Rate My Professor Sarah Hayes-Skelton

Sarah Hayes-Skelton is a Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she also directs the Anxiety Mechanisms and Processes Lab. She earned her PhD from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Her research focuses on clinical psychology, specifically cognitive-behavioral and acceptance- and mindfulness-based treatments for anxiety disorders such as social anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder. Dr. Hayes-Skelton investigates the processes and mechanisms of therapeutic change, including decentering and emotional processing, to determine how and why therapies work in both clinical and analogue settings. She emphasizes enhancing the cultural sensitivity of these interventions and has initiated a new line of research on perinatal anxiety, including the development of an acceptance-based prevention program. The Anxiety Mechanisms and Processes Lab explores processes involved in anxiety disorders, therapeutic interventions, and cultural and structural factors contributing to anxiety.

Dr. Hayes-Skelton has produced a substantial body of influential publications. Key works include "A randomized clinical trial comparing an Acceptance Based Behavior Therapy to Applied Relaxation for generalized anxiety disorder" (Hayes-Skelton, S. A., Roemer, L., & Orsillo, S. M., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2013), "Decentering as a common mechanism across two therapies for generalized anxiety disorder" (Hayes-Skelton, S. A., Calloway, A., Roemer, L., & Orsillo, S. M., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2015), "Decentering as a common link among mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, and social anxiety" (Hayes-Skelton, S. A., & Graham, J. R., Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 2013), "Mindfulness-based treatments for anxiety disorders" (Hayes-Skelton, S. A., & Wadsworth, L. P., Handbook of Mindfulness: Theory and Research, 2015), and "Mechanisms of action during an acceptance based behavioral therapy for generalized anxiety disorder" (Hayes, S. A., Orsillo, S. M., & Roemer, L., Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2010). She teaches undergraduate Principles of Psychotherapy and graduate courses such as Practicum and Ethics I & II and Advanced Statistics II (Latent Variable Modeling).