Sherry H. Stewart

My name is Sherry H. Stewart, and my academic career has been shaped by a long-standing interest in the relationship between addictions, mental health, personality, and gambling-related behavior.

Over the years, I have focused on understanding why individuals develop harmful patterns of alcohol use, substance misuse, and gambling, and why these behaviors so often overlap with anxiety, mood disorders, and trauma-related conditions.

I have spent much of my career at Dalhousie University, where I hold appointments in Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, and Community Health and Epidemiology. I also serve as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Addictions and Mental Health, which reflects the scope and impact of my research work.

My Academic Foundations

My academic journey began at Dalhousie University, where I completed my undergraduate studies, before continuing to McGill University, where I earned my PhD in Clinical Psychology.

During my doctoral work, I focused on anxiety sensitivity and alcohol use, a topic that later became central to my broader research program. I became particularly interested in how emotional vulnerability shapes behavior — an idea that later extended into my studies of gambling.

My Work at Dalhousie University

Throughout my career, Dalhousie has been my primary academic home. Here, I have explored how personality traits, emotional states, and motives influence addictive behaviors.

I also lead research through the MAAC Lab, where we investigate the complex overlap between mood disorders, anxiety, and addictions.

This interdisciplinary approach has allowed me to better understand not only individual behaviors, but also the broader systems that influence them.

My Research and Scientific Contributions

To better understand the scope of my academic work, below is a selection of key studies and publications that have shaped my research in gambling and addiction.

My Career Path and Institutional Work

My career has not been limited to a single role or institution. Over time, I have worked across multiple departments, research initiatives, and national programs.

To give a clearer picture of my professional journey, here is a structured overview of my academic path and affiliations.

Academic Timeline and Positions

My Approach to Gambling Research

Gambling has been a significant part of my research, but I have never viewed it as an isolated behavior.

Instead, I approach gambling as part of a broader psychological system involving:

• emotional regulation
• personality traits
• coping mechanisms
• reinforcement and motivation

One of my key contributions in this area has been the development of frameworks that explain why people gamble, not just how often they do.

Core Areas of My Research

Over the years, my work has expanded into multiple interconnected areas, all linked by a central question:

why do people engage in risky or addictive behaviors?

To better illustrate this, the table below outlines the main research directions that define my work.

Research Areas Overview

My Work on Comorbidity

One of the central themes of my career has been comorbidity, or the co-occurrence of multiple conditions.

I have consistently studied how gambling overlaps with:

• alcohol use disorders
• anxiety disorders
• depression
• trauma-related symptoms

This perspective has helped shift the field away from viewing gambling as a standalone issue and toward understanding it as part of a broader mental health landscape.

Leadership and Research Impact

Beyond publications, I have also led large-scale research initiatives and prevention programs.

I have been involved in projects such as:

• UniVenture (student mental health and prevention)
• Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM)

These initiatives reflect my commitment not only to research, but also to real-world impact and prevention.

How I See My Career

Looking back, I see my career as an effort to understand the deeper psychological mechanisms behind addiction and gambling.

I have always believed that:

• behavior is driven by underlying emotional and cognitive processes
• addiction is rarely isolated
• effective prevention requires understanding the individual

Gambling, in this sense, is not just a behavior — it is part of a much larger psychological picture.

My work has always been guided by a simple idea:

to better understand people, we must understand why they do what they do, not just what they do.

Through my research in addiction, mental health, and gambling, I have tried to contribute to a more nuanced, human-centered understanding of risk and behavior.

Expanding My Research into Real-World Impact

As my research evolved, I became increasingly focused not only on understanding addictive behaviors, but also on how this knowledge could be applied in real-world settings. For me, it has always been important that research does not remain purely theoretical. I have wanted my work to contribute to practical solutions that can help individuals, communities, and healthcare systems respond more effectively to addiction and mental health challenges.

One of the directions I pursued was the development of personality-targeted interventions. I became interested in how individual differences — such as impulsivity, anxiety sensitivity, and sensation seeking — could be used to design more precise prevention strategies. Rather than treating everyone in the same way, I believed we could create programs tailored to specific psychological profiles.

This approach led to my involvement in large-scale initiatives such as UniVenture, which focuses on supporting university students by addressing mental health risks early. These programs aim to reduce harmful behaviors, including substance misuse and gambling-related risks, by targeting the underlying psychological factors before they develop into more serious problems.

Another important part of my work has been collaboration with national research networks and interdisciplinary teams. Addiction and gambling are complex issues that require input from multiple fields, including psychology, psychiatry, public health, and policy. By working across these areas, I have been able to contribute to a more integrated understanding of how these problems develop and how they can be prevented.

I have also continued to explore how emotional states, environmental cues, and learned behaviors influence decision-making. In the context of gambling, this has meant studying how triggers, expectations, and reinforcement patterns shape behavior over time.

Ultimately, my goal has remained consistent: to bridge the gap between research and application, and to ensure that scientific insights lead to meaningful improvements in prevention, treatment, and public understanding of addiction and gambling.