Lauren Asarnow, PhD
Assistant Professor
Psychiatry
School of Medicine
Dr. Asarnow’s research program aims to reduce the burden of mental illness in youth by developing behavioral interventions that are effective, youth friendly, engaging, widely disseminable and easily accessible. Her program of research has primarily focused on sleep as a potential target for intervention in the prevention and treatment of mental and physical health problems.
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Dr. Asarnow has shown that late bedtime is an important target for early intervention for the prevention of adverse emotional, academic and physical health outcomes among youth. Her current recent program aims to utilize an experimental design to (a) improve sleep health (through a sleep focused treatment), (b) determine whether a sleep focused treatment improves depression and anxiety symptoms, and a known biological marker of risk for depression and anxiety, cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to a stress exposure, and (c) elucidate target mechanisms underlying the effect of poor sleep health on depression and anxiety symptoms, and cortisol measures. Dr. Asarnow developed and is currently testing an innovative adaptation of an existing evidence based intervention to improve sleep in adolescents that can be accessed through mobile phones or computers, an approach that will increase the accessibility of the treatment.
Awards
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- NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Brain Behavior Research Foundation, 2019-Pres
- Access to Care Award, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, 2018-2020
- Career Development Institute Fellow, University of Pittsburgh/Stanford University, 2018-2019
- Beck Institute Scholar, Beck Institute, 2013
- Travel Award, Society for Research in Child Development, 2013
- NSF Fellow, National Science Foundation, 2011-2014
- Lisa M. Capps Award, UC Berkeley, 2011
- Summer Research Fellow, UC Berkeley, 2011
Education & Training
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- Fellowship Behavioral Sleep Medicine Stanford University 08/2019
- PhD Clinical Science University of California, Berkeley 08/2016
- Internship Clinical Psychology University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 08/2016
- BA Comparative Literature University of California, Berkeley 12/2006
Interests
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- Depression
- Sleep
- Adolescents
- Prevention
- Behavioral Interventions
Websites
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- Child and Adolescent Behavioral Sleep Medicine (kidssleep.ucsf.edu)
Grants and Projects
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- Reducing Risk: A Comprehensive mHealth Sleep Health Intervention for Adolescents at Risk for Depression and Anxiety Disorders, NIH, 2018-2023
- Improving Access to Care: Testing an Integrated Care Mobile Health Intervention to Improve Sleep and Mental Health in Adolescents, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, 2018-2020
- Sleep Improvement as a Mechanism of Improvement in Immune Functioning, NARSAD, 2019-2020
Publications (22)
Top publication keywords:
Child of Impaired ParentsPediatric ObesitySleep Initiation and Maintenance DisordersSleep Wake DisordersMood DisordersDepressionEnergy IntakeSleepCircadian RhythmFood PreferencesHypothalamo-Hypophyseal SystemDepressive DisorderDepressive Disorder, MajorAntidepressive AgentsMothers
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Sleep and Mood Disorders Among Youth.
The Psychiatric clinics of North America 2024 Asarnow LD, Mirchandaney R -
The Concurrent and Longitudinal Relationship between Perinatal Sleep Difficulties and Depression in a Large Sample of High-Risk Women in South Africa.
Maternal and child health journal 2023 Asarnow LD, Norwood PP, Christodoulou J, Tomlinson M, Rotheram-Borus MJ -
Report from a randomized control trial: improved alignment between circadian biology and sleep-wake behavior as a mechanism of depression symptom improvement in evening-type adolescents with depressive symptoms.
Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines 2023 Asarnow LD, Soehner A, Dolsen E, Dong L, Harvey AG -
Recent advances in sleep and depression.
Current opinion in psychiatry 2022 Mirchandaney R, Asarnow LD, Kaplan KA -
Patterns of sleep disturbances and associations with depressive symptoms in autistic young adults.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research 2022 Lampinen LA, Zheng S, Taylor JL, Adams RE, Pezzimenti F, Asarnow LD, Bishop SL
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Moderators of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Insomnia on Depression and Anxiety Outcomes.
Current psychiatry reports 2022 Mirchandaney R, Barete R, Asarnow LD -
Opportunities to Integrate Mobile App-Based Interventions Into Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Services in the Wake of COVID-19.
American journal of health promotion : AJHP 2021 Satre DD, Meacham MC, Asarnow LD, Fisher WS, Fortuna LR, Iturralde E -
Internet use and its impact on internalizing disorder symptoms and sleep in adolescents with an evening circadian preference.
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine 2021 Asarnow LD, Gasperetti CE, Gumport NB, Harvey AG -
Sleep and Mood Disorders Among Youth.
Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America 2020 Asarnow LD, Mirchandaney R -
Sleep in youth with repeated self-harm and high suicidality: Does sleep predict self-harm risk?
Suicide & life-threatening behavior 2020 Asarnow JR, Bai S, Babeva KN, Adrian M, Berk MS, Asarnow LD, Senturk D, Linehan MM, McCauley E -
Depression and sleep: what has the treatment research revealed and could the HPA axis be a potential mechanism?
Current opinion in psychology 2019 Asarnow LD -
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Prenatal Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Obstetrics and gynecology 2019 Manber R, Bei B, Simpson N, Asarnow L, Rangel E, Sit A, Lyell D -
Circadian Preference as a Moderator of Depression Outcome Following Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Plus Antidepressant Medications: A Report From the TRIAD Study.
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine 2019 Asarnow LD, Bei B, Krystal A, Buysse DJ, Thase ME, Edinger JD, Manber R -
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Depression.
Sleep medicine clinics 2019 Asarnow LD, Manber R -
Treating insomnia in depression: Insomnia related factors predict long-term depression trajectories.
Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 2018 Bei B, Asarnow LD, Krystal A, Edinger JD, Buysse DJ, Manber R -
The Impact of Sleep Improvement on Food Choices in Adolescents With Late Bedtimes.
The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine 2017 Asarnow LD, Greer SM, Walker MP, Harvey AG -
Evidence for a Possible Link between Bedtime and Change in Body Mass Index.
Sleep 2015 Asarnow LD, McGlinchey E, Harvey AG -
Insomnia as a transdiagnostic process in psychiatric disorders.
Current psychiatry reports 2014 Dolsen EA, Asarnow LD, Harvey AG -
Basic sleep and circadian science as building blocks for behavioral interventions: a translational approach for mood disorders.
Behavioral neuroscience 2014 Asarnow LD, Soehner AM, Harvey AG -
Children at risk for depression: memory biases, self-schemas, and genotypic variation.
Journal of affective disorders 2014 Asarnow LD, Thompson RJ, Joormann J, Gotlib IH -
The effects of bedtime and sleep duration on academic and emotional outcomes in a nationally representative sample of adolescents.
The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine 2013 Asarnow LD, McGlinchey E, Harvey AG -
Circadian rhythms and psychiatric illness.
Current opinion in psychiatry 2013 Asarnow LD, Soehner AM, Harvey AG