Andrea Bonior (that's “BONN-yer”!) is a best-selling author, speaker, professor, and licensed clinical psychologist.

Want the academic version? Dr. Bonior received her B.A. with distinction in psychology from Yale University, with an additional major in American Studies.

She completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology at American University, with a pre-doctoral clinical internship at the University of Miami, and a post-doctoral fellowship at George Washington University.

Her training focused on individual and group psychotherapy for adults, specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders and depression. Her master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation focused on the role of various psychological variables in the connection between anxiety and alcohol use, and between hope and athletic performance anxiety, respectively.

For seventeen years, she has served on the faculty of Georgetown University, where she is a multi-year nominee for the Academic Council Honors Teaching Award, given to those professors who, by student nomination, are said to have had the most meaningful impact on students’ lives. In addition to teaching, she now serves as the Director of The Connection Project: Hoyas Connected, a new program based off of a curriculum developed by the University of Virginia that trains undergraduates to lead small groups of their peers in discussions and activities meant to increase belongingness and well-being.

In 2020, she won the national Excellence in Teaching Award, adjunct category, given by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (a division of the American Psychological Association.)

She is the author of three books: Detox Your Thoughts: Quit Negative Self-Talk for Good and Discover The Life You’ve Always Wanted, The Friendship Fix: The Complete Guide to Choosing, Losing, and Keeping Up With Your Friends, and the Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller, Psychology: Essential Thinkers, Classic Theories, and How They Inform Your World. The audiobook version of Detox Your Thoughts— which she narrated— was an Amazon Audible best-seller.

Want the real-human version? Dr. Bonior’s passion is people.

She’s made a career of translating the science of psychology into meaningful, real-life change, and it’s taken her from therapy offices to classrooms, from conference halls to newsrooms, and everywhere in between.

She is a keynote speaker on stress management, workplace wellness, coping, burnout, motivation, and emotional health, and for fifteen years was the voice behind the mental health advice column “Baggage Check” for the Washington Post, which appeared in several additional newspapers nationwide and included one of The Post’s most popular live chats. She makes frequent appearances on CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper, where he’s called her a “blessing” on air. In addition, she blogs for Psychology Today, where her pieces have been read more than 26 million times. She also consults with authors, directors, and screenwriters on psychological aspects of their characters and plotlines to ensure accuracy and realism involving mental health issues.

Dr. Bonior is a featured expert psychologist for many media outlets, on air and in print.

She maintains a part-time private therapy practice outside of Washington, DC, where she lives with her husband, their three children, and a huge Black Lab(ish!) dog who just wants a belly rub.