Axel Bouchard

Axel Bouchard, M.A.

Axel’s research experience and interests revolve around two broad themes: 1) neurocognitive deficits in people with serious mental illness (SMI); and 2) social and policy issues related to race/ethnicity and the treatment of SMI (e.g., stigma, minority health disparities, and racial/ethnic differences in treatment outcome).  His dissertation examines the longitudinal relationships among anticholinergic drug burden, neurocognition, and community functioning in outpatients with SMI.

Axel graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a major in psychology and minors in business and Spanish.  He is also a graduate of the Monterey Institute, where he completed a Master’s degree in International Policy Studies with a concentration in negotiation and conflict resolution.  Prior to UNL, Axel worked at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey and was involved in two research projects at that facility.

Axel is currently an extern with OMNI Behavioral Health, where he provides home-based therapy services to children, adolescents, and adults living in rural Nebraska.

In his first year at UNL, Axel was a graduate research assistant at Nebraska Advocacy Services (now Disability Rights Nebraska), a protection and advocacy agency for individuals with disabilities.  During his second year at UNL, Axel was placed at the VA Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System (VA-NWI), where he performed TBI evaluations, individual therapy, and group therapy (Cognitive Processing Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy).  In his third year, Axel’s placement was at People’s Health Center (PHC), a federally qualified health center serving uninsured and low-income individuals, many of whom are refugees.  Axel provided individual psychotherapy in both English and Spanish, conducted disability and competency evaluations, and led a mindfulness group for individuals with chronic pain. Last year, Axel worked as a neuropsychology extern on the brain injury unit at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital.

Peer Reviewed Manuscript(s)

Nurenberg, J. R., Schleifer, S. J., Shaffer, T. M., Yellin, M., Desai, P. J., Amin, R., Bouchard, A., Montalvo, C. (2015). Animal Assisted Therapy with Chronic Psychiatric Inpatients: Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Aggressive Behavior. Psychiatric Services, 66(1), 80-86.

Selected Poster Presentations and Published Abstracts

Bouchard, A. B. & Spaulding, W. D. (2015). Estimating Premorbid Intellectual Functioning in TBI Survivors with a Schizophrenia-Spectrum Diagnosis: the Clinical Utility of the Wide Range Achievement Test (Poster abstract accepted; to be presented at the annual meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society).

Li, F., Bouchard, A. B., & Spaulding, W. D. (2015). Stigmatization of mental illness among psychiatric hospital staff in Southwest China. (Poster, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies).

Bouchard, A. B., Gallegos, Y. E., & Spaulding, W. D. (2015). The relationship between antipsychotic medication type and dosage and neuropsychological test performance (Poster & Published Abstract, National Academy of Neuropsychology).

Capozzoli, M.C., Bouchard, A. B., Riss, R., & Hope, D.A. (2015). Working memory performance and attentional bias among socially anxious young adults (Poster, American Psychological Association, Society for Clinical Neuropsychology).

Bouchard, A. B., Gallegos, Y. E., & Spaulding, W. D. (2015). Relationship between psychiatric symptoms and neuropsychological test performance in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (Poster & Published Abstract, American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology).

Bouchard, A. B., Capozzoli, M. C., & Spaulding, W. D. (2015). The Clinical Utility of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery Screening Module for Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders (Poster & Published Abstract, American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology).

Bouchard, A. B., Avila, A., & Spaulding, W. D. (2015). Mental health workers’ perceptions of cause and dangerousness: implications for clinical care (Poster, American Psychology-Law Society).

Gallegos, Y. E., Bouchard, A. B., Spaulding, W. D., & Granholm, E. L. (2015). Cognitive Functioning outcomes in Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training (CBSST) for racial/ethnic minority individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (Poster & Published Abstract, International Neuropsychological Society).

Li, F., Bouchard, A. B., Spaulding, W. D. (2014). Effectiveness of Michael’s Game, A card game for the treatment of delusions in schizophrenia (Poster, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies).

Bouchard, A. B., Avila, A., & Spaulding, W. D. (2014). What causes mental illness? Mental health workers’ causal attributions and attitudes toward treatment prognosis (Poster, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies).

Gallegos, Y. E., Bouchard, A. B., Link, P., & Granholm, E. L. (2014). Social cognition and Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training (CBSST): Racial/ethnic differences in defeatist performance attitudes among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (Poster, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies).