Lauren Asarnow, PhD

Assistant Adjunct Professor
Psychiatry

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. 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.

Publications: 

Sleep and Mood Disorders Among Youth.

The Psychiatric clinics of North America

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

Asarnow LD, Norwood PP, Christodoulou J, Tomlinson M, Rotheram-Borus MJ

Recent advances in sleep and depression.

Current opinion in psychiatry

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

Lampinen LA, Zheng S, Taylor JL, Adams RE, Pezzimenti F, Asarnow LD, Bishop SL

Moderators of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Insomnia on Depression and Anxiety Outcomes.

Current psychiatry reports

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

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

Asarnow LD, Gasperetti CE, Gumport NB, Harvey AG

Sleep and Mood Disorders Among Youth.

Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America

Asarnow LD, Mirchandaney R

Sleep in youth with repeated self-harm and high suicidality: Does sleep predict self-harm risk?

Suicide & life-threatening behavior

Asarnow JR, Bai S, Babeva KN, Adrian M, Berk MS, Asarnow LD, Senturk D, Linehan MM, McCauley E

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Prenatal Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Obstetrics and gynecology

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

Asarnow LD, Bei B, Krystal A, Buysse DJ, Thase ME, Edinger JD, Manber R

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Depression.

Sleep medicine clinics

Asarnow LD, Manber R

Treating insomnia in depression: Insomnia related factors predict long-term depression trajectories.

Journal of consulting and clinical psychology

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

Asarnow LD, Greer SM, Walker MP, Harvey AG

Insomnia as a transdiagnostic process in psychiatric disorders.

Current psychiatry reports

Dolsen MR, Asarnow LD, Harvey AG

Children at risk for depression: memory biases, self-schemas, and genotypic variation.

Journal of affective disorders

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

Asarnow LD, McGlinchey E, Harvey AG

Circadian rhythms and psychiatric illness.

Current opinion in psychiatry

Asarnow LD, Soehner AM, Harvey AG