Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups. Ψ (psi), the first letter of the Greek word psyche from which the term psychology is derived, is commonly associated with the science.
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how individuals relate to each other and to their environments.
Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is listed in the DSM-5 under Disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders and defined as "a pattern of angry/irritable mood, argumentative/defiant behavior, or vindictiveness". This behavior is usually targeted toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures. Unlike conduct disorder (CD), those with ODD do not show patterns of aggression towards people or animals, destruction of property, theft, or deceit. It has certain links to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and as many as one half of children with ODD also fulfill the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.
Russell Alan Barkley is a clinical psychologist who is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the VCU Medical Center and an author of books on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Involved in research since 1973 and a licensed psychologist since 1977, he is an expert on ADHD and has devoted much of his scientific career to studying ADHD and related fields like childhood defiance. He proposed to change the name of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) to concentration deficit disorder (CDD).
Thomas M. Achenbach is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and President of the nonprofit Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families at the University of Vermont. His research on syndromes of psychopathology gave rise to the terms “Internalizing” and “Externalizing”. His book in 1974 about developmental psychopathology was important to the foundation of this research area.
Parent management training (PMT), also known as behavioral parent training (BPT) or simply parent training, is a family of treatment programs that aims to change parenting behaviors, teaching parents positive reinforcement methods for improving pre-school and school-age children's behavior problems.
Arnold Allan Lazarus was a South African-born clinical psychologist and researcher who specialized in cognitive therapy and is best known for developing multimodal therapy (MMT). A 1955 graduate of South Africa's CHIPS University of the Witwatersrand, Lazarus' accomplishments include authoring the first text on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) called Behaviour Therapy and Beyond and 17 other books, over 300 clinical articles, and presidencies of psychological associations; he received numerous awards including the Distinguished Psychologist Award of the Division of Psychotherapy from the American Psychological Association, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Board of Professional Psychology, and three lifetime achievement awards. Lazarus was a leader in the self-help movement beginning in the 1970s writing books on positive mental imagery and avoiding negative thoughts. He spent time teaching at various universities in the United States including Rutgers University, Stanford University, Temple University Medical School, and Yale University, and was executive director of The Lazarus Institute, a mental health services facility focusing on CBT.
David Allen Wolfe is an academic, psychologist and author specializing in issues of child abuse, domestic violence, children and youth. His work includes the promotion of healthy relationships through school programs, with a major focus on the prevention of child abuse and neglect, bullying, dating violence, unsafe sex, substance abuse and other consequences of unhealthy relationships.
Matthew K. Nock is an American clinical psychologist, the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, and the Director of the Laboratory for Clinical and Developmental Research at Harvard University. He was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.
Gerald Paul Koocher is an American psychologist and past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). His interests include ethics, clinical child psychology and the study of scientific misconduct. He is Dean Emeritus Simmons University and also holds an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School. Koocher has over 300 publications including 16 books and has edited three scholarly journals including Ethics & Behavior which he founded. Koocher was implicated as an author of the so-called "torture memos" that allowed psychologists to participate in torture during interrogations in the Hoffman Report, an APA investigation into psychologists' involvement in interrogation at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor with the University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. Rotheram is the professor-in-residence in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is the Director of the Global Center for Children and Families at UCLA and the former director of the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services.
Nadine J. Kaslow is an American psychologist, the 2014 president of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the editor of the Journal of Family Psychology. Before her current affiliation with Emory University, Kaslow worked at Yale University. She was recipient of the 2004 American Psychological Association award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology.
Sheila Eyberg is a professor at the University of Florida where she is a part of the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. Eyberg was born on 1944, in Omaha, Nebraska to Clarence George and Geraldine Elizabeth Eyberg. She is recognized for developing parent–child interaction therapy. She is the President and CEO of the PCIT International.
Riana Elyse Anderson is an American clinical and community psychologist focused on racial discrimination and black families. Anderson is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She was trained in Clinical and Community Psychology at the University of Virginia, at Yale University School of Medicine, and at the University of Pennsylvania. Riana studies how racial discrimination impacts the mental health of Black adolescents and their families. She works with therapeutic programs and community partners and shares knowledge through media, writing, and talks. She has received numerous grants, awards, and fellowships in support of her work.
Andres De Los Reyes is a professor of psychology at University of Maryland College Park. He is also the Director of the Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program Laboratory, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, the official journal of the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Division 53 of the American Psychological Association. He also founded and remains a program chair of the JCCAP Future Directions Forum, an annual conference affiliated with the journal. De Los Reyes has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters, and recently completed a term as a Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Mental Health at the University of Regina. He is known for his work on psychological assessment, particularly understanding the potential sources and implications of apparent disagreement between different people's perceptions of youth emotion and behavior, as often happens when parents, teachers, and youths are asked separately about the youth. He also works extensively on issues surrounding mentorship and skills-based approaches to early career development. He is the author of The Early Career Researcher's Toolbox: A career development guide that includes strategies for working with mentors, publishing peer-reviewed articles, and interviewing for faculty positions. Career development coaching and activities are also a prominent feature of the Future Direction Forum.
Bruce F. Chorpita is an American researcher and clinical psychologist who has worked in multiple academic and government leadership positions addressing youth mental health and improvement of clinical practice. He currently is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. He is widely published in the areas of children's mental health services, with funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Hawaii Departments of Education and Health, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation. He is co-founder and president of PracticeWise, reflecting his commitment to making knowledge and science work better to improve the lives of children and families.
Jessica Schleider is an American psychologist, author, and an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Stony Brook University. She is a faculty affiliate at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and the lab director of the Lab for Scalable Mental Health.
Katie A. McLaughlin a clinical psychologist and expert on how stress, trauma, and other adverse events, such as natural disorders or pandemics, affect behavioral and brain development during childhood and adolescence. McLaughlin is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.
