Mary de Young

Short Biography

Mary de Young, PhD is a Professor of Sociology at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI. Her primary research interest is the nexus between trauma, culture and memory. She has authored more than thirty scholarly articles as well as five books, the most recent of which is The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic (McFarland, 2004), and her work has been recognized with the University's Distinguished Contribution to a Discipline Award. As a Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress (B.C.E.T.S.), she has testified as an expert on sexual abuse in dozens of criminal trials and administrative hearings. Her current research focuses on madness and she is working on a book that uses a variety of primary documents to present the various perspectives on madness in US history. She holds a BS in Psychology from Grand Valley State University, an AM in Social Science from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in Sociology from Western Michigan University.