic practice ranges from Government work (police psychologist, Port Authority PD of NY/NJ) to the Burning Man Festival (expert witness, on Government Censorship, Festival Arts, and Child Welfare).  Before NYU, Dr. Ettinger held a dual appointment as postdoctoral research affiliate at Yale University and fellow at GeorgiaTech’s Center for New Media (2003-2005). Here, he worked on assimilating Eastern healing imagery into a hybrid Virtual Reality / Biofeedback technology for meditation training and pain management.  In 1998 he became founding editor of APA's Bulletin of Psychology of the Arts (Division 10).  His publications include "Picasso, cubism, and the eye of the beholder: Psychoanalysis and cognitive psychology" (New Directions in Art History, American Imago issue) and "Introduction: Paradigm shifts in 20th‑century art and critical theory" (as guest editor of Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought).  His own arts practice includes assembled still life photography and blues/jazz bass guitar.