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Psychology

Stephanie B. Kors, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Stephanie Kors smiling at the camera in front of a body of water.

Education

  • B.A. (Psychology, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) - University of Georgia
  • M.A. (Clinical Psychology) - University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) - University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • Pre-doctoral Internship - Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance
  • Post-doctoral Fellowship - Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance
  • Licensed Psychologist in Maryland

Courses Taught

  • PY 600 - Assessment and Appraisal
  • PY 601 - Cognitive Assessment
  • PY 845 - Models of Psychotherapy: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
  • PY 920 - Individual Therapy Supervision

Publications

  • Kors, S., Kurdziel-Adams, G., Towers, C., Fortner, K., & Macfie, J. (2021). Childhood sexual abuse as a risk factor for opioid misuse in pregnancy. Journal of Sexual Abuse, 31(5), 538-549. [doi]
  • Noose, S., Kors, S., Gorrondona, A., Kurdziel-Adams, G., Towers, C., Fortner, K., & Macfie, J. (2020). Pregnant women misusing opioids: Depression, anxiety, stress, and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2(15), 100025. [doi]
  • Macfie, J., Towers, C., Fortner, K., Stuart, G., Zvara, B., Kurdziel-Adams, G., Kors, S., Noose, S., Gorrondona, A., & Cohen, C. (2020). Medication-assisted treatment vs. detoxification for women who misuse opioids in pregnancy: Associations with dropout, relapse, neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS), and childhood sexual abuse. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 12, 100315. [doi]
  • Kors, S., Macfie, J., Mahan, R., & Kurdziel-Adams, G. (2020). The borderline feature of negative relationships and the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment between mothers and adolescents. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 11(5), 321-327. [doi]
  • Macfie, J., Zvara, B., Stuart, G., Kurdziel-Adams, G., Kors, S., Fortner, K., Towers, C., Gorrondona, A., & Noose, S. (2020). Pregnant women's history of childhood maltreatment and current opioid use: The mediating roles of reflective functioning. Addictive Behaviors, 102, 106134. [doi]
  • Kors, S., Toor, S., & Macfie, J. (2019). Evidence for psychodynamic play therapy with parent consultation as a treatment for somatic complaints in childhood. Clinical Case Studies, 18(6), 415-431. [doi]
  • Kurdziel-Adams, G., Macfie, J., Kors, S., Fortner, K., Towers, C., & Lydic, R. (2020). Opioid use in pregnancy: Borderline features and Hepatitis C virus. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 11(3), 222-229. [doi]
  • Macfie, J., Kurdziel-Adams, G., Mahan, R., & Kors, S. (2017). A mother's borderline personality disorder and her sensitivity, autonomy support, hostility, fearful/disoriented behavior, and role reversal with her young child. Journal of Personality Disorders, 31(6), 66-71. [doi]
  • Mahan, R., Kors, S., Simmons, M., & Macfie, J. (2018). Maternal psychological control, maternal borderline personality disorder, and adolescent borderline features. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 9(4), 297-304. [doi]
  • Kurdziel-Adams, G., Kors, S., & Macfie, J. (2018). Effect of maternal borderline personality disorder on adolescents' experience of maltreatment and adolescent borderline features. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 9(4), 385-389. [doi]
  • Miller, B., Kors, S., & Macfie, J. (2017). No differences? Meta-analytic comparisons of psychological adjustment in children of gay fathers and heterosexual parents. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 4(1), 14-22. [doi]

Areas of Specialization

Dr. Kors is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Loyola University Maryland, where she studies developmental psychopathology, intergenerational transmission of trauma, and clinical training. Dr. Kors is also a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance where she is the Principal Investigator of two grants focused on various aspects of psychotherapy training.

Her current research is focused specifically on substance use, psychotherapy outcomes, and barriers to care. Dr. Kors' substance use research has focused primarily on elucidating the etiology of opioid addiction in pregnancy and designing preventative interventions for this population. Her current work in this area seeks to understand how early primary attachment relationships, and early experiences using drugs, impact one's course of addiction and subsequent parent-child relationship. Her research on health outcomes is focused primarily on access to trauma-informed mental health care for underserved populations, particularly for patients previously deemed "treatment resistant." She is specifically interested in the ways in which systemic barriers to equitable care impact the treatment outcomes for underserved populations in the public sector. Lastly, her clinical training research is focused on improving the everyday usefulness of the mental health curriculum in undergraduate Introduction to Psychology courses and the effectiveness of graduate psychotherapy courses for beginning clinicians. These pedagogy research projects are currently grant-funded by the APF and IPA.

Dr. Kors also maintains a part-time private practice where she works with children, adolescents, and adults in individual, family, and couples' therapy.