Shannon M. Lynch

Professor of Psychology, Idaho State University

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About Shannon

Dr. Lynch's research focuses on exposure to interpersonal violence, mental health, and treatment needs in incarcerated populations. In 2021, Dr. Lynch coauthored a book focused on the intersections of trauma, mental health, and substance use in incarcerated women and girls. Dr. Lynch currently serves on the diversion subcommittee of the Idaho Behavioral Health Council to support Idaho's efforts to increase diversion options for individuals with mental health concerns. She has a long history of sharing her research findings with criminal legal system stakeholders across the state and speaks on trauma, ACES, and mental health as risk factors for offending for a variety of audiences.

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Contributions

Cumulative Trauma Exposure, Emotion Regulation, and PTSD among Incarcerated Women

Commentary, August 2019

Publications

"An Examination of the Associations Among Victimization, Mental Health, and Offending in Women" (with Dana D. DeHart, Joanne Belknap, Bonnie L. Green, Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, Kristine M. Johnson, and Maria M. Wong). Criminal Justice and Behavior 44, no. 6 (2017): 796-814.

Examines interpersonal violence and mental health as predictors of women's offending histories in 491 women in jail.

"Predictors of Incarcerated Women’s Postrelease PTSD, Depression, and Substance-Use Problems" (with Nicole Heath). Journal of Offender Rehabiliation 56, no. 3 (2017): 157-172.

Examines whether women's mental health changed post release and examined predictors of women's mental health and substance use post release. Finds interpersonal violence exposure and coping predicted mental health problems and substance use in formerly incarcerated women.

"A Multisite Study of the Prevalence of Serious Mental Illness, PTSD, and Substance Use Disorders of Women in Jail" (with Dana DeHart, Joanne Belknap, Bonnie Green, Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, Kristine A. Johnson, and Elizabeth Whalley). Psychiatric Services 65, no. 5 (May 2014): 670-674.

Reports the prevalence of serious mental illness and PTSD in a sample of 491 women in jails in four geographic regions.

"Life History Models of Female Offending: The Roles of Serious Mental Illness and Trauma in Women’s Pathways to Jail" (with Dana DeHart, Joanne Belknap, Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, and Bonnie Green). Psychology of Women Quarterly 38, no. 1 (2014): 138-151.

Uses mixed methods to identify risk factors for women's entry into the criminal justice system. Finds serious mental health disorders, substance use, witnessing violence, and caregiver violence were all associated with onset of specific criminal behaviors.

"Seeking Safety: An Intervention for Trauma Exposed Incarcerated Women?" (with Nicole M. Heath, Kathleen C. Mathews, and Galatia J. Cepeda). Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 13 (2012): 1-14.

Describes implementation of Seeking Safety, a treatment for concurrent PTSD and substance use disorder, with women in prison and reports on women's improvements in PTSD and depression symptoms and coping compared to women who were waitlisted for the group.

"Gendered Pathways to Crime: The Relationship between Victimization and Oﬀending" (with Dana DeHart) in Routledge International Handbook of Crime and Gender Studies, edited by Claire M. Renzetti, Susan L. Miller, and Angela R. Gover, (Routledge, 2012).

Summarizes literature highlighting the overlap among experiences of victimization and offending in women and girls.