I began teaching in graduate school, first as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Psychology, then for Cognitive Assessment in the doctoral clinical psychology sequence, and finally for Clinical Topics Seminar, which was designed to help second-year clinical doctoral students adapt to their first clinical placements. I taught Abnormal Psychology and Infant and Child Development as an instructor in graduate school as well.

Since earning my PhD, I have taught Introductory to Psychology numerous times, including once adapted for NYC Public School paraprofessionals. Other courses I have taught include: Psychotherapy Research Seminar, Sleep and Dreams, Personality Psychology, and Research Methods.

At Yale, I regularly offer undergraduate courses in Native American Mental Health. My goals are to promote interest in this area and to help mentor students into careers in medicine and clinical psychology. In the Medical School, I teach a Psychiatry Elective titled Psychotherapy Research, which is designed to teach residents about psychotherapy by introducing empirical process-research instruments.

In addition to classroom teaching, I regularly mentor doctoral dissertations and theses. At Yale, I mentor medical residents who pursue a PhD in the Investigative Medicine Program. I also serve as primary or secondary reader for undergraduate theses. In addition, I have served as an external reader for dissertations at Columbia, Fordham, McGill, and The University of Connecticut.

 I am also a faculty member in the Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at New York University. “Postdoc” is a psychoanalytic training program housed — uniquely — within the Graduate School of Arts and Science of a major research university.  Founded in 1961, the program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPEinc) and is an approved training institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA). I teach a course on the history of psychoanalysis entitled, Early Psychoanalysis and the Sociocultural Surround: Progress, Regress, and Lingering Controversies.

Research

I am a psychotherapy process and outcome researcher who studies patients and providers with qualitative and quantitative methods. My work involves conducting needs assessment, proof-of-concept, and highly novel explorations in understudied fields. Representative publications appear below.

Psychological mindedness is the ability to observe and reflect on the interconnections among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in self and other. Originating as a mid-century, Midwestern, Freudian/ego-psychological construct, psychological mindedness is a personality variable that impacts the process and outcome of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Psychological mindedness is measured in various ways but notably on Axis M — The Profile of Mental Functioning — in the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, Second Edition (PDM-2). I conducted a series of foundational studies placing psychological mindedness within a nomological network of related and divergent constructs.

Beitel, M., & Cecero, J. J. (2003). Predicting psychological mindedness from personality style and attachment security.  Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59, 163-172.

Beitel, M., Ferrer, E., & Cecero, J. J. (2004). Psychological mindedness and cognitive style. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60, 567-582.

Beitel, M., Ferrer, E., & Cecero, J. J. (2005). Psychological mindedness and awareness of self and others. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 739-750. PMID: 15546143.

Beitel, M., Hutz, A. E., Hopper, K. M., Gunn, C., Cecero, J. J., & Barry, D. T. (2009). Do psychologically minded clients expect more from counseling? Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 82, 369-383. PMID: 19527565.

Beitel, M., Wald, L., Hutz, A., Green, D., Cecero, J.J., Kishon, R., & Barry, D. T. (2015). Humanistic experience and psychodynamic understanding: Empirical associations among facets of self-actualization and psychological mindedness. Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, 14, 137-148.

The opioid crisis in America came in waves. I began working with patients in methadone maintenance just after the first wave. At that point, there was an extreme dearth of research on opioid dependent patients, their providers, and their treatment.

Beitel, M., Genova, M., Schuman-Olivier, Z., Arnold, R., Avants, S. K., & Margolin, A. (2007). Reflections by inner-city drug users on a Buddhist-inspired intervention: A qualitative study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77, 1-9. PMID: 17352579.

Beitel, M., Savant, J. D., Cutter, C. J., Peters, S., Belisle, N., & Barry, D. T. (2012). Psychopathology and pain correlates of dispositional optimism in methadone-maintained patients. American Journal on Addictions, 21, S56-62. PMCID: PMC3703875.

Beitel, M., Peters, S., Savant, J., Schottenfeld, R. S., & Barry, D. T. (2015). The psychometric properties of the Iowa Personality Disorder Screen (IPDS) in methadone-maintained patients: An initial investigation. Journal of Personality Disorders, 29(1); 131-144. PMCID: PMC3659190.

Beitel, M., Oberleitner, L. M., Muthulingam, D. Oberleitner, D., Madden, L. M., Marcus, R., Eller, A., Bono, M.H., Barry, D. T. (2018). Experiences of burnout among drug counselors in a large opioid treatment program: A qualitative investigation. Substance Abuse, 39, 211-217. PMID: 29522381.

I study psychotherapy process and outcome with Native Americans, who are underserved and understudied.  This line of research was intended to assess the feasibility of conducting psychotherapy research in busy, urban clinics and to remedy a representation-bias with respect to Native Americans in psychotherapy research.

Beitel, M., Allahjah, A., Cutter, C. J., Blackhawk, N., Van Alst, T., and Barry, D. T. (2013). Expectations and preferences for counseling and psychotherapy in Native Americans. Journal of Indigenous Research, 2, Article 2.

Beitel, M., Myhra, L. L., Gone, J. P., Barber, J. P., Miller, A., Rasband, A., Cutter, C. J., Schottenfeld, R. S., & Barry, D. T. (2018). Psychotherapy with American Indians: An exploration of therapist-rated techniques in three urban clinics. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, & Training, 55, 41-55. PMID: 29565621.

Beitel, M., Gone, J. P., Myhra, L. L., Cutter, C. J., & Barry, D. T. (2021). A first look at the working alliance in psychotherapy with American Indians. Psychotherapy, 58(2), 248–253. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000338

Myhra, L. L., Gone, J. P., Barry, D. T., Cutter, C. J., Faria, A. B., & Beitel, M. (2023). Session quality and impact in psychotherapy with American Indian clients. Psychological Services, 20(Suppl 1), 86–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000634

Isadore, K. M., Hayes, J. A., Cutter, C. J., & Beitel, M. (2024). Native American college students in counseling: Results from a large-scale, multisite effectiveness study. Psychotherapy, 61(3), 173–183. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000526