Alan Downs, Ph.D.

Alan Downs, Ph.D. is a California licensed clinical psychologist and the author of The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World and is the clinical advisor to Foundations Recovery Network. He specializes in LGBT issues, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and psychological assessment. He is currently in private practice in Beverly Hills, California where he sees individuals, couples and conducts workshops. Prior to relocating to California, Dr. Downs was the preferred psychological evaluator for the courts the Northern New Mexico. For over a decade, he completed psychological evaluations on over a thousand cases for local physicians. He has extensive experience in psychological testing and accurate diagnosis. In addition, Dr. Downs is intensively trained as a Dialectical Behavior Therapist (DBT). DBT was originally designed to treat borderline personality disorder and was the first treatment to should evidence of effectiveness in double-blind studies. DBT has gained significant status as one of the few evidence-based treatments for a broad range of emotion regulation disorders and is recommended by both the American Psychiatric Association and American Psychological Association for the treatment of borderline personality traits. His twenty years of working in mental health and substance abuse are reflected in his eight books in both leadership and self-help. Dr. Downs is the author of the 1996 bestselling book, Beyond the Looking Glass. His current book, The Velvet Rage, has been a bestselling book among gay and lesbian readers for the past four years. His work has been published in over 12 languages. In 1996, Dr. Downs was invited by the Clinton administration to address the Senate Democratic Caucus on the detrimental psychological effects of large-scale layoffs. He is a nationally known expert in the field of mental health and addictions and has been quoted in such publications as The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Fortune, Newsweek, Time, The Advocate, and The Los Angeles Times. In addition, Dr. Downs has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including: The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, to name just a few. Dr. Downs holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Nebraska.