I graduated in Psychology by the University of Minho in 2005. In 2006 was awarded an FCT PhD scholarship and in 2010 finished my PhD in Clinical Psychology at the same University in collaboration with the New School for Social Research and Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. During my PhD I did clinical research focused on the development of the therapeutic alliance with personality disorders. My background in psychotherapy research and my experience as a psychotherapist led to my interest in dyadic interactions, empathy and social processing.
Thus, after being awarded an FCT postdoctoral scholarship in 2011, starting to work in the Neuropsychophysiology Lab, I kept studying interpersonal interactions and empathy, within a neuroscientific approach. Specifically in the last 5 years my research line is focused on the neural basis psychological processes such as empathy, dyadic interactions and personality. For that we measure the brain activity associated with those processes using neuroimaging methodologies (both structural and functional MRI). As the PI of a BIAL funded research project, I look at the neural markers of empathy in the context of intimate relationships using an ecological task developed with real couples. In this project we measure both the peripheral and central biomarkers of empathy. At the peripheral level we are mainly interested in the psychophysiological synchrony between the members of an intimate dyad. At the central level we measure both the brain activity at rest, namely the Default Mode Network, as well as during a task using real video vignettes. My expertise in neuroimaging analysis was developed during a research fellowship in the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Lab of Harvard Medical School in Boston conducted in 2013.
Social and affective Neuroscience
Psychotherapy - Interpersonal Processes
Neuroimaging - structural and functional resonance imaging
Psychopatology - Personality Disorders
Selected publications
Coutinho, J; Ferreirinha R., Ribeiro, E., (2010) Portuguese version of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale and its relationship with psychopathological symptoms. Revista de Psiquiatria Clínica: 37 (4), 145-151. DOI
Coutinho, J; Ribeiro E., Safran J. (2010) Interpersonal transactions in alliance rupture episodes: A case study analysis of a dropout. Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica: 19 (2), 101-115. DOI
Coutinho, J; Ribeiro E., Hill, C.; Safran J. (2011) Therapists’ and clients´ experiences of alliance ruptures: A qualitative study, Psychotherapy Research: 21 (5), 525-540 DOI
Coutinho, J; Ribeiro E., Sousa, I.; Safran J. (2013). Comparing Two Methods of Identifying Alliance Rupture Events. Psychotherapy: 51(3), 434-442. DOI
Coutinho J., Sampaio A., Ferreira M., Soares J. M. & Gonçalves, O. F. (2013) Brain Correlates of Pro-Social Personality Traits: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study. Brain Imaging & Behavior 7, 293-299 DOI
Coutinho J., Ribeiro E., Fernandes C., Sousa I. & Safran J. (2014) The development of the therapeutic alliance and the emergence of alliance ruptures. Anales de Psicologia. 30 (3), 985-994 DOI
Sampaio A.; Soares J. M., Coutinho J., Sousa N., Gonçalves O. F. (2013) The Big Five Default Brain: Functional Evidence. Brain Structure & Function. 219:1913-1922 DOI
Coutinho J., Ramos A.F., Maia L., Castro L., Conceição E., Geliebter A., Machado P.P., Gonçalves O. F. & Sampaio A. (2014) Volumetric alterations in the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus in bulimia nervosa: A structural magnetic resonance imaging study. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 48 (2), 206-214. DOI
Coutinho J., Oliveira-Silva P. & Decety J (2014) Neurosciences, Empathy, and Healthy Interpersonal Relationships: Recent Findings and Implications for Counseling Psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61 (4), 541-548. DOI
Coutinho J., Fernandes S., Soares J. M. Maia L., Gonçalves O. F. & Sampaio A. (2015) Default mode network dissociation in depressive and anxiety states. Brain Imaging and Behavior 10 (1), 147-157. DOI
Coutinho J., Gonçalves O. F., Maia L., Vasconcelos, C., Perrone-McGovern K., Simon-Dack S., Hernandez K., Oliveira-Silva P., Mesquita A. & Sampaio A (2014) Differential Activation of the Default Mode Network in Jet Lagged Individuals. Cronobiology International 32 (1), 143-149 DOI
Coutinho J., Gonçalves O. F. Soares J. M., Marques P. & Sampaio A. (2016) Alterations of the Default Mode Network Connectivity in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: A pilot study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging: 256,1-7 DOI
Other publications
Coutinho, J; Ferreirinha R., Ribeiro, E., (2010) Portuguese version of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale and its relationship with psychopathological symptoms. Revista de Psiquiatria Clínica: 37 (4), 145-151. DOI
