Dr. Downs is a clinical psychologist and the bestselling author of seven books, including the internationally acclaimed The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World. His work is acclaimed internationally and has been published in over 27 languages. He is a sought-after conference speaker, workshop leader, and frequent media commentator on the psychology of gay men. He has more than 25 years of experience in working with individuals from all walks of life. Currently, he consults with individuals and couples via the internet from around the world. In addition to his expertise in working with gay men, he is an intensively trained Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) therapist who has worked with individuals as well as therapists who are seeking to learn mindfulness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance skills which are so effectively taught within the DBT therapeutic framework. Most recently, Dr. Downs has been quoted in Vogue, The Guardian, and The New York Times.