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dr. Gary BrucatoDr. Brucato, who earned his Ph.D. at the New School for Social Research in New York City, is a clinical psychologist, researcher and author in the areas of psychotic illness and violence. Dr. Brucato has over two decades of clinical experience, having trained at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center; Beth Israel Medical Center; Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center; Long Island Jewish/Zucker Hillside Hospital Center; and Mount Sinai Services/Elmhurst Hospital Center, including work on the Riker’s Island female prisoner unit at EHC. He was additionally trained in a private forensic practice, learning to conduct evaluations for civil and criminal courts, and was employed at Zucker Hillside’s Recognition and Prevention program for early psychosis from 2008 to 2012.
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From 2013 to 2021, Dr. Brucato served as the Assistant Director of the Center of Prevention and Evaluation at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, where he was an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where he was a Research Scientist. COPE, in conjunction with several other worldwide psychosis programs, has helped to define and elucidate the clinical and biological features of the Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome (APS), included in the appendix of the DSM-5 as a category warranting further research. In this role, Dr. Brucato clinically evaluated and conducted grant-funded research with individuals experiencing early symptoms of psychotic disorders, contributing to the literature on the phenomenology and development of such conditions; co-designed a novel model regarding the interplay of psychosis and violence risk; helped to design and pilot a new screening measure for violence; and co-created, with Dr. Ragy R. Girgis, the Columbia Mass Murder Database, which examined behavioral, psychological and psychiatric features of worldwide mass murderers who employed firearms or any other methods between 1900 and 2019. Dr. Brucato also directed COPE’s psychology externship program and oversaw community outreach, teaching about psychosis and violence risk at academic sites, hospitals and clinics throughout the Tri-State area.
Dr. Brucato is presently a Visiting Scholar at Boston College, where he collaborates with Drs. Ann W. Burgess and Victor Petreca on forensic research. They have examined crimes, such as murder, including serial killing; sex offenses; mutilation and dismemberment; and the insanity defense. He is currently serving as a consultant on a grant-funded project by Burgess and Petreca, analyzing murders involving asphyxiation by strangulation and other means. He is a member of Dr. Burgess’ Super Sleuths group, in which experts from diverse forensic disciplines convene to provide consultation on various cold cases.
Dr. Brucato is also in full-time private practice in New York City, and additionally conducts psychological and forensic evaluations. He is employed by the City University of New York (CUNY) to provide psychiatric medical leave evaluations related to issues such as psychosis, suicidality and violence for students throughout its network of colleges. He is consulted by individuals, families and professionals throughout the country.
In 2019, Dr. Brucato cowrote The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime, expanding prior work by his coauthor, Dr. Michael H. Stone, to present a comprehensive system of categorizing motives for a wide array of offenses, ranging from self-defense to severe torture in the context of serial killing. They examined the contributions of aberrant personality structures, including narcissism, psychopathy and sadism in such acts, as well as the potential influences of cultural changes in the modern Western world. The New Evil is presently used as a textbook in several American forensic training programs and, in 2020, was ranked #91 in ShortForm’s list of “The Best Forensic Psychology Books of All-Time.” Dr. Brucato also coauthored the book Understanding and Caring for People with Schizophrenia: Fifteen Clinical Cases (2020) with Drs. Ragy R. Girgis and Jeffrey A. Lieberman. He has written over 50 articles for peer-reviewed journals and given over 25o professional presentations on the symptoms, prediction and impacts of psychosis and violence.
Dr. Brucato has been active in the media, appearing on or consulting for several true crime documentaries, including First Blood for A&E, The Serial Psyche for Reelz and Helter Skelter: An American Myth for Epix. His work has been featured by numerous news outlets and podcasts on the subjects of psychotic illness; severe personality disorders; serial, mass and spree murder; and sexual assault, such as Newsweek, Psychology Today, USA Today, WebMD, Volksrant, Science Magazine, WINK News, and The Cut. In 2021, he was invited to write for Psychology Today, authoring the blog Probing the Unfathomable: Understanding Modern Violent Crime.
Dr. Brucato was invited to join the Cold Case Foundation’s expert resource team, to assist with review of unsolved cases, in 2022.
Dr. Brucato is presently a Visiting Scholar at Boston College, where he collaborates with Drs. Ann W. Burgess and Victor Petreca on forensic research. They have examined crimes, such as murder, including serial killing; sex offenses; mutilation and dismemberment; and the insanity defense. He is currently serving as a consultant on a grant-funded project by Burgess and Petreca, analyzing murders involving asphyxiation by strangulation and other means. He is a member of Dr. Burgess’ Super Sleuths group, in which experts from diverse forensic disciplines convene to provide consultation on various cold cases.
Dr. Brucato is also in full-time private practice in New York City, and additionally conducts psychological and forensic evaluations. He is employed by the City University of New York (CUNY) to provide psychiatric medical leave evaluations related to issues such as psychosis, suicidality and violence for students throughout its network of colleges. He is consulted by individuals, families and professionals throughout the country.
In 2019, Dr. Brucato cowrote The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime, expanding prior work by his coauthor, Dr. Michael H. Stone, to present a comprehensive system of categorizing motives for a wide array of offenses, ranging from self-defense to severe torture in the context of serial killing. They examined the contributions of aberrant personality structures, including narcissism, psychopathy and sadism in such acts, as well as the potential influences of cultural changes in the modern Western world. The New Evil is presently used as a textbook in several American forensic training programs and, in 2020, was ranked #91 in ShortForm’s list of “The Best Forensic Psychology Books of All-Time.” Dr. Brucato also coauthored the book Understanding and Caring for People with Schizophrenia: Fifteen Clinical Cases (2020) with Drs. Ragy R. Girgis and Jeffrey A. Lieberman. He has written over 50 articles for peer-reviewed journals and given over 25o professional presentations on the symptoms, prediction and impacts of psychosis and violence.
Dr. Brucato has been active in the media, appearing on or consulting for several true crime documentaries, including First Blood for A&E, The Serial Psyche for Reelz and Helter Skelter: An American Myth for Epix. His work has been featured by numerous news outlets and podcasts on the subjects of psychotic illness; severe personality disorders; serial, mass and spree murder; and sexual assault, such as Newsweek, Psychology Today, USA Today, WebMD, Volksrant, Science Magazine, WINK News, and The Cut. In 2021, he was invited to write for Psychology Today, authoring the blog Probing the Unfathomable: Understanding Modern Violent Crime.
Dr. Brucato was invited to join the Cold Case Foundation’s expert resource team, to assist with review of unsolved cases, in 2022.