Nisha Gupta, Ph.D.

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

678-839-0698
ngupta@westga.ed6u4d9d1VvGlqBzVGu

Melson Hall - Room 205
Office Hours
By appointment

Nisha Gupta, Ph.D.

DR. NISHA GUPTA is an associate professor of psychology at the University of West Georgia, an arts-based phenomenological researcher, a psychotherapist, and creativity scholar. Her work as a researcher, artist, therapist, and educator seeks to embrace the creative process as a vehicle for evoking empathic understanding, fostering joy and well-being, and building beloved community. Nisha has a developed an innovative research method for psychology called "arts-based phenomenological research," which involves conducting qualitative research about people's psychological experiences, and then disseminating the research findings to the public as art (filmmaking, painting, poetry, music) for psychoeducation and community healing.  At the University of West Georgia, she founded the "Phenomenological Art Collective" a research lab through which she teaches students her arts-based phenomenological research method.  She also facilitates art therapy workshops for community organizations using her arts-based phenomenological method.

Trained as a clinical psychologist, Nisha is also a private practice psychotherapist. She offers individual and couples counseling for clients of diverse backgrounds and identities. She integrates psychodynamic, internal family systems, Jungian, mindfulness, and liberation psychotherapy approaches to provide culturally-sensitive, insight-oriented, trauma-informed therapy for clients. Nisha received her education at New York University (M.A.) and Duquesne University (Ph.D.), and has a background in the advertising industry prior to her 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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Fall 2020 Sections

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.