Michael Bagby

Dr. Bagby is a Full Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry and a Full Member of the Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto. Dr. Bagby’s primary graduate appointments are in the Graduate Department of Psychology and the Institute of Medical Sciences; he also holds an appointment in the Graduate Department of Psychological Clinical Science. Dr. Bagby is the Director of the Clinical Laboratory for Personality, Psychopathology, and Psychodiagnostics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Bagby is also a Collaborative Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental health (CAMH) in the Clinical Research Department; the Research Imaging Centre; and the Molecular Science and Tanenbaum Centre for Pharmacogenetics.

Dr. Bagby is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Psychologists of Ontario with declared competency in the areas of adult counselling and clinical psychology and forensic psychology and is certified by the American Board of Assessment Psychology. Dr. Bagby currently serves on the Editorial Boards of Assessment, the European Journal of Psychological Assessment, the Journal of Personality Assessment, and the Journal of Personality Disorders. Dr. Bagby is also an Associate Editor of Psychological Assessment. Dr. Bagby is the recent recipient of the Distinguished Assessment Psychologist Award conferred by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Bruno Klopfer Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Psychological Assessment conferred by the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA).

Dr. Bagby’s primary research interests are: (1) the phenotypic structure of psychopathology and the diagnosis and classification of psychopathology, with a particular focus on personality disorders; (2) evaluating the validity and reliability of psychological assessment instruments; (3) examining personality as a mediator and moderator of treatment outcome of major depression; and (4) strategies for the identification and assessment of intentional and non-intentional, non-credible responding on self-report measures of personality and psychopathology, with particular expertise in the assessment and detection of malingering. Dr. Bagby is a renowned expert in test construction and development and is the author of four copyrighted tests.

Dr. Bagby’s primary clinical interests are in psychological assessment, particularly in the areas of forensic psychology, psychiatric disability, and medical-legal evaluations. Dr. Bagby’s treatment interests centres on those suffering from major depression and he embraces an “eclectic approach” – using components of cognitive-behavioural and brief, evidence-based psychodynamic interventions. He maintains a small private clinical practice in the areas of civil and criminal forensic psychology in which he conducts psychological assessments.

At the undergraduate level, he teaches courses in Abnormal Psychology, Personality Disorders, and Psychology and Law. At the Graduate level he teaches courses in Psychological Assessment, Psychodiagnosis, Psychopathology, and Personality Disorders.