Her research focuses on the mental health effects of oppression including violence, racism, discrimination and trauma. She has examined depression and its psychosocial correlates across a range of disadvantaged populations including trauma survivors, poverty transition program clients, psychiatric outpatient samples, and immigrant/refugee women. Her current projects are investigating empowerment-based and arts-based programs for domestic violence survivors, low-income high school students, and military veterans. She is co-editor (with Dana Crowley Jack) of the book Silencing the Self Across Cultures: Depression and Gender in the Social World (Oxford University Press), and co-editor (with Niobe Way, Carol Gilligan & Pedro Noguera) of the book The Crisis of Connection (NYU Press).