Greta Kaluzeviciute, Ph.D. is an academic at the intersection of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, epistemology and mental health, working in the United Kingdom and Lithuania.
Research
Greta’s main area of research is concerned with knowledge generation practices in the field psychotherapy. Being understood and listened to is a vital part of clinical practice. However, given the complexity of experiences involving mental health distress, trauma, and past events, it can be challenging to provide an accurate picture of another person’s inner world. While statistical findings provide us with a glimpse of which treatment interventions may work on average, and which general symptoms might be experienced by patients diagnosed with a specific condition, clinical practice often calls for a more personalised approach toward treatment. The case study method – historically used by classic psychoanalysts, including the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud – offers a way to understand individual psychological experiences by addressing the unique subjective imprints of each patient (attachment patterns, early object relations, traumas, repressed experiences, defence mechanisms). Interpreting such imprints, developing hypotheses about them and providing generalisable findings, however, is a scientifically difficult task. As such, Greta’s work seeks to develop a bridge between the clinically salient experiences, and their presentation in scientific research. Her AHRC funded PhD project, Knowledge generation processes and the role of the case study method in the field of psychotherapy (2017-2021), provides a rationale for a psychology of the individual, and lays out the groundwork on how we can develop case studies in a sensitive and rigorous way.
Greta has also contributed to broader health psychology research, where she sought to identify poor mental health determinants in various public health contexts, such as schools. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry (2021-2022), Greta investigated how educational psychosocial and physical environments impact the mental health of children and young people, with a particular focus on identifying interventions that could improve mental health outcomes and inequalities. In a similar vein, Greta contributed to research projects focusing on young people’s mental health experiences online, as well as higher education students’ experiences of burnout, anxiety and depression, working with colleagues from several different institutions (Universities of Derby, Lancaster, Newcastle, Birmingham, and Vilnius).
Greta has also published articles in various psychological, therapeutic and psychoanalytic scientific journals (such as the British Journal of Psychotherapy, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, BMC Public Health, and Psychotherapy, to name a few) on the topics of empathy, the Internet’s impact on mental health, body image, and the relationship between different therapeutic paradigms. She has worked in several research projects across four different institutions: University of Essex, University of Cambridge, and University of Derby (UK) as well as Vilnius University (Lithuania).
Details of professional appointments and academic qualifications available here.
Teaching
Greta is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) of Psychology at Vilnius University, Institute of Psychology. Currently, she leads modules on communication psychology, personality development and creativity in clinical psychology to BA students from psychology and other faculties (social sciences, life sciences, humanities). Greta also supervises BA students completing their dissertations, and offers scientific research practice to final year BA psychology and MA medical psychology students.
In a remote capacity, Greta is also an Associate Lecturer at University of Derby, teaching a variety of modules in Psychotherapy and Counselling and supervising students in Nursing programmes.
Greta is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), with experience of teaching in European higher education institutions for six years. In the past, she taught as a Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (2017-2021), conducted research across various projects as a Research Officer, and worked as an Honorary Psychodynamic Psychotherapist at the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (2018-2020).
Details of taught modules available here.
In her free time, Greta enjoys all forms of escapism (most notably books and video games), long walks in the Lithuanian nature, and spending time with her partner and two cats, Momo and Zuko.
Greta Kaluzeviciute 