Dr. Sylvia Marotta-Walters

Dr. Sylvia Marotta-Walters headshot

Dr. Sylvia Marotta-Walters

Department Chair and Professor, Counseling and Human Development


School: Graduate School of Education and Human Development

Department: Counseling and Human Development

Contact:

Office Phone: (202) 994-6642

As a board certified counseling psychologist trained in the scientist-practitioner model, Dr. Marotta-Walters focuses her research on complex post-traumatic stress disorders and their treatment; and on the measurement of stress and resilience. She holds a research appointment at WJB Dorn Veterans Medical Center in Columbia, SC.

Professor Marotta-Walters presents nationally and internationally on the spectrum of stress disorders, family systems, diversity, and attachment-related disorders.

She is an associate editor for Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, and until 2014 was associate editor of the Journal of Counseling & Development.

She is Past President of the American Board of Counseling Psychology, and is on the Executive Committee for Division 56, Trauma Psychology, of the American Psychological Association.


Ph.D., University of Houston

M.Ed., University of Houston

  • Posttraumatic Stress Treatment
  • Trauma and Diversity
  • Trauma Education and Training

Marotta, S. A., Choi, J., & Doughty Shaine, M. (2015). Post-traumatic growth among combat veterans: A proposed developmental pathway. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, Policy, 7, 356-363.

Garcia-Vera, M. P., Moreno, N., Sanz, J., Gesteira, C., Zapardiel, A., & Marotta-Walters, S. (2015). Efficacy and effectiveness of treatments for victims of terrorist attacks: a systematic review. Behavioral Psychology-Psicología Conductual.

Moreno, N., Sanz, J., Garcia-Vera, M. P., Gesteira, C., Gutierrez, S., Zapardiel, A., Cobos, B., & Marotta-Walters, S. (2015). Terapia cognitivo-conductual centrada en el trauma para las víctimas de atentados terroristas: Un estudio de efectividad con trastornos mentales a muy largo plazo.

Marotta, S. A. (2015). Spiritual meaning making following clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse. Traumatology, 21, 64-70.

Marotta, S. A. (2012). Blaming the victim. In C. Figley (ed.), Encyclopedia of trauma. New York: Sage Books.

LaFauci Schutt, J. M., & Marotta, S. A. (2011). Personal and environmental predictors of post-traumatic stress in emergency management professionals. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, Policy, 3, 8-15.

Marotta, S. A. (2010). Voices of hope: A commentary on dislocation and relocation. In P. Dass-Brailsford (Ed.), Crisis and disaster counseling: Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.

Hooper, L. M., Marotta, S. A., & DePuy, V. (2009). A confirmatory factor analytic study of the post-traumatic growth inventory among a sample of racially diverse college students. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 18, 335-343.

Hooper, L. M., Marotta, S. A., & Lanthier, R. P. (2008). Predictors of growth and distress following parentification: A retrospective exploratory study. The Journal of Child and Family Studies, 17, 693-705.