Coutinho, J; Ribeiro E., Safran J. (2010) Interpersonal transactions in alliance rupture episodes: A case study analysis of a dropout. Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica: 19 (2), 101-115. DOI
Coutinho, J; Ribeiro E., Hill, C.; Safran J. (2011) Therapists’ and clients´ experiences of alliance ruptures: A qualitative study, Psychotherapy Research: 21 (5), 525-540 DOI
Coutinho, J; Ribeiro E., Sousa, I.; Safran J. (2013). Comparing Two Methods of Identifying Alliance Rupture Events. Psychotherapy: 51(3), 434-442. DOI
Coutinho J., Sampaio A., Ferreira M., Soares J. M. & Gonçalves, O. F. (2013) Brain Correlates of Pro-Social Personality Traits: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study. Brain Imaging & Behavior 7, 293-299 DOI
Coutinho J., Ribeiro E., Fernandes C., Sousa I. & Safran J. (2014) The development of the therapeutic alliance and the emergence of alliance ruptures. Anales de Psicologia. 30 (3), 985-994 DOI
Sampaio A.; Soares J. M., Coutinho J., Sousa N., Gonçalves O. F. (2013) The Big Five Default Brain: Functional Evidence. Brain Structure & Function. 219:1913-1922 DOI
Coutinho J., Ramos A.F., Maia L., Castro L., Conceição E., Geliebter A., Machado P.P., Gonçalves O. F. & Sampaio A. (2014) Volumetric alterations in the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus in bulimia nervosa: A structural magnetic resonance imaging study. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 48 (2), 206-214. DOI
Coutinho J., Oliveira-Silva P. & Decety J (2014) Neurosciences, Empathy, and Healthy Interpersonal Relationships: Recent Findings and Implications for Counseling Psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61 (4), 541-548. DOI
Coutinho J., Fernandes S., Soares J. M. Maia L., Gonçalves O. F. & Sampaio A. (2015) Default mode network dissociation in depressive and anxiety states. Brain Imaging and Behavior 10 (1), 147-157. DOI
Coutinho J., Gonçalves O. F., Maia L., Vasconcelos, C., Perrone-McGovern K., Simon-Dack S., Hernandez K., Oliveira-Silva P., Mesquita A. & Sampaio A (2014) Differential Activation of the Default Mode Network in Jet Lagged Individuals. Cronobiology International 32 (1), 143-149 DOI
Coutinho J., Gonçalves O. F. Soares J. M., Marques P. & Sampaio A. (2016) Alterations of the Default Mode Network Connectivity in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: A pilot study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging: 256,1-7 DOI
Coutinho J., Patrícia Oliveira-Silva P., Mesquita A., Barbosa M., Perrone-McGovern K. & Gonçalves O. F., (2017) “Psychophysiological reactivity in couples during a marital interaction task”, Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. 42 (4), 335-346.
DOI
Coutinho J., Perrone-McGovern K. M & Gonçalves O. F. (2017) “The Use of Neuroimaging in Clinical Psychological Science Research: Promises, Pitfalls and Recommendations”, Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy 51(4), 327–348 DOI
Coutinho, J. , Oliveira-Silva, P. , Fernandes, E. , Gonçalves, O. F., Correia, D. , Perrone Mc-Govern, K. and Tschacher, W. (2018), Psychophysiological Synchrony During Verbal Interaction in Romantic Relationships. Family Process. DOI
Oliveira-Oliveira-Silva, P., Maia, L., Coutinho, J., Frank, B., Soares, J. M., Sampaio, A., & Gonçalves, Ó. F. (2018). Empathy by default: correlates in the brain at rest. Psicothema. 30 (1), 97-103 DOI
Queirós A, Fernandes E, Reniers R, Sampaio A, Coutinho J, & Seara-Cardoso A. (2018) Psychometric properties of the questionnaire of cognitive and affective empathy in a Portuguese sample. PLOS ONE 13(6): e0197755. DOI
Coutinho, J; Ribeiro E., Safran J. (2009) Resolution of Ruptures in Therapeutic Alliance: Its Role on Change Processes According to a Relational Approach. Análise Psicológica: 4, 479-491. DOI
Esménio S., Soares J. M., Oliveira-Silva P., Zeidman P. , Razi A., Gonçalves O.F., Friston K. & Coutinho J. (2018) Using resting-state DMN effective connectivity to characterize the neurofunctional architecture of empathy. Scientific Reports DOI
Ribeiro, E; Coutinho J; Sousa Z & Machado C. (2011) Rupturas na aliança terapêutica e expressão verbal de necessidades do cliente: Um estudo de caso. Revista Brasileira de Terapia Comportamental e Cognitiva: 13 (1) 71-86. DOI
Ribeiro, E., Fernandes, C., Santos, B., Ribeiro, A., Coutinho, J., Angus, L., & Greenberg, L. (2014) The Development of Therapeutic Collaboration in a Good Outcome Case of Client-Centered Therapy. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies. 13(2) 150-168 DOI
Coutinho J., Beiramar A., Silva C., Calvo A., Lima V., Grace R., Oliveira-Silva P., Gonçalves O.& Sampaio A. (2015). Evidências de validade da Versão Portuguesa do Índice de Reatividade Interpessoal para Avaliação da Empatia em Casais”. Avaliação Psicológica. 14(3), pp.309-317. DOI
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