Area of Specialization: Adult Clinical Psychology

Research Advisor: Julie Exline

Research Interests: My primary research interest is in mental health processes after pulling away from a high-cost religious organization. Specifically, I am interested in understanding which factors impact healthy adjustment to one’s new life after religious disaffiliation.

Selected Publications & Presentations: 

Exline, J. J., Keller, Y., Moffitt, A. C., & Pargament, K. I. (2024). Doubt as a form of spiritual struggle. Invited chapter for editorial consideration in K. Rios, P. Carroll, & K. Olesen (Eds.), Handbook of the uncertain self, (2nd ed.). Routledge. [revision submitted]

Keller, Y. (2024). [Review of the book Complex and traumatic loss: Fostering healing and resilience, by F. Walsh]. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, (advance online publication). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-024-09624-y

Keller, Y., Chavarga, A., Hirsch, E., Eisen, P., Miles, R. (2023). Gender differences in disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism. Religion and Gender, (advance online publication). https://doi.org/10.1163/18785417-bja10013

 Miles, R., Chavarga, A., Hirsch, E., Eisen, P., & Keller, Y. (2023). Reasons for leaving: Causes and initial triggers for disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 62(3), 500-522. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12840

Keller, Y. & Exline, J.J. (2024, August). Pulling away from a high-cost religion: The role of forgiveness. In C. Park (chair), Beyond the sacred: Seeking alternative paths in the search for meaning and transcendence. Symposium at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA.

 Keller, Y. & Exline, J.J. (2024, April). Moving on: How experiences in ultra-Orthodox Judaism associate with forgiveness attitudes and mental health after religious deidentification. In J.J. Exline (chair), Spiritual struggle research: New horizons, diverse populations, and existential perspectives. Panel at the 2024 Division 36 Mid-Year Conference: Spiritual & Religious Perspectives in Psychology, Princeton, NJ.

Keller, Y., David, Y., & Trachtenberg, E. (2024, February). On a new path: Social support, social media engagement, and wellbeing after religious disaffiliation [Poster presentation]. 2024 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention, San Diego, CA.

Keller, Y., Chavarga, A., Hirsch, E., Eisen, P., & Miles, R. (2023, December). Should I stay or should I go? How experiences in Orthodox Judaism vary by gender identity. In S. Shuman (chair), Orthodox women’s perspectives on religious gender identity in liminal spaces. Panel at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Association for Jewish Studies, San Francisco, CA.

Keller, Y., Chavarga, A., Hirsch, E., Eisen, P., & Miles, R. (2022, May) Gender differences in motivations of disaffiliating from Orthodox Judaism [Poster presentation]. 31^st Annual Brooklyn College Science Research Day, virtual.

 Keller, Y., Miles, R., Eisen, P., Hirsch, E., & Chavarga, A. (2022, April). Religious disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism: Social, psychological, and intellectual factors related to exiting [Poster presentation]. 2022 Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Annual Convention, Salt Lake City, UT.

Robles, S. & Keller, Y. (2021, June). College counseling in the new millennium: The role of data driven cultural competence [Paper presentation]. Counseling Centers of New York 39^th Annual Conference, virtual.