Nisha Gupta, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology
School of Social Sciences College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

678-839-0698
ngupta@westga.2eTCOedu

Melson Hall - Room 205
Office Hours
By appointment

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Nisha Gupta, Ph.D.

I am an arts-based phenomenological researcher, creativity scholar, and trauma-informed psychotherapist. My work as an educator, researcher, artist, and therapist seeks to help people heal from personal and societal trauma, find empathy and compassion across difference, and embrace their creative consciousness to promote healing transformations for themselves and the world. I advocate for "arts-based phenomenological research" as an innovative and interdisciplinary methodology for psychology, which supports the burgeoning movement towards building the "psychological humanities." 

I facilitate a research lab at UWG called the "Phenomenological Art Collective" through which I teach students to conduct phenomenological research about people's psychological and sociocultural experiences, and then disseminate the research findings to the public as art (filmmaking, painting, poetry, music) for psychoeducation and community healing (www.phenomenologicalart.com).  I also facilitate art therapy workshops for community organizations using arts-based phenomenological methodologies.

Trained as a clinical psychologist, I am also a private practice psychotherapist. I offer individual and couples counseling for clients of diverse backgrounds and identities, integrating trauma-informed, psychodynamic, internal family systems, Jungian, mindfulness, and liberation psychotherapy approaches. 

I received my education at New York University (M.A., B.S.) and Duquesne University (Ph.D.), and I have a background in the advertising industry prior to my career in psychology. 

  • B.S., Psychology and Communications, New York University, 2006
  • MA, Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness, New York University, 2012
  • Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Duquesne University, 2018

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Gupta, N. and Zieske, C. (2024): Arts based phenomenological research: Theory and praxis. Qualitative Psychology.

Head, JC; Gupta, N; Korobov, N. (2023). Reflecting back and imagining forward: Qualitative inquiry in psychology at the dawn of a new era. Qualitative Psychology.

Gupta, N. (2020). Teaching phenomenological research as a method of therapeutic art-making: A Covid-19 case study. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Bulletin: Special issue on creative and multimodal approaches to Qualitative Research, Issue 30 Autumn 2020

Gupta, N. (2020). Singing away the social distancing blues: Art therapy in a time of coronavirus. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology; Special issue on COVID-19. Onlinefirst.

Gupta, N. (2018). Stories of faith, stories of humanity: Fusing phenomenological research with digital storytelling to facilitate interfaith empathy. Qualitative Research in Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2018.1442705

Gupta, N. (2017). Exploring the schizoid defense of the closet through the existential-phenomenology of R.D. Laing. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 5(2), 170-189.

Gupta, N. (2015). The cinematic chiasm: Evoking societal empathy through the phenomenological language of film. Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenological Psychology, and the Arts, 14(2), 35-48.