Shirley Yen

Shirley Yen, PhD is a graduate of the University of Chicago (BA) and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Duke University (PhD). Dr. Yen's research focuses on identifying risk factors and developing interventions for suicidal behaviors in adolescents and adults. Dr. Yen has been an NIMH-funded investigator for the past 20 years. As an investigator on prospective, longitudinal studies of youth with bipolar disorder, adults with personality disorders, and suicidal adolescents, Dr. Yen has examined prospective predictors of suicidal behavior. She has also been the principal investigator of three adjunctive transdiagnostic interventions for suicidal adolescents. She is currently piloting an acceptance based intervention for youth with psychosis, a positive affect intervention for young adult outpatients which utilizes test messaging to enhance skills practice, and a yoga intervention for depressed adolescents. She is also conducting research to examine mechanisms of suicide risk in sexual minority adolescents.

Research Areas

• adolescent psychopathology
• personality disorders
• suicidal behavior

Education

• Ph.D. Duke University (1992 — 1998)
• B.A. University of Chicago (1986 — 1990)