John Piacentini

Last updated

John Piacentini
Born
John Piacentini

United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Georgia
Known forResearch on obsessive–compulsive disorder, tic disorders, trichotillomania
Scientific career
Fields Clinical psychologist
Institutions University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA School of Medicine

John Piacentini, PhD, ABPP, is an American clinical child and adolescent psychologist, and professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. [1] He is the director of the Center for Child Anxiety, Resilience, Education and Support (CARES), [2] and the Child OCD, Anxiety and Tic Disorders Program at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. [1]

Contents

Work

Piacentini's research focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy and other treatments for children with obsessive–compulsive disorder, other anxiety disorders, [3] Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders, [4] and trichotillomania. [5] He co-developed the Child OC Impact Scale-Revised (COIS-R) for obsessive–compulsive disorder. [6]

Professional associations

Piacentini is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association [7] and the Association for Psychological Science. [8]

He has served as president of the American Board of Professional Psychology, [9] and the Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology.[ citation needed ] He is Chair of the Tourette Association of America Behavioral Sciences Consortium. [10] He served on advisory or scientific boards of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, [11] the International OCD Foundation, [12] and the TLC Foundation for Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors. [5]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourette syndrome</span> Neurodevelopmental disorder involving motor and vocal tics

Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinking, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing, and facial movements. These are typically preceded by an unwanted urge or sensation in the affected muscles known as a premonitory urge, can sometimes be suppressed temporarily, and characteristically change in location, strength, and frequency. Tourette's is at the more severe end of a spectrum of tic disorders. The tics often go unnoticed by casual observers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tic</span> Sudden movement or vocalization

A tic is a sudden and repetitive motor movement or vocalization that is not rhythmic and involves discrete muscle groups. It is typically brief, and may resemble a normal behavioral characteristic or gesture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Excoriation disorder</span> Medical condition

Excoriation disorder, more commonly known as dermatillomania, is a mental disorder on the obsessive–compulsive spectrum that is characterized by the repeated urge or impulse to pick at one's own skin, to the extent that either psychological or physical damage is caused.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PANDAS</span> Hypothesis in pediatric medicine

Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) is a controversial hypothetical diagnosis for a subset of children with rapid onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or tic disorders. Symptoms are proposed to be caused by group A streptococcal (GAS), and more specifically, group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal (GABHS) infections. OCD and tic disorders are hypothesized to arise in a subset of children as a result of a post-streptococcal autoimmune process. The proposed link between infection and these disorders is that an autoimmune reaction to infection produces antibodies that interfere with basal ganglia function, causing symptom exacerbations, and this autoimmune response results in a broad range of neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Stereotypic movement disorder (SMD) is a motor disorder with onset in childhood involving restrictive and/or repetitive, nonfunctional motor behavior, that markedly interferes with normal activities or results in bodily injury. To be classified as SMD, the behavior in question must not be due to the direct effects of a substance, autism, or another medical condition. The cause of this disorder is not known.

Tourette syndrome is an inherited neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence, characterized by the presence of motor and phonic tics. The management of Tourette syndrome has the goal of managing symptoms to achieve optimum functioning, rather than eliminating symptoms; not all persons with Tourette's require treatment, and there is no cure or universally effective medication. Explanation and reassurance alone are often sufficient treatment; education is an important part of any treatment plan.

Causes and origins of Tourette syndrome have not been fully elucidated. Tourette syndrome is an inherited neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence, characterized by the presence of multiple motor tics and at least one phonic tic, which characteristically wax and wane. Tourette's syndrome occurs along a spectrum of tic disorders, which includes transient tics and chronic tics.

Sensory phenomena are general feelings, urges or bodily sensations. They are present in many conditions including autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, neuropathy, obsessive–compulsive disorder, pain conditions, tardive syndromes, and tic disorders.

Habit reversal training (HRT) is a "multicomponent behavioral treatment package originally developed to address a wide variety of repetitive behavior disorders".

The Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is a test to rate the severity of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms.

