Arjun Bhalla earned his BA in Psychology and Mass Communication from Rockhurst University in 2012 and earned his MA in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2014. He graduated with his Ph.D. from the Clinical Health Psychology program at CU Denver in August 2020. Arjun's dissertation examined psychological and interpersonal factors as correlates of military couples' sexual satisfaction post-deployment. Within the CHP program, Arjun demonstrated a commitment to diversity through his involvement on the Diversity Council and CHP Diversity Admissions Taskforce and he is a lifelong staunch advocate for advancing diversity-related issues in clinical psychology.
He completed his clinical internship at the VA Boston Healthcare System/Boston University School of Medicine/Harvard Medical School in the Rehabilitation Psychology track and his postdoctoral fellowship in Rehabilitation Psychology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Currently he is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in the department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, where he serves as an attending rehabilitation psychologist on the Acute Pain Service at Harborview Medical Center and he is actively involved with the training and education of psychology and anesthesiology residents and other learners. He is a member of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Council at Harborview, and he is an associate faculty at the Harborview Injury Prevention Research Center.
His research interests include studying the effects of trauma and injury on health and functioning, caregiver/partner health, technology-based interventions, and psychometric scale development.
Refereed Publications:
Bhalla, A., Bamer, A. M., Temes, C., Roaten, K., Carrougher, G. J., Schneider, J. C., ... & Wiechman, S. A. (2023). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptom clusters as predictors of pain interference in burn survivors: a burn model system national database study. Journal of Burn Care & Research, 44(1), 27-34.
Kenny, J., Allen, E., Fredman, S. J., Renshaw, K., & Bhalla, A. (2021). Two Perspectives on Accommodation of PTSD Symptoms: Partners versus Service Members. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice
Bhalla, A., Allen, E., Renshaw, K., Kenny, J., & Litz, B. (2018) Emotional Numbing Symptoms Partially Mediate the Association Between Exposure to Potentially Morally Injurious Experiences and Sexual Anxiety for Male Service Members. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation,19, 417–430. doi: 10.1080/15299732.2018.1451976
Bhalla, A., Durham, R. L., Al-Tabaa, N., & Yeager, C. (2016). The development and initial psychometric validation of the eHealth readiness scale. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 460-467. doi: j.chb.2016.09.015
Poster Presentations:
Bhalla. A., & Allen, E.S. (2020, February). Service member deployment-related PTSD symptoms and female partner caregiver burden moderated by TBI status. Poster presented at the
Rehabilitation Psychology Conference 2020, San Diego, CA.
Bhalla, A., Allen, E.S., & Fredman, S. (2019, February). Do female partners accommodate more to male service members’ PTSD symptoms when the service member has endured a combat-related TBI? Poster presented at the Rehabilitation Psychology Conference 2019, Orlando FL. Winner of student poster award for research highlighting women's issues in rehabilitation psychology on behalf of Divison 22, Section 2
Bhalla, A., Allen, E.S., Renshaw, K., Kenny, J., & Litz, B.T. (2017, November). Emotional Numbing Symptoms Partially Mediate the Association Between Exposure to Potentially Morally Injurious Experiences and Sexual Anxiety for Male Service Members. Poster presented at the 51st annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, San Diego, CA.
Kenny, J.J., Allen, E., Bhalla, A., Soberay, K. & Renshaw, K. D. (2016, August). Partner caregiver chronic pain predicts caregiver burden above and beyond service member PTSD. Poster presented at the 124th annual convention of the American Psychological Association. Denver, CO.
Soberay, K., Allen, E., Kenny, J. J. & Bhalla, A. (2016, August). Links between chronic pain and the interpersonal psychological theory of suicide in soldiers. Poster presented at the 124th annual convention of the American Psychological Association. Denver, CO.
Bhalla, A., Allen, E., Kenny, J. J., Fredman, S, Renshaw, K. & Soberay, K. (2016, August). The role of experiential avoidance in partner accommodation and service member PTSD. Poster presented at the 124th annual convention of the American Psychological Association. Denver, CO.
Bhalla, A., Allen, E., Renshaw, K., Fredman, S. & Kenny, J.J. (2016, August). Accommodation to PTSD symptoms as a predictor of caregiver burden in female partners of service members. Poster presented at the 124th annual convention of the American Psychological Association. Denver, CO.
Bhalla, A., Allen, E. S., & Renshaw, K. D. (2015, November). An Initial Validation of the Post Deployment Couple Growth Inventory. Poster presented at the meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Chicago, IL.
Bhalla, A., Allen, E. S., & Renshaw, K. D. (2015, November). An Initial Validation of the Post Deployment Couple Growth Inventory. Poster session to be presented at the meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Chicago, IL.
Bhalla, A. Hanneman, S., Al-Tabaa, N., McDonald, J.M., & Durham, R.L. Psychometric validation of the childhood traumatic stress questionnaire. Poster presented at the 2014 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies annual conference, Miami, FL.
Bhalla, A. Durham, R.L., Benight, C.C., Bock, J., & Yaeger, C. Examination of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and coaching on a measure of readiness for online interventions. Poster presented at the 2014 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies annual conference, Miami, FL.
Bhalla, A., Hanneman, S., Al-Tabaa, N., McDonald, J.M., & Durham, R.L. (2014, May). Differential psychological and neuropsychological functioning by type of trauma exposure.Poster presented at the 2014 Midwestern Psychological Association annual conference, Chicago, IL.
Hanneman, S., Bhalla, A., Durham, R.L., Al-Tabaa, N., & McDonald, J. (2014, April). Differential attitudes towards sexual offenders: Does the victim’s age matter? Poster presented at the 2014 Rocky Mountain Psychological Association conference, Salt Lake City, UT.
Bhalla, A., McDonald, J.M., Al-Tabaa, N., Hanneman, S., & Durham, R.L. (2014, April). Childhood maltreatment and adult antisocial behavior in a military sample. Poster presented at the 2014 Western Psychological Association annual conference, Portland, OR.
Hanneman, S., Bhalla, A., Durham, R.L., Al-Tabaa, N., & McDonald, J. (2014, March). Societal attitudes towards juvenile sex offenders. Poster presented at the 2014 American Psychology-Law Association conference, New Orleans, LA.
Bhalla, A., Durham, R.L., Hanneman, S., Welch, E., & Coolidge, F. (2013, August). Psychometric construction and validation of the psychological aspects of hypersexuality scale. Poster presented at the 121st American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Honolulu, HI.