Mark L. Ruffalo
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Faculty in Psychoanalysis
Contact
Mark L. Ruffalo
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Faculty in Psychoanalysis
mlruffalo@gmail.com
(813) 694-4238 (office)
Department of Psychiatry
University of Central Florida; Tufts University (Adjunct)
10335 Cross Creek Boulevard
Suite 15
Tampa, FL 33647
Mark L. Ruffalo, L.C.S.W., is a psychotherapist in private practice in Tampa, FL, and serves as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, where he is Director of Psychotherapy Training in the adult psychiatry residency program. He is also Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and on the faculty of the New Jersey Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis.
He provides general psychodynamic psychotherapy with special interest in the treatment of schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder.
During his training at the University of Pittsburgh, Mark had the opportunity to work with severely ill patients in long-term psychotherapy, an area in which he has since developed recognized expertise. He has published previously in the American Journal of Psychotherapy, the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, and the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. He is Founding Editor of The Carlat Psychotherapy Report.
His interests span psychoanalysis, phenomenological psychopathology, and psychiatric nosology, and he has attempted to bridge classic communication theory with object relations theory in understanding borderline personality disorder. He has advanced the hypothesis that borderline personality disorder is fundamentally a disorder of paradox or self-contradiction.
He was the recipient of the 2023-2024 Excellence in Psychotherapy Supervision and Teaching Award from the UCF psychiatry residency program. In 2025, he was selected as Chair of the Special Report on Psychotherapy for Psychiatric Times. He has been an invited lecturer at Dartmouth, the Mayo Clinic, and the University of Pittsburgh.
He is a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society, and the American Psychopathological Association.
Mark sees patients at his private office in Tampa on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. He frequently works in collaboration with psychiatrists but does not prescribe medication.
He provides general psychodynamic psychotherapy with special interest in the treatment of schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder.
During his training at the University of Pittsburgh, Mark had the opportunity to work with severely ill patients in long-term psychotherapy, an area in which he has since developed recognized expertise. He has published previously in the American Journal of Psychotherapy, the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, and the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. He is Founding Editor of The Carlat Psychotherapy Report.
His interests span psychoanalysis, phenomenological psychopathology, and psychiatric nosology, and he has attempted to bridge classic communication theory with object relations theory in understanding borderline personality disorder. He has advanced the hypothesis that borderline personality disorder is fundamentally a disorder of paradox or self-contradiction.
He was the recipient of the 2023-2024 Excellence in Psychotherapy Supervision and Teaching Award from the UCF psychiatry residency program. In 2025, he was selected as Chair of the Special Report on Psychotherapy for Psychiatric Times. He has been an invited lecturer at Dartmouth, the Mayo Clinic, and the University of Pittsburgh.
He is a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society, and the American Psychopathological Association.
Mark sees patients at his private office in Tampa on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. He frequently works in collaboration with psychiatrists but does not prescribe medication.
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To schedule an appointment, please call (813) 694-4238.