About

Dr. Wendy Silverman is the Alfred A. Messer Professor of Child Psychiatry and Director of the Yale Child Study Center Program for Anxiety Disorders. She earned her Ph.D. in 1981 from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Silverman has published numerous scientific papers and chapters focusing on child and adolescent anxiety disorders, including five books. She has been the principal investigator of National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) research grants for over twenty years, developing and evaluating treatments for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Additionally, she received a NIMH mid-career development award (K24) and has served as Chairperson of the NIMH intervention grant review panel. Her editorial roles include serving as an Associate Editor and Editor of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, and currently as Co-Editor of Clinical Psychology Review.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Clinical psychology
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Mindfulness Intervention for Parent Stress and Childhood Obesity Risk: A Randomized Trial

  PEDIATRICS · 2026-03-06

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: To assess whether a novel parent stress with nutrition vs nutrition alone intervention decreases early childhood obesity risk. METHODS: A prospective, parallel, 12-week randomized controlled trial with parents who were overweight (114 dyads body mass index [BMI]: 34.7 ± 6.6) and their young children (aged 2-5 years) was conducted between November 2018 and July 2022. Parenting Mindfully for Health (PMH+N) was compared with the control (CTL+N) weekly group intervention, each with nutrition and physical activity (N) psychoeducation. Changes in child BMI and parent stress were coprimary outcomes, whereas observed parenting in an established laboratory-based parent-child Toy-Wait Task (TWT) and child food intake were secondary outcomes. RESULTS: Child BMI z score significantly increased by 0.41 ([0.13, 0.69], P < .005) in the CTL+N, but PMH+N remained unchanged (0.20 [-0.49, 0.09], P > .17) over the 3-month follow-up, and parent stress decreased (3.17 [-5.19, -1.15] points, P < .003) only in the PMH+N arm. Significant time main effects indicated increased TWT positive parenting (2.82 [1.24, 4.4], P < .001) and reduced unhealthy child food intake (-1.78 [-3.02, -0.54]), driven by the PMH+N arm (P values <.02). Parent stress interacted with PMH+N vs CTL+N intervention to predict lower TWT positive parenting and child healthy food intake in the CTL+N arm (-1.74 [-3.26, -0.22] and -3.41 [-7.25, 0.42], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Targeting parent stress with healthy nutrition is effective in preventing short-term early childhood obesity risk and in improving positive parenting and child healthy food intake. Further assessment of long-term effects of the PMH+N intervention on early childhood risk is warranted. (Clinical Trials Registration: NCT03950453).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cognitive behavioral telehealth treatment for adolescents with loss-of-control eating: A randomized controlled feasibility study.

  Psychotherapy · 2026-05-07

  articleOpen access

  s < .001). Time × Intervention effects revealed greater improvements for CBT-LOC than nutrition education for binge eating, LOC eating, secretive eating, and global eating-disorder psychopathology. Weight change was minimal for both interventions. Among adolescents with weekly or greater baseline LOC-eating episodes, overvaluation of weight/shape and depression also improved. Overall, this feasibility randomized controlled trial testing CBT-LOC for adolescents experiencing LOC eating and elevated weight demonstrated feasibility and acceptability. Initial evidence demonstrated that it was feasible to produce clinically significant improvements in LOC-eating episodes, eating behaviors, and eating-disorder psychopathology. Few participants attained decreased weight, which may limit motivation to seek treatment from parents and adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Pre-Pandemic Longitudinal Factors Associated with Mental Health Difficulties in Clinically Anxious Youth During the First 15 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Child Psychiatry & Human Development · 2026-05-18

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  PublisherDOI

• Attention Focusing Moderates the Association Between Parent Anxiety and Attention Bias to Threat in Youth with Social Anxiety Disorder

  Child Psychiatry & Human Development · 2026-03-05

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  PublisherDOI

• Outcome and cost‐effectiveness of transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy compared with management as usual for youth with common mental health problems: Long‐term results from the Mind‐My‐Mind randomized trial

