Tom Wooldridge – Dean, School of Psychology

Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, FIPA, CEDS-C

Founding Dean, School of Psychology

Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, FIPA, CEDS-C, is a tenured Professor and founding Dean, School of Psychology at Golden Gate University, where he has served for over 13 years. He is responsible for the design, delivery and staffing of all degree and certificate programs in the school, on a domestic and international basis.

Tom is a board-certified clinical psychologist, certified psychoanalyst, and certified eating disorders specialist–consultant, licensed in both California and New York. A Brown University graduate, he has authored six books with publishers including Routledge and Guilford Press, published more than 25 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals such as the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Psychoanalytic Quarterly, and serves on the editorial boards of JAPA and Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Eating Disorders Association, held an assistant clinical professorship at UCSF Medical School, and was selected as a consultant for the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, 3rd Edition.

At GGU, Tom has received the Outstanding Research Award twice, and the Judith Browning Outstanding Teaching Award. He has led key institutional service, including chairing the Committee on Academic Standards, as well as serving on the WASC, Faculty Personnel, and AI Task Force committees.

Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Brown University, and a PsyD degree in Counseling Psychology from Argosy University San Francisco Bay Area.

LinkedIn Profile

Research Interests & Areas of Specialization

Eating disorders, with a particular interest in male populations
Philosophical problems in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy
The intersection of technology and psychoanalysis

Education

Certificate in Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, 2018
Board Certification in Clinical Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), 2018
Certified Eating Disorders Specialist (CEDS), International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals, 2017
PsyD (Psychology), Argosy University, 2011
MA (Psychology), Argosy University, 2009
AB (Philosophy), Brown University, 2006

Professional & Teaching Experience

2026 – Present: Founding Dean, School of Psychology, Golden Gate University
2013 – Present: Psychoanalyst and Licensed Psychologist in private practice, Berkeley, CA
2021 – Present: Editorial Board, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
2015 – Present: Editorial Board, Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention
2012 – 2026: Department Chair and Professor, Golden Gate University
2013 – 2015: National Association for Males with Eating Disorders, Executive Co-director
2012: Adjunct Faculty, Argosy University / San Francisco Bay Area
2011: Postdoctoral Fellow, Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland: Early Childhood Mental Health Department
2010: Predoctoral Intern, National Asian-American Psychology Training Center at RAMS, Inc.

Selected Publications

Books:

Wooldridge, T. (in contract). When Parenting Feels Out of Your Control: Stepping out of the Cycle of Panic, Control, and Guilt and into Connection. Guilford Press.
Wooldridge, T. (2026). End the Food Fight: Replacing Control with Connection to Help Your Child Heal from an Eating Disorders. Guilford Press.
Burke, N., Michaels, L., Muhr, J., & Wooldridge, T. (Eds.) (2023). Advancing Psychotherapy for the Next Generation: Rehumanizing Mental Health Policy and Practice. New York: Routledge.
Wooldridge, T. (2022). Eating disorders: The Routledge introductions to contemporary psychoanalysis. (Introductions to Contemporary Psychoanalysis Book Series). New York: Routledge.
Wooldridge, T. (2019). Ghosts of the unremembered past. IPBooks. (Also available as an audiobook on Audible.com)
Wooldridge, T. (Ed.) (2018). Psychoanalytic treatment of eating disorders: When words fail and bodies speak. (Relational Perspectives Book Series). New York: Routledge.
Wooldridge, T. (2016). Understanding anorexia nervosa in males: An integrative approach. New York: Routledge.

Journal Articles:

