Dr. Coughlin obtained her undergraduate degree from the Honors College at Ohio University (l976), where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and won the Distinguished Professor Award for outstanding undergraduate student in Psychology.
She went on to obtain a Masters degree (l978) and Doctorate (l980)in Clinical Psychology from Syracuse University. Her residency was completed at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Upon completion of her residency, Dr. Coughlin was asked to join the faculty and was named Chief Psychologist of the Rehabilitation Program at the Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She maintained a private practice in Chicago from l981-l987.
Dr. Coughlin moved to Toronto, Ontario Canada in l987 and began her training in Intensive Short term Dynamic Psychotherapy in l988 - first at the Ontario Institute; then at the Institute in Rochester, New York; and finally in Montreal, Quebec with Dr. Davanloo, the creator of this method of psychotherapy.
She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. In addition to seeing patients in her private practice in Philadelphia, PA, Dr. Coughlin conducts training and supervision groups for mental health professionals around the world. She has held faculty positions at Northwestern University Medical School and Albany Medical College. Currently she is on the faculty at Thomas Jefferson Medical School. Over the past 15 years she has written professionally, given presentations at professional conferences and conducted workshops for mental health professionals around the world. Currently, she is conducting supervision groups and training workshops in California, Washington, DC, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark.
Her first book, Intensive Short term Dynamic Psychotherapy: Theory and Technique, is considered a classic in the field. Dr. Coughlin's newest book, Lives Transformed was written in collaboration with Dr. David Malan, and published in 2006 by Karnac Books.