Dr. Bethany Brand earned her B.A. at the University of Michigan where she graduated from Honors Psychology with High Honors. She received her M.A. as well as Ph.D. in Clinical/Community Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park.

While interning at Johns Hopkins Hospital in an urban setting for her psychological assessment practicum, Dr. Brand assessed many traumatized children and adolescents. She wondered how being exposed to trauma would impact individuals and how trauma’s effects could be detected on assessment measures. Little research had been conducted on assessing trauma survivors, particularly children and adolescents, in the late 1980s. Her growing interest in trauma led to her completing her master’s thesis with Frank Putnam, M.D. and Penelope Trickett, Ph.D. and her dissertation with Pamela Alexander, Ph.D. on topics related to trauma.

Dr. Brand completed her clinical internship at George Washington University in 1993, then was selected for a two year postdoctoral fellowship specializing in trauma related disorders, with a specialization in dissociative disorders, at Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore, Maryland. Having earned exemplary patient satisfaction ratings for her work as a therapist, she was hired as an inpatient attending and supervising psychologist at Sheppard Pratt. During the years she was an attending psychologist within the Trauma Disorders Program, Dr. Brand supervised postdoctoral fellows, treated in- and outpatients, provided psychological assessments for patients presenting with complex symptoms that required expertise in differential diagnosis, and continued doing research on topics related to trauma.

While working at Sheppard Pratt, Dr. Brand also had the opportunity to teach a course on differential diagnosis to students at Towson University. Due to receiving unusually high student ratings on this course, Dr. Brand was invited to apply for a tenure track professorship in the Psychology Department at Towson University in 1998. She applied for, and obtained, the job of Assistant Professor. This was an ideal position for Dr. Brand because it afforded her the opportunity to teach students about trauma and other relevant clinical topics, to dedicate more time to research, and to develop a private practice where she could continue to assess and treat individual clients. Dr. Brand was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and to Full Professor in 2009.  She is the Director of the Clinical Focus Program at Towson University. She teaches clinically related courses to graduate and undergraduate students including courses about diagnosing psychological disorders, assessing and treating trauma survivors, and conducting cognitive behavior therapy. Dr. Brand has won numerous teaching awards, including the Maryland Psychology Teacher of the Year Award.  For over 20 years, Dr. Brand was the Psychological Assessment Supervisor for the trauma disorders postdoctoral fellows at Sheppard Pratt Health System.

Dr. Brand manages a private practice focused on assessing and treating trauma disorders in Towson, Maryland, as well as serving as an expert in a variety of trauma-related forensic cases. She specializes in treating adults who have posttraumatic stress disorder as well as dissociative disorders. She also treats individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse disorders, as well as general problems such as difficulties with relationships, low self-esteem, and self-destructive behaviors.