About

Damon J. Murphy, Psy.D.

My name is Dr. Murphy and I am an African American licensed clinical psychologist in Virginia. Since 2012 I have been providing psychological care to military service members in the National Capital Region. I graduated with my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University/DC in August 2011 and earned my Masters of Arts in Professional Counseling from the same institution in 2003.  I began my career in mental health in 1996 when I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Florida International University in Miami. My doctoral clinical research project is entitled “The Role of Double Minority Stress in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission among Black gay men,” which looks at the contributions of double minority stress to health outcomes.

My journey in this field was born very early in life as a youth growing up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York. Due to experiencing the challenges of my various communities, I became interested in understanding how social forces shaped human beings on levels of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and disability.  Since that time I have applied my professional development in multiple military environments including Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Robins Air Force Base, and the Naval Branch Clinic at Indian Head. Other experience include Psychogeriatric Services, the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, and Howard University’s Counseling Service. Other settings include the District of Columbia Superior Court’s Child Guidance Clinic, the Northern Virginia Training Center, Fairfax County Woodburn Place/Crisis Care Program, and the Art Institute of Washington. I am licensed both in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

I practice individual and group therapy from both insight-oriented psychodynamic work and action-oriented Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques.  In addition, I may employ experiential exercises that help the client become actively engaged in their healing in a “here-and-now” way. My psychological evaluation experiences include adolescent forensic evaluations, mild to severe cognitive disabilities, undergraduate and graduate students, and active duty military service members. Typical tests involve the following: cognitive/executive Functioning, ADHD, PTSD/Trauma-related disorders, Mood, Anxiety, Somatic, and Personality Disorders, and fitness-for-duty military evaluations. My aim is to provide the highest quality psychological care possible and to create sustainable improvement my client’s lives.

Memberships:

• American Psychological Association, Since 2002
• APA Division 51 – Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities
• National Register of Health Service Psychologists, Since 2017
• Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) – Since 2022 –
• Serving patients in 37 States via PSYPACT: Click here to see if your state applies: Map – Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT)
• Society for Personality Assessment, Since 2023