Hi, I’m Dr. Allison Altman

I am a licensed Clinical Psychologist specializing in women’s mental health in the perinatal period

My Approach

I specialize in women’s mental health and trauma, specifically in the perinatal period and work in private practice at Women’s Wellness Psychiatry. I also specialize in working with women experiencing infertility, and currently work at the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health. I have expertise in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mood and anxiety disorders, grief following pregnancy loss, and the adjustment to pregnancy and postpartum, especially for those with a history of infertility.

I utilize evidence-based approaches, and have extensive training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), prolonged exposure therapy (PE), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), and mindfulness-based interventions.

I believe that balancing acceptance and change is essential for growth, and my approach is collaborative and goal-oriented, working from a place of empathy and validation.

About me

I am a licensed Clinical Psychologist in the state of California. I received my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2022, and my Master of Arts (MA) in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018. I received my Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Neuroscience and Behavior from Wesleyan University in 2011.

I completed my predoctoral internship at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in 2022, and my postdoctoral fellowship in the Advanced Fellowship in Women’s Health at the San Francisco VA Health Care System and the University of California, San Francisco.

I currently work in private practice at Women’s Wellness Psychiatry, where I see individual patients and run a dialectical behavioral therapy skills group, and as a psychologist at the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health.

Research

My postdoctoral research focused on infertility and trauma, specifically the impact of PTSD on hormonal health and ovarian aging. Prior to this, I focused on understanding and improving idiographic approaches to the treatment of mood, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders.

Selected Publications

**indicates mentee author

Diamond Altman, A.*, Cowden Hindash, A.H*., Levitan, J. M., & Inslicht, S. S. (in press). Comparing heart rate analytical methods to examine therapeutic engagement during imaginal prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD: A multi-case study. The American Journal of Psychotherapy, 0, 1-9. doi: 10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20210044. *denotes joint first-authorship

Cowden Hindash*, A.H., Staudenmeyer*, A., Diamond Altman, A., Lujan, C., Kim, A., Smitz, M. & Inslicht, S.S. (2020). MHealth Measured Emotional Engagement in PE: Examining Emotional Engagement during Prolonged Exposure Therapy with Mobile Psychophysiological Technology: A Case Study. Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy. 10, 387. doi: 10.35248/2161-0487.20.10.387 *denotes joint first-authorship

**Kaveladze, B., Diamond Altman, A.., Loftis, J.M., Teo, A. (2020). Social Relationship Quality, Depression and Inflammation: A Cross-Cultural Longitudinal Study in the United States and Tokyo, Japan. International Journal of Social Psychiatry.

Diamond Altman, A.., Shapiro, L.A., Fisher, A.J. (2020). Why does therapy work? An idiographic approach to explore mechanisms of change over the course of psychotherapy using digital assessments. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(782). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00782

Soyster, P.D., Bosley, H.G., Reeves, J.W., & Diamond Altman, A. (2019). Evidence for the feasibility of person-specific ecological momentary assessment across diverse populations and study designs. Journal for Person-Oriented Research, 5(2), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.17505/jpor.2019.06

Fisher, A.J., Bosley, H.G., Fernandez, K.C., Reeves, J.W., Diamond, A.E., Soyster, P.D., & Barkin, J.B. (2019). Open Trial of a Personalized Modular Treatment for Mood and Anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 116, 69-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2019.01.010

Liu, N.H., Diamond, A.E., Gasperetti, C.E. (2017). Implementation of Routine Outcomes Monitoring into a Graduate Training Clinic: A Case Illustration. The Behavior Therapist, 40(8), 312-318.

Diamond, A.E., Fisher A.J. (2017). Comparative Autonomic Responses to Diagnostic Interviewing between Individuals with GAD, MDD, SAD and Healthy Controls. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00677   

Powers, M. B., Medina, J., Burns, S., Kauffman, B., Monfils, M., Mcintire, Diamond, A., & Smits, J. A. (2015).  Exercise augmentation of exposure therapy for PTSD: Rational and pilot efficacy data. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 44(4), 1-14.

Persons, J.B., Brown, C.L., Diamond, A.E. (2017). Case Formulation-driven Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Handbook of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (4th edition). New York: Guilford Press.

Powers, M.B., Kauffman, B. Y., Diamond, A., & Smits, J.A.J. (2014). Comparison between Psychosocial and Pharmacological Treatments. S. Hofmann & P. DiBartolo (Eds.) Social anxiety: Clinical, developmental, and social perspectives, third edition. Elsevier.

Get in touch!

If you are interested in clinical consultation or working together, please reach out. If you would like to become a patient of mine, please contact Women’s Wellness Psychiatry here to set up a consultation.