John Piacentini, Ph.D., is a Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and founding Director of both the UCLA Child OCD, Anxiety and Tic Disorders Program, and the UCLA Center for Child Anxiety, Resilience, Education, and Support (UCLA CARES).

His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and other leading mental health foundations and organizations, and focuses on the development and testing of effective treatments for youth anxiety, OCD, tics, and body focused repetitive disorders. This work has resulted in over 300 scientific papers and seven books.

John has held leadership positions in multiple national organizations, including as current Chair for the Scientific Advisor Board (SAB) for the TLC Foundation for BFRBs and SAB Co-Chair for the Tourette Association of America.  He is also a former president of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP), and a founding fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. John is a frequent lecturer and has taught thousands of clinicians, educators and parents around the world in the recognition and and management of anxiety and other child mental health problems.

John received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Georgia and completed his predoctoral internship at UCLA, and post-doctoral training at Columbia University/NY State Psychiatric Institute, where he was also a faculty member for several years.

Select Publications:

1. Walkup, J., Albano, A.M., PIACENTINI, J., Birmaher, B., Compton, S., Sherrill, J., Ginsburg, G., Rynn, M., McCracken, J., Waslick, B., Iyengar, S., March, J., & Kendall, P. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, sertraline and their combination for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders: acute phase efficacy and safety. New England Journal of Medicine, 359:2753-2766 (2008)
2. PIACENTINI, J., Bennett, S., Compton, S., Kendall, P., Birmaher, B., Albano, A.M., March, J., Sherril, J., Sakolsky, D., Ginsburg, G., Rynn, M., Bergman, R.L., Gosch, E., Waslick, B., McCracken, J., Walkup, J. Six-month outcomes for the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS), Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 53:297-310 (2014).
3. PIACENTINI, J., Bergman, R.L., Chang, S., Langley, A. Peris, T., Wood, J., & McCracken, J. Controlled comparison of family cognitive behavioral therapy and psychoeducation/relaxation-training for child OCD, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 50:1149-1161 (2011).
4. PIACENTINI, J., Woods, D., Scahill, L., Wilhelm, S., Peterson, A., Chang, S., Ginsburg, G., Deckersbach, T., Dziura, J., Levi-Pearl, S. & Walkup, J. Randomized trial of behavior therapy for children with Tourette’s disorder, Journal of the American Medical Association, 303:1929-1937 (2010).
5. Tuerk, P., Schaeffer, C., McGuire, J., Larsen, M.A., Capobianco, N., PIACENTINI, J. 2019, Adapting evidence-based treatments for digital technologies: A critical review of functions, tools, and the use of branded solutions. Current Psychiatry Reports, 21:106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1092-2
6. Chang, S.W., Kuckertz, J., Bose, D., Carmona, A., PIACENTINI, J., Amir, N. Efficacy of Attention bias training for child anxiety disorders: A randomized controlled trial Child Psychiatry Human Development. 2019 50: 198-208 (2019).

Authored Books:

1. PIACENTINI, J. Optimizing cognitive-behavioral therapy for childhood psychiatric disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 47:481-482 (2008).
2. PIACENTINI, J. Langley, A., & Roblek, T. Overcoming Childhood OCD: A Therapist’s Guide, New York: Oxford University Press (2007). (also published in Mandarin Chinese and Polish)
3. Woods, D., PIACENTINI, J., Chang, S., Deckersbach, T., Ginsburg, G., Peterson, A., Scahill, L., Walkup, J., & Wilhelm, S. Managing Tourette Syndrome: A Behavioral Intervention for Children and Adults, New York: Oxford University Press (2008). (also published in Swedish, Korean, and Russian)
4. Peris, T., PIACENTINI, J. Positive Family Interaction Therapy for Childhood OCD. New York: Oxford University Press (2016).
5. Flessner, C. & PIACENTINI, J. (Eds.). Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders in Children and Adolescents: A Step-By-Step Treatment Manual. New York: Guilford (2017).