Mirabella, M., Di Giannantonio, B., Carone, N., Franco, A., Rugo, M. A., Mazzeschi, C., Wooldridge, T., Lingiardi, V. & Muzi, L. (2025). Filling the emptiness: An empirically supported and psychodynamic-oriented single case study on structural change in binge-eating disorder treatment. Psychoanalytic Psychology.
Wooldridge, T. (2023). Deception in Anorexia Nervosa: An Aspect of the No-Entry System of Defense. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 92(2), 309-330.
Wooldridge, T. (2023). “How his hair is growing thin!”: On the emotional significance of male-pattern hair loss. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 71(2), 215-236.
Boulter, M.W., Wooldridge, T., Bjelland, V.E., & Sandgren, S. (2023). My father, my self, and my muscles: Investigating associations between muscle dysmorphia, narcissism and relationship with father among exercising males. Personality and Individual Differences, 207.
Wooldridge, T. (2022). Binge eating disorder: The subjugation of the ”hungry self.” Psychoanalytic Psychology.
Wooldridge, T. (2022). Boys and their muscles: The paternal object in muscle dysmorphia. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 76(1).
Wooldridge, T. (2022). Anorexia nervosa, psychic death, and the subjugation of need. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 32(5), 528 – 543.
Wooldridge, T. (2021). Book review: Re-thinking eating disorders: Language, emotion, and the brain. Routledge, New York, 2018, 213 pp. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 49(3).
Wooldridge, T.. (2021). Prologue: Advancing Psychotherapy for the Next Generation: Rehumanizing Mental Health Policy and Practice. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 41(8).
Wooldridge, T. (2021). Abjection, traumatic themes, and alexithymia in anorexia nervosa. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 57(2), 327 – 353.
Wooldridge, T. (2021). Anorexia nervosa and the paternal function. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 69(1), 7-32.
Wooldridge, T. (2021). Alexithymia, meaning-making, and management: Response to Novack. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 31(2), 197 – 204.
Wooldridge, T. (2018). Finding freedom: An exploration of the relationship between agency, motility, and aggression. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 65(1), 41 – 58.
Wooldridge, T. (2018). The entropic body: Primitive anxieties and secondary skin formation in anorexia nervosa. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 28(2), 189 – 202.
Wooldridge, T. (2018). Anorexia nervosa and the analyst’s paternal function: Response to Schoen, Zerbe, and Boulware. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 28(2), 228 – 233.
Aafjes-van Doorn, K. & Wooldridge, T. (2018). The complexity of loss during a forced termination: A case illustration. British Journal of Psychotherapy.
Wooldridge, T. (2017). Now I see me, now I don’t: Computer-based screen services and narcissistic psychopathology. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 14(2), 193 – 205.
Wooldridge, T. & Lemberg, R. (2016). Macho, Bravado, and Eating Disorders: Special Issues in Diagnosing and Treating Men. Psychiatric Times.
Cohn, L., Murray, S., Wooldridge, T., & Walen, A. (2016). Including the excluded: Males and gender minorities in eating disorder prevention. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 24(1).
Murray, S.B., Griffiths, S., Hazery, L., Shen, T., Wooldridge, T. & Mond, J.M. (2016). Go big or go home: A thematic content analysis of pro-muscularity websites. Body Image, 16, 17 – 20.
Wooldridge, T. (2015). Primitive anxieties and secondary skin formation in anorexia nervosa. fort da, 21(1), 74 – 84.
Wooldridge, T. (2014). The enigma of ana: A psychoanalytic exploration of pro-ana forums. The Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 13(3).
Wooldridge, T. (2014). It’s hard to hold an enigma: Response to discussants. The Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 13(3).
Wooldridge, T., Dwiwardani, C., & Prasad, S. (2014). Cultural training in internship: A relational model founded on cultural humility. Psychotherapy Bulletin, 49(3), 19 – 26.
Wooldridge, T., Mok, C., & Chiu, S. (2014). A qualitative content analysis of male participation in pro-ana forums. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 22(2).
Wooldridge, T. & Lytle, P. (2012). An overview of anorexia nervosa in adolescent males. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 20(5), 368-378.

Book Chapters:

Wooldridge, T. (2022). Revisiting in the entropic body: When the body is canvas. In R. Hilty (Ed). When the body tells the story. London: Karnac.
Wooldridge, T. (2019). Catastrophe and faith in anorexia nervosa. In A. Alisobhani & G. Cortorphine (Eds). Explorations in Bion’s “O” : Everything We Know Nothing About. New York: Routledge.
Wooldridge, T. & Lytle, P. (2017). Web-Based Intervention for Adolescent Males with Anorexia Nervosa. In R. Valle & J. Klimo (Eds.), The changing faces of therapy: Innovative perspectives on current issues, disorders, and assessment. San Francisco: Argosy University Press.
Wooldridge, T. & Lytle, P. (2013). An overview of anorexia nervosa in males. In L. Cohn & R. Lemberg (Eds.), Current findings on males with eating disorders (pp. 23 – 33). New York: Routledge

Other Writing:

Wooldridge, T. (2020). Dark feelings will haunt us until they are expressed in words. Retrieved from https://psyche.co/ideas/dark-feelings-will-haunt-us-until-they-are-expressed-in-words.
Wooldridge, T. (2019). Despite their dangers, pro-anorexia forums have much to teach us. Retrieved from https://aeon.co/ideas/despite-their-dangers-pro-anorexia-forums-have-much-to-teach-us.

Professional Associations

Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC)
International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP)
Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP)
Division 39, American Psychological Association
International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP)
Alameda County Psychological Association (ACPA)

Honors & Awards

2025: Consultant, Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, 3rd Edition (PDM-3)
Edited by Nancy McWilliams. Guilford Press, 2025.
2024: Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
JAPA Award – for Wooldridge, T. (2023). “How his hair is growing thin!”: On the emotional significance of male-pattern hair loss. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 71(2), 215-236.
2024: Golden Gate University
Judith Browning Outstanding Teaching Award
2023: Golden Gate University
Outstanding Research Award
2022: Golden Gate University
Outstanding Research Award
2018: Golden Gate University
Given Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Integration
2017: Two published articles chosen for “Top 25 Articles from 1993 – 2017” by Editor-in-Chief of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention.
2013: Golden Gate University
Nagel T. Miner Professor
Granted two years of funding for research on the psychodynamics of anorexia nervosa.

Media & Interviews

Psych Up Live with Dr. Suzanne Phillips. “Psychoanalytic treatment of eating disorders”
ED Matters with Kathy Cortese. “Psychoanalytic Treatment of Eating Disorders”
Psych Up Live with Dr. Suzanne Phillips. “Understanding anorexia nervosa in males”
Stuff.co.nz. “Anorexia: A teen’s struggle and his mother’s love”
Newsweek. “Where’s Ken? The abandonment of men in body positivity”
WebMD. “Binge eating disorder in men”
Slate.com. “Let them blog: The panic over pro-anorexia websites and social media isn’t healthy”
Yahoo Health. “For young men, eating disorders aren’t always so obvious”
Glammonitor, “Male eating disorders on the rise”
Philadelphia Inquirer “Missing the signs in a boy’s eating disorder”
Student Health 101 “What’s Batman got to do with body image and eating disorders?”
Canadian Medical Association Journal. “Treatment challenges for men with eating disorders”
National Post. “Anorexia hitting men increasingly hard: One in three cases in new study is male”
Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun. “The new face of eating disorders: Men starving themselves to look like pictures in magazines”
CBS San Francisco: About the Bay with Mike Sugerman.