Sharon Brehm

Sharon Stephens Brehm (April 18, 1945 – March 30, 2018) was an American psychologist who served as president of the American Psychological Association (APA). She was a professor of psychology at the University of Kansas. She held administrative roles at Binghamton University and Ohio University, before becoming chancellor of Indiana University Bloomington.

Early life and career Brehm was born in Roanoke, Virginia on April 18, 1945. She earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Duke University. She went to Harvard University for an AM in clinical psychology and then returned to Duke to earn a PhD in clinical psychology.

Brehm spent 15 years at the University of Kansas, where she taught psychology and directed the honors program. She served as dean of arts and sciences at the Binghamton University from 1990 to 1996. She later served as provost at Ohio University and she was chancellor at Indiana University Bloomington between 2001 and 2003.

She served as the 2007 president of the APA. Jack Brehm constructed the theory of reactance and Sharon adapted it to the clinical psychology setting.

In a 2013 interview, Brehm discussed her Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, the early symptoms of which had appeared in 2010. She died from complications of the disease on March 30, 2018, at the age of 72.

Works Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and Control (with J. W. Brehm, 1981) Intimate Relationships (with Rowland Miller and Daniel Perlman, multiple editions)