The obsessive–compulsive spectrum is a model of medical classification where various psychiatric, neurological and/or medical conditions are described as existing on a spectrum of conditions related to obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). "The disorders are thought to lie on a spectrum from impulsive to compulsive where impulsivity is said to persist due to deficits in the ability to inhibit repetitive behavior with known negative consequences, while compulsivity persists as a consequence of deficits in recognizing completion of tasks." OCD is a mental disorder characterized by obsessions and/or compulsions. An obsession is defined as "a recurring thought, image, or urge that the individual cannot control". Compulsion can be described as a "ritualistic behavior that the person feels compelled to perform". The model suggests that many conditions overlap with OCD in symptomatic profile, demographics, family history, neurobiology, comorbidity, clinical course and response to various pharmacotherapies. Conditions described as being on the spectrum are sometimes referred to as obsessive–compulsive spectrum disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edna Foa</span> Israeli psychologist

Edna Foa is an Israeli professor of clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she serves as the director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. Foa is an internationally renowned authority in the field of psychopathology and treatment of anxiety. She approaches the understanding and treatment of mental disorders from a cognitive-behavioral perspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obsessive–compulsive disorder</span> Mental and behavioral disorder

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and feels the need to perform certain routines (compulsions) repeatedly to relieve the distress caused by the obsession, to the extent where it impairs general function.

Susan Swedo is a researcher in the field of pediatrics and neuropsychiatry. Beginning in 1998, she was Chief of the Pediatrics & Developmental Neuroscience Branch at the US National Institute of Mental Health. In 1994, Swedo was lead author on a paper describing pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS), a controversial hypothesis proposing a link between Group A streptococcal infection in children and some rapid-onset cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or tic disorders such as Tourette syndrome. Swedo retired from the NIH in 2019, and serves on the PANDAS Physician Network.

The cause of obsessive–compulsive disorder is understood mainly through identifying biological risk factors that lead to obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) symptomology. The leading hypotheses propose the involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and/or the limbic system, with discoveries being made in the fields of neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neuroimmunology, neurogenetics, and neuroethology.

James Frederick Leckman is an American child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and the Neison Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry, Psychology and Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, recognized for his research in Tourette syndrome (TS) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).

The University of Florida Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder Program is a treatment and research clinic in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Florida. The clinic is located in Gainesville, Florida.

The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) is a psychological measure designed to assess the severity and frequency of symptoms of disorders such as tic disorder, Tourette syndrome, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, in children and adolescents between ages 6 and 17.

Jonathan Stuart Abramowitz is an American clinical psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). He is an expert on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders whose work is highly cited. He maintains a research lab and currently serves as the Director of the UNC-CH Clinical Psychology PhD Program. Abramowitz approaches the understanding and treatment of psychological problems from a cognitive-behavioral perspective.

Bunmi O. Olatunji is an American psychologist who is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Social Sciences at Vanderbilt University. He is Director of the Emotion and Anxiety Research Laboratory and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the Vanderbilt University Graduate School. Olatunji studies the psychopathology of obsessive–compulsive disorder.

References

  1. 1 2 "UCLA Childhood OCD, Anxiety & Tic Disorders Program". UCLA Childhood OCD, Anxiety & Tic Disorders Program. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  2. "Featured Team Member". UCLA Center for Child Anxiety, Resilience, Education and Support. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  3. "Effective treatment for youth anxiety disorders has lasting benefit". www.sciencedaily.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  4. McGuire JF, Murphy TK, Piacentini J, Storch EA, eds (2018). The Clinician’s Guide to Treatment and Management of Youth with Tourette Syndrome and Tic Disorders. Academic Press. ISBN   978-0128119808
  5. 1 2 "Scientific Advisory Board". The TLC Foundation. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  6. Piacentini J, Peris TS, Bergman RL, Chang S, Jaffer M (2007). "Functional impairment in childhood OCD: development and psychometrics properties of the Child Obsessive-Compulsive Impact Scale-Revised (COIS-R)". J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 36 (4): 645–53. doi:10.1080/15374410701662790. PMID   18088221. S2CID   40489595.
  7. "Division 53 Division Fellows". www.clinicalchildpsychology.org.
  8. "Association for Psychological Science: APS Fellows". www.psychologicalscience.org. Archived from the original on June 25, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  9. "Board of Trustees – 2020". American Board of Professional Psychology. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  10. "TAA Behavior Sciences Consortium". Tourette Association of America. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  11. "Anxiety and Depression: Personalized Treatments for Anxiety and Mood Disorders" (PDF). Anxiety and Depression Association of America. March 2014. Scientific Council, p. 101. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  12. "2016 Annual Report" (PDF). International OCD Foundation. Scientific & Clinical Advisory Board, p. 25. Retrieved June 21, 2020.