  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · 2026-03-03 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Credible long-term outcomes from randomized trials evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of preventive programs for mental health problems are needed. We compared long-term effects of the Mind My Mind (MMM) transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program to management as usual (MAU). METHODS: The study was a pragmatic, multisite, randomized superiority trial (2017-2019) involving youths aged 6-16 years with anxiety, depressive symptoms, and/or behavioral disturbances, recruited through family self-referral. The MMM intervention included 9-13 weekly CBT sessions. The primary outcome was change from baseline in parent-reported impact of mental health problems at 3-year follow-up post-randomization using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) impact scale. Register-based outcomes tracked youths' psychiatric diagnoses in mental health services. To assess cost-effectiveness, we calculated the incremental costs and incremental quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). All primary analyses followed the intention-to-treat (ITT) approach. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: ID NCT04804917. RESULTS: Among 396 youths randomized (baseline mean [SD] age, 10.3 [2.4] years; 52.0% boys; MMM n = 197, MAU n = 199), the 3-year follow-up (median 167 weeks; range 124-203 weeks) primary outcome data were available in 69.0% and 59.3%, respectively. The decrease in SDQ-impact-score from baseline to 3-year follow-up (4.12→1.79 points [MMM] and 4.21→1.85 [MAU]) was similar (between-group difference, 0.06 [95% CI -0.41 to 0.52]; p = .81). An equal proportion (25%) of youths in MMM and MAU were diagnosed with any mental disorder during follow-up (HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.68-1.50). Total costs over the intervention period were higher in the MMM group (incremental costs 3,014 Euros [95% CI: 2.174-3.855]). Cost-effectiveness analyses favored MMM: QALY net gain 0.121 (95% CI 0.045-0.196); the cost-effectiveness ratio was 24,789 Euro/QALY. CONCLUSIONS: Although MMM was potentially cost-effective, the beneficial effects diminished over 3 years post-treatment. The findings highlight the need for strategies to sustain long-term effects.

  PublisherDOI

• Trajectories of depression and anxiety in adults with rare disorders across 13 months during the COVID-19 pandemic

  Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases · 2025-03-20

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Adults with rare disorders experience multiple psychosocial risk factors beyond their medical symptoms, including impaired quality of life, social isolation, loneliness, and mental health problems. These risk factors were amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when health care appointments and social/vocational activities were reduced or cancelled. There is a lack of longitudinal data tracking this population over time, making the long term consequences uncertain. METHODS: We conducted a monthly survey of 58 adults aged between 19 and 71 years (M = 45.1 years, SD = 12.6) with rare disorders across 13 months during the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway. We measured symptoms of anxiety and depression with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-5. Covid fear was measured with the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale. We examined the mental health and covid fear trajectories across the 13 months with multi-level growth curve models with repeated measures at Level 1 and individuals at Level 2. To account for differences in governmental restrictions throughout the 13 months, we used the stringency index from The Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker. RESULTS: The growth models indicated stable levels of anxiety and depression over 13 months that were elevated compared to existing population data and were unpredicted by pandemic restrictions. The level of covid fear was significantly associated with the levels of anxious and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The current study found elevated and stable trajectories of mental health symptoms throughout the pandemic for persons with rare disorders. This highlights the necessity of investigating the long-lasting influence of the pandemic on mental health among individuals with rare disorders.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Investigating the familiality of trichotillomania and excoriation disorder

  Psychiatry Research · 2025-05-24 · 1 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Using Cognitive Interviewing to Develop Rating Scales of Suicide Thoughts and Behaviors in Preadolescent Children

