Lecture Series in Clinical Psychology:
Friday, October 10, 2025
4:00 p.m. | Anderson Center Chamber Hall
"Parent involvement in childhood anxiety disorders treatment: Lessons learned and clinical and research paths forward"
Wendy Silverman ’77: Director of the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program,
Child Study Center, Alfred A. Messer Professor of Child Psychiatry
and Psychology, Yale University School of Medicine.
Lecture Abstract:
Parent involvement is a widely used though not well-understood approach to treating child and adolescent anxiety disorders. This presentation will delve into theoretical and empirical foundations of involving parents in therapy, highlighting how certain parent behaviors such as reinforcement of avoidance behavior and psychological control contribute to the maintenance of child anxiety. A discussion of the comparative effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with and without parental involvement will also be provided. The presentation will conclude with evidence-based strategies to optimize parent involvement to enhance child anxiety outcomes, and future research and clinical directions and implications.
Learning Objectives
- To understand how parental behaviors contribute to the maintenance of child and adolescent anxiety disorders.
- To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of therapeutic approaches with and without parental involvement.
- To highlight unaddressed questions, future research directions, and their implications for treatment.
ÂÌñÉç Speaker: Wendy Silverman ’77
Wendy Silverman is the Alfred A. Messer Professor of Child Psychiatry, Director of the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program in the Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine, and Professor of Psychology. She is a proud undergraduate alumnus of ÂÌñÉç and Case Western Research University in Cleveland for her graduate work.
Silverman’s research focuses on factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety and related disorders in children and in developing and testing assessment measures and treatments. She has published widely in the field and for over the past three decades, she has served as principal investigator of National Institute of Health research grants. She has contributed to the profession by serving as Chairperson and member of federal grant review panels, as Editor and Associate Editor of major journals in clinical psychology, and Past President of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.
Silverman has been recognized for her mentoring including receiving a NIMH midcareer research-mentoring award. She continues to help children and families with problematic anxiety and to supervise the next generation of mental health professionals.
- 2024 Lecture/Speaker
"Clinical Virtual Reality: A Brief Review of the Future"
Albert Rizzo, Director of the Medical Virtual Reality, Institute for Creative Technologies Research Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry and Schoolof Gerontology University of Southern California - 2023 Lecture/Speaker
"Rewards and the Mood Rollercoaster: A Reward Hypersensitivity Perspective on Bipolar Spectrum Disorders"
Lauren B. Alloy, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Joseph Wolpe Distinguished Faculty in Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University.
Lauren B. Alloy, an internationally recognized researcher in mood disorders, recently presented her work on the Reward Hypersensitivity Model of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders (BSDs). She explained how an overly sensitive reward system can lead to extreme fluctuations in goal-seeking and reward responsiveness, resulting in hypomania/mania and depression.
During her presentation, Alloy shared evidence that reward hypersensitivity is a vulnerability factor for the onset and worsening of BSDs. She discussed how reward-relevant life events can trigger bipolar episodes and examined the neural reward system responses and correlates of vulnerability to BSDs. Additionally, Alloy highlighted the role of social and circadian rhythm disruptions in mediating the effects of reward-relevant life events on BSD symptoms.
She concluded by addressing the implications of reward hypersensitivity for the assessment and treatment of BSDs.
- 2021 Workshop
All-Day Workshop:
"Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Origins, Principles, Applications, & Outcomes"
Alan E. Fruzzetti - 2020 Workshop
All-Day Workshop:
"Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Mental Health Practice"
John Forsyth - 2019 Lecture/Speaker
"Contributions of Psychological Science to the Understanding and Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)"
Terence M. Keane, MA ’76, PHD ’79, SD ’11, National Center for PTSD VA Boston Healthcare System Boston University School of Medicine.
