C. Robert Cloninger
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
Additional Titles & Roles
- Director, Sansone Family Center for Well-Being
- Director, Center for Psychobiology of Personality
Areas of Clinical Interest
Psychobiology, personality assessment & development, general psychiatry. well-being coaching
Research Interests: Genetic epidemiology, genetics of alcohol abuse, schizophrenia, somatization, mood and anxiety disorders
Research Interests
My research on personality and well-being is directed toward person-centered diagnosis and treatment to improve health and quality of life as well as reducing the burden of disease. Mental disorders can be understood as dysfunctions of complex adaptive systems involving many interacting biological, mental, and spiritual variables. Attention is focused on assessing and treating both causes of illness and sources of well-being rather than reducing psychiatry to treatment of symptoms. Current research includes cross-cultural studies across the lifespan and treatment directed at all three aspects of human beings (body, thought, and psyche) to promote psychobiological coherence, happiness, and fulfillment.
My research in psychiatric genetics is currently directed toward characterizing the genotypic and phenotypic architecture of mental disorders as non-linear dynamic systems, primarily in analysis of genome-wide association studies.