Faculty Appointments
- Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Central Florida College of Medicine
- Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine
- Faculty, New Jersey Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis
Education
Mark graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also received his M.S.W. with a certificate in mental health. He completed his internship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
He has received additional training in general psychiatric management (GPM) at the Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute at McLean Hospital and is currently enrolled in the transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) program at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
He completed a one-year training program on personality disorders with Otto Kernberg, M.D., and holds a doctoral degree in psychoanalysis (D.Psa.) from the Parkmore Institute, where he was supervised by psychoanalyst Jerry Piven, Ph.D.
He has received additional training in general psychiatric management (GPM) at the Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute at McLean Hospital and is currently enrolled in the transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) program at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
He completed a one-year training program on personality disorders with Otto Kernberg, M.D., and holds a doctoral degree in psychoanalysis (D.Psa.) from the Parkmore Institute, where he was supervised by psychoanalyst Jerry Piven, Ph.D.
Experience and Professional Involvement
- Member, American Psychoanalytic Association
- Member, American Psychopathological Association
- Member, Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society
- Director of Psychotherapy Training, University of Central Florida/HCA Orlando Psychiatry Residency Program
- Editorial board member and Founding Editor, The Carlat Psychotherapy Report
- Developer, Borderline Personality Disorder Inventory (BPD-I), a screening tool for borderline personality disorder
- Co-Developer, with Ronald W. Pies, M.D., Psychopathology Refracted into Seven Modalities (PRiSM), a psychiatric diagnostic instrument
Theory of Borderline Personality Disorder
Beginning in 2024, Mark began writing about communication paradoxes and dilemmas in borderline personality disorder, formalizing in 2026 a double bind theory of the disorder with Jerold Kreisman, M.D., forthcoming in the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic. The theory conceptualizes borderline personality as a disorder of paradox, in which early experiences of contradictory, inescapable communications become internalized and give rise to the enduring interpersonal and intrapsychic contradictions that define the condition.
Practice and Philosophy
Mark treats adult and adolescent patients in psychotherapy with primary interest in borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia. He also treats patients with mood, psychosomatic, and other personality disorders. His orientation is principled and scientific, and he is a proponent of a pluralistic approach to mental illness. He frequently treats patients who have not previously, or only partially, responded to treatment.
Hobbies
Mark is part-owner of several thoroughbred racehorses, a hobby he has held for years. His family owned and operated Ruff Acres Farm in Colts Neck, NJ, producer of multiple graded stakes winners from the 1950s to 1970s, and he continues the family tradition in Florida.