In the past four decades, we’ve experienced remarkable progress in our understanding of the prevalence of trauma exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as well as its assessment and treatment. Many of the advances have resulted from the application of psychological principles to the development of strong clinical assessment instruments and to the application of effective cognitive behavioral interventions to this condition. Reviewing this remarkable progress from the vantage point of a 42-year observer and contributor–from the initial case studies that brought attention to the disorder, to the construction of the most widely used assessment instruments, to participation in President Obama’s National Research Action Plan (2013) that created the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD, this presentation highlighted the current status of psychological treatments for PTSD while providing insights into innovative new directions for future work.
- 2018 Lecture/Speaker
"What Is Psychopathic Personality? Personal Reflections from a Bumpy 30-Year Scientific Journey"
Scott Lilienfeld, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta.
This presentation discussed Scott Lilienfeld's research of the nature and boundaries of psychopathic personality (psychopathy) from the perspective of his own research program, and those of others. Lilienfeld argued that psychopathy is not a single, unified entity and that longstanding efforts (including his own) to identify its cause(s) have been largely misguided. Lilienfeld offered evidence that psychopathy is instead an "emergent interpersonal syndrome" marked by the co-occurrence of at least three separable dispositions that, when present in conjunction, yield socially malignant outcomes. Lilienfeld examined the implications of this controversial view for the assessment, causes, treatment, and prevention of psychopathy.
- 2017 Lecture/Speaker
"The Future of Psychological Treatments: Focus on Disorders of Emotion"
David H. Barlow, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry Founder and Director Emeritus, Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders Boston University.
This presentation discussed Barlow's research, creating and disseminating evidence based treatments, developing the transdiagnostic model, and offering ideas about treatments to come. Barlow highlighted the importance of the role of temperament and the development of new assessment and interventions focusing on underlying common mechanisms of large classes of disorders across the "neurotic spectrum." Finally, Barlow offered new data on the efficacy of transdiagnostic approaches compared to more focused single diagnosis treatments along with applications of this approach to different types of problems such as eating disorders and trauma in global mental health contexts. Dr. Barlow generously made his slides available to students and alumni; you can request a copy from Mary Ellen Gates.
- 2016 Lecture/Speaker
"Alcohol and Drug Problems: How Lessons from Clinicians and Researchers are Shaping Treatment"
Barbara S. McCrady, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychology Director of The Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA) University of New Mexico.
This presentation discussed the evolution of alcohol and drug treatment in the last 40 years, and how the dynamic interplay between research and clinical practice has shaped that evolution. McCrady talked about research on the structure of the treatment delivery system, mutual help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, specific behavioral treatments, and underserved populations. McCrady also discussed the implications of the changing demography of the U.S. and how changing models for delivery of health care services may impact alcohol and drug treatment and research. Dr. McCrady generously made her slides available to students and alumni; you can request a copy from Mary Ellen Gates.
- 2015 Lecture/Speaker
"Suicide: Where We Are, Where We're Going and What's Keeping Us From Getting there"
Marsha Linehan, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology Director, Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics University of Washington.
The presentation discussed where the field of suicide intervention research started, the successes and failures that have been encountered thus far, as well as the critical issues that still need to be addressed in order to move the field forward. It included a summary of the suicide intervention research trials to date and the directions the field is heading toward addressing the complex problem of suicidal behavior.
Stephen A. Lisman Lecture Series in Clinical Psychology
The Stephen A. Lisman Annual Lecture in Clinical Psychology was established in 2015 to sponsor an annual lecture given by a top clinical psychologist in the nation. The lecture series is in honor of Professor Lisman's 43 years of service and his contributions to ÂÌñÉç and the clinical psychology field. The series is meant to enhance the quality of training and education and expose students, faculty and the ÂÌñÉç community to important topics in the profession.
Thank you to all of the alumni and friends whose generosity makes this annual event possible. Please join us in enhancing the graduate education of clinical psychology students at ÂÌñÉç, and provide leadership to practicing clinicians in the community. To support the Stephen A. Lisman lecture series .
For questions, please email Stephen A Lisman.