Andrea K. Wittenborn, Ph.D., LMFT is an Assistant Professor of Human Development at Virginia Tech in Falls Church where she trains marriage and family therapy master’s students and maintains an active program of research in the AAMFT accredited program. Prior to joining the Virginia Tech faculty, she received her Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University and researched attachment-based family intervention at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Her research program focuses on examining attachment processes in couple relationships, as well as the occurrence and treatment of depressive symptomatology from an attachment theoretical lens. Currently, Dr. Wittenborn is studying the effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples with comorbid depression and relationship distress in an ongoing randomized clinical trial. This research and previous related investigations were supported through federal, foundation, and internal funding sources.

In addition, Dr. Wittenborn often writes on the topic of EFT and publishes her work in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. She has also written a series of articles on EFT therapy and research, including EFT for male depression, new findings on the effectiveness of EFT for depressed women, and the study of how EFT therapists’ own attachment strategies may influence the process of therapy. She also co-authored a chapter in the upcoming book EFT Casebook: New Directions in Treating Couples edited by Drs. Jim Furrow, Brent Bradley, and Susan Johnson.
 
Dr. Wittenborn regularly presents her research at international, national, and state conferences and is often invited to lead clinical workshops on EFT and attachment for couple and family therapists. She is known for her warm approach to clinical training and supervision, as well as her extensive knowledge of the research literature. She lives in Washington, DC with her family.