Dr. Pirutinsky is a licensed clinical psychologist whose practice has included a variety of different services such as individual and group psychotherapy for adults and children, psychological and educational testing, risk assessments, family and couple's therapy, foster care services, treatment of youth with sexual behavior problems, and career counseling and assessment. Before joining the Touro faculty full time, Dr. Pirutinsky taught at Columbia University, Georgian Court University, and Ocean County College. His research focuses on the intersections between spirituality, religion, culture, mental health, and well-being particularly within the Orthodox Jewish community. He frequently publishes peer-reviewed research in journals such as Criminal Justice and Behavior, the Journal of Affective Disorders, Health Psychology, the Journal of Family Psychology, and the Journal of Positive Psychology. He is also interested in cutting-edge research methods and statistical analyses as well as experimental methods, and serves as a statistical consultant for a number of large ongoing research projects.

Areas of Expertise

Mental health, religion and spirituality, and social work practice

Education

Steven Tzvi Pirutinsky has a B.T.S. from Beth Medrash Govoha, an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Teachers College – Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He joined Touro Graduate School of Social Work in 2016.

Honors and Awards

• Best Faculty Publication in Social, Behavioral, Educational Sciences, Touro Research Day (2019)
• Presidential Research Development Grant, Touro College (2018)
• ASHA Convention Meritorious Poster Award (2016)
• Greater NY Conference on Behavioral Research: Bernard Lander Award (2013)
• American Psychological Association, Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (Div. 36): Student Research Award (2012)
• Teachers College, Columbia University: Dean’s Doctoral Research Fellowship (2012)
• TAG Foundation: Emerging Scholar Award (2012)
• Greater NY Conference on Behavioral Research: A. Vincent Toth Award (2011)
• Greater NY Conference on Behavioral Research: Bernard Lander Award (2011)
• ABCT Annual Conference: Elsie Ramos Memorial Student Research Award (co-author) (2010)
• Teachers College, Columbia University: Rosalea Schonbar Excellence in Research Award (2010)

Research

FUNDED PROJECTS

Attentional Bias and religious coping (2018-2019)

Grant Type: Touro College, Presidential Research and Development Grant ($6,000)
Role: Principal Investigator
Major goals: To develop an experimental method that can assess the relationship between religious coping, attentional biases, and mental health and conduct an initial test of related hypotheses.

Clinical Measurement Initiative, Center for Anxiety (2015-2018)

Grant Type: Private donation ($90,000 over three-years)
Role: Design Consultant and Statistical Analyst
Major goals: To collect data from patients presenting for outpatient treatment at the Center for Anxiety at each point of clinical contact, in order to allow clinicians to monitor treatment effects in real-time and make necessary modifications to help maximize outcomes

Integrating Networks and Systems to achieve Patient health care Integration Reform Effectively, Center for Health, Education, Medicine, and Dentistry (2015-2017)

Grant Type: Foundational Support (Nicholson Foundation, $532,651 over 3 years)
Role: Program Administrator (Grant Writing, Scientific Advisor, Data Analysis, Reporting)
Major goals: To develop, deliver, and evaluate integrated behavioral-health care in primary care, pediatrics, and women’s health settings including standardized screenings and assessments, brief psychotherapy, case management, and web-based computerized CBT.

A six-wave longitudinal and experimental investigation on Judaism and mental health (2012-2016)

Grant Type: Private donation ($180,000 over three-years)
Role: Secondary investigator (PI: David H. Rosmarin, Harvard Medical School)
Major goals: To advance the study of Jewish spirituality and mental health with a six-wave longitudinal study involving both self-report and experimental tasks to assess spiritual and religious beliefs and practices

Use of the Strong Interest Inventory among ultra-Orthodox Jewish young adults (2011-2012)

Grant Type: Private Donation (CPP Inc., $500 and data support)
Role: Principal-investigator
Major Goals: To validate the Strong Interest Inventory for us among ultra-Orthodox Jewish young adults and develop culturally relevant norms and interpretative guidelines.

Interpersonal impact of religious and spiritual values within families (2012-2013)

Grant Type: Foundational Support (TAG Foundation, $5,000)
Role: Principal-investigator
Major Goals: To analyze a large dyadic and multimethod dataset of Orthodox Jewish Israeli couples and assess the impact of religious conflict and family functioning.

Spirituality & Mental health: Development of an experimental paradigm (2010-2011)

Grant Type: Foundation support (F.I.S.H. Foundation, $2,500)
Role: Principal investigator (co-PI: David H. Rosmarin, Harvard Medical School)
Major Goals: To develop and pilot stimuli to assess positive vs. negative views of God in the context of the Go-No-Go-Association Task (GNAT)

Spiritually integrated treatment for subclinical generalized anxiety disorder in the Jewish community, delivered via the Internet: A randomized controlled trial (2007-2009)

Grant Type: Private donation ($75,000)
Role: Research Design and Statistical Analysis (PI: David H. Rosmarin, Harvard Medical School)
Major Goals: To develop and evaluate the comparative efficacy of a self-administered spiritually based treatment for symptoms of stress and worry

Stigma, culture and mental health in the Jewish community (2007-2009)

Grant Type: Private donation ($15,000)
Role: Principal investigator (co-PI: David H. Rosmarin, Harvard Medical School)
Major Goals: To examine stigma, culture-influenced symptoms, and attitudes towards medical vs. behavioral models of mental illness in the Jewish community

Publications

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