About
Zachary S. Appenzeller, PsyD, is an assistant professor in the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. He provides evidence-based treatments for adolescents and adults with eating disorders at the outpatient, intensive outpatient, and partial hospitalization levels of care.
As a licensed clinical psychologist, Appenzeller broadly specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapies for a range of presenting concerns, with special interest and expertise in the treatment of eating disorders (particularly anorexia and bulimia nervosa), anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and personality disorders. Problem-specific treatments he provides are enhanced cognitive behavior therapy, Maudsley family-based treatment, exposure and response prevention, dialectical behavior therapy, and radically open dialectical behavior therapy.
In his work with adults, and adolescents and their parents, Appenzeller’s ultimate goal is helping his patients understand and effectively address their maladaptive behaviors and beliefs in order to decrease their suffering and enhance their quality of life.
Appenzeller earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Washington, DC. He also completed his predoctoral internship at the Ascension Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital’s Center for Eating Disorders and Center for Anxiety and OCD. He went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health at Baylor College of Medicine in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences’ OCD and Related Disorders Program.
Appenzeller previously served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston–Clear Lake, where he taught doctoral and master-level psychology courses on the development and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, psychotherapy skills, and professional orientation. He also trained previously at the Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington, the Arlington/DC Behavior Therapy Institute, MedStar Georgetown Center for Wellbeing in School Environments, Rankin Behavioral Health’s Dialectical Behavior Therapy programs, the Capital Center for Psychotherapy and Wellness, Insight Psychological Services, the Addiction Center of Broome County, the High Frontier youth residential treatment center, and the Institute for Child Development at Binghamton University.