  Journal of Applied Research on Children Informing Policy for Children at Risk · 2025-03-06 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Despite the alarming rise of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), in preadolescent children over the last two decades, no scales have been developed and validated to assess these troubling tendencies in this population. We describe how we developed English and Spanish language versions of a new scale to assess STBs in children, the Suicide Risk and Ideation Scale for Kids - Child and Parent versions (S-RISK-C/P), using cognitive interviewing. Method: age = 1.19 years) and their parents (5 interviews in English, 3 in Spanish). Results: Children and parents readily understood the directions, items, and response options of the S-RISK-C/P and expressed high confidence in their responses. Cognitive interviews indicated only minor issues with wording and sequence of some items, which led to iterative revisions. Conclusion: This is the first study to apply cognitive interviewing in child suicide research to ensure development of a scale that has clear and accessible language. We are currently undertaking measurement development and evaluation of S-RISK-C/P further by gathering data to determine the scale's item properties, reliability, and validity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Chronotherapeutic intervention targeting emotion regulation brain circuitry, symptoms, and suicide risk in adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder: a pilot randomised trial

  BMJ Mental Health · 2025-02-01 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background Mood episodes and high suicide risk of bipolar disorder (BD) are thought to derive from amygdala–ventral prefrontal cortex emotion regulation brain circuitry dysfunction and resulting emotion dysregulation, making these potential intervention targets. Objective To assess feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy in engaging the emotion regulation targets of two Brain Emotion Circuitry-targeted Self-Monitoring and Regulation Therapy (BE-SMART) variations in adolescents and young adults with BD (BD AYA ): BE-SMART-ER, which directly targets emotion regulation, and BE-SMART-DR, a social rhythm therapy (SRT)-based chronotherapeutic intervention designed to reduce daily rhythm (DR) irregularities. Methods In a single-blind, parallel, pilot-randomised trial, 60 BD AYA (aged 16–29 years) were randomised to 12 weekly sessions (9 telehealth) of BE-SMART-DR or BE-SMART-ER. Nineteen BE-SMART-DR and 16 BE-SMART-ER participants completed the intervention, with 11 and 13, respectively, having pre-intervention and post-intervention functional MRI data. Findings In addition to demonstrating feasibility, only BE-SMART-DR showed pre-treatment to post-treatment improvements in DR regularity (Cohen’s d =0.55; 95% CI [0.06, 1.03]), associated with reductions in left amygdala responses to emotional face stimuli ( p FWE (family-wise error)-SVC (small volume correction) &lt;0.05), difficulties in emotion regulation ( d =0.75; 95% CI [0.23, 1.25]) and suicide risk ( d =0.65; 95% CI [0.15, 1.14]). Significant correlations were observed among these changes ( p &lt;0.05). Both interventions showed high acceptability and improvements in depression and mania symptoms. No intervention-related adverse events were observed. Conclusions Regularising DRs may enhance emotion regulation brain circuitry functioning, emotion regulation, and reduce suicide risk in BD AYA . Clinical implications Chronotherapeutic interventions regularising DRs, such as SRT, should be studied further as potential treatment strategies for BD AYA . Trial registration number NCT03183388 .

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Attention Shifting Moderates the Association Between Threat Interpretation Bias and Anxiety in Youth

  Cognitive Therapy and Research · 2025-03-22 · 1 citations

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  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R29MH044781

  NIH · $484k · 1995

• NIH Grant R01MH079943

  NIH · $3.0M · 2014

• Fibroblast Growth Factor 2's role in Fear and Approach Motivation in Anxious and Depressed Children and their Mothers

  NIH · $461k · 2017–2019

• NIH Grant R01MH063997

  NIH · $1.1M · 2008

• Targeting Attention Orienting to Social Threat to Reduce Social Anxiety in Youth

  NIH · $5.7M · 2019–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Eli R. Lebowitz

  121 shared

• Anne Marie Albano

  68 shared

• Alyssa Martino

  Yale University

  57 shared

• Ruth Feldman

  Baruch College

  53 shared

• James F. Leckman

  Yale University

  53 shared

• Holly A. Swartz

  University of Pittsburgh

  53 shared

• Jeremy W. Pettit

  Florida International University

  53 shared

• Orna Zagoory‐Sharon

  Baruch College

  51 shared

Awards & honors

• NIMH mid-career development award (K24)