Prof. Stéphane Bouchard is Canada Research Chair in Clinical Cyberpsychology and full professor of clinical psychology at the University of Quebec in Outaouais. As a registered psychologist and scientist-practitioner, he has dedicated over two decades to developing clinically useful interventions and conducting rigorous research on telepsychotherapy and virtual reality treatments for anxiety disorders, PTSD, pathological gambling, and other mental health conditions.
Prof. Bouchard pioneered research on telepresence in videoconferencing psychotherapy, demonstrating that the subjective experience of "being together" remotely predicts therapeutic alliance strength more powerfully than technical quality. His randomized controlled trials have established non-inferiority of telepsychotherapy across panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, and major depression, with very large effect sizes maintained at 12-month follow-up.
His research program encompasses treatment efficacy studies, experimental investigations of therapeutic mechanisms, technology security protocols, and ethical frameworks for remote intervention. Prof. Bouchard has published extensively on alliance-building in virtual contexts, environmental management strategies, and patient selection criteria for videoconferencing modalities.
He has received numerous distinctions including the prestigious Adrien Pinard Prize for significant contributions to psychology. Prof. Bouchard's work bridges rigorous empirical research with practical clinical application, providing mental health professionals with evidence-based protocols for delivering psychotherapy remotely while maintaining the therapeutic rigor expected in face-to-face practice.