James Bender, Psy.D.

James Bender, Psy.D. is a Director and Co-founder of The Reeds Center. He specializes in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBT) for anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and OCD related disorders, chronic worry, and panic. He also has expertise in impulse control disorders (Trichotillomania and skin picking) and anxiety disorders that co-exist with depression and insomnia.

Prior to opening The Reeds Center, Dr. Bender was a Research Scientist in the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and The Center for OCD and Related Disorders at Columbia University Medical Center. There he was a lead therapist treating OCD with intensive Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as part of a 5-year research study examining ways to improve treatment outcome; he was privileged to be trained and supervised by leading experts in the field of anxiety and OCD such as Dr. Edna Foa and Dr. Blair Simpson. At Columbia University Medical Center he also managed multiple scientific studies researching the biological characteristics and causes of OCD.

Dr. Bender has also provided in-service training on OCD and related disorders at various area university counseling centers, including Columbia University, Barnard College, The New School, and Montclair State University, as well as training on Cognitive-behavioral treatment at Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility. In addition, Dr. Bender for years has maintained a private practice treating primarily OCD and anxiety related disorders in individual and group formats.

Dr. Bender received his masters and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology from Rutgers University Graduate School for Applied and Professional Psychology, where he still trains and supervises clinical psychology doctoral students, and completed post-baccalaureate studies in psychology at Columbia University. In an earlier career as a management consultant, Dr. Bender lived and worked for many years in Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia.