About

Professor John R. Weisz, Ph.D., leads the Lab for Youth Mental Health at Harvard. His research bridges the gap between clinical science and practice to improve youth mental health care. His work includes implementing and testing a modular approach to youth psychotherapy in communities and schools across the globe, conducting meta-analyses of psychotherapy research to characterize the state of the field and enhance research and practice, and developing an efficient, principle-guided treatment called FIRST that targets a range of youth mental health problems. Additionally, he is involved in designing brief digital interventions focused on key principles of therapeutic change and partners with the Shamiri Institute to develop accessible, evidence-based interventions for youth in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Psychiatry
• Sociology
• Internal medicine
• Demography
• Gerontology
• Gender studies
• Pediatrics

Selected publications

• Meta-analysis: Are Psychotherapies Less Effective for Black Youth in Communities With Higher Levels of Anti-Black Racism?

  Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · 2021 · 114 citations

  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Clinical psychology
  DOI

• Psychotherapy for Depression Across Different Age Groups: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

  JAMA Psychiatry · 2020 · 421 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Psychology
  • Clinical psychology

  Importance: It is not clear whether psychotherapies for depression have comparable effects across the life span. Finding out is important from a clinical and scientific perspective. Objective: To compare the effects of psychotherapies for depression between different age groups. Data Sources: Four major bibliographic databases (PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, and Cochrane) were searched for trials comparing psychotherapy with control conditions up to January 2019. Study Selection: Randomized trials comparing psychotherapies for depression with control conditions in all age groups were included. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Effect sizes (Hedges g) were calculated for all comparisons and pooled with random-effects models. Differences in effects between age groups were examined with mixed-effects subgroup analyses and in meta-regression analyses. Main Outcomes and Measures: Depressive symptoms were the primary outcome. Results: After removing duplicates, 16 756 records were screened and 2608 full-text articles were screened. Of these, 366 trials (36 702 patients) with 453 comparisons between a therapy and a control condition were included in the qualitative analysis, including 13 (3.6%) in children (13 years and younger), 24 (6.6%) in adolescents (≥13 to 18 years), 19 (5.2%) in young adults (≥18 to 24 years), 242 (66.1%) in middle-aged adults (≥24 to 55 years), 58 (15.8%) in older adults (≥55 to 75 years), and 10 (2.7%) in older old adults (75 years and older). The overall effect size of all comparisons across all age groups was g = 0.75 (95% CI, 0.67-0.82), with very high heterogeneity (I2 = 80%; 95% CI: 78-82). Mean effect sizes for depressive symptoms in children (g = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.15-0.55) and adolescents (g = 0.55; 95% CI, 0.34-0.75) were significantly lower than those in middle-aged adults (g = 0.77; 95% CI, 0.67-0.87). The effect sizes in young adults (g = 0.98; 95% CI, 0.79-1.16) were significantly larger than those in middle-aged adults. No significant difference was found between older adults (g = 0.66; 95% CI, 0.51-0.82) and those in older old adults (g = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.42-1.52). The outcomes should be considered with caution because of the suboptimal quality of most of the studies and the high levels of heterogeneity. However, most primary findings proved robust across sensitivity analyses, addressing risk of bias, target populations included, type of therapy, diagnosis of mood disorder, and method of data analysis. Conclusions and Relevance: Trials included in this meta-analysis reported effect sizes of psychotherapies that were smaller in children than in adults, probably also smaller in adolescents, that the effects may be somewhat larger in young adults, and without meaningful differences between middle-aged adults, older adults, and older old adults.

  DOI

• Comparative efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants, psychotherapies, and their combination for acute treatment of children and adolescents with depressive disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

  The Lancet Psychiatry · 2020 · 341 citations

  • Medicine
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology
  DOI

• Single-session digital intervention for adolescent depression, anxiety, and well-being: Outcomes of a randomized controlled trial with Kenyan adolescents.

  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · 2020 · 158 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Clinical psychology
  • Psychiatry

  BACKGROUND: Adolescent depression and anxiety symptoms are prevalent in sub-Saharan African countries, yet treatment options are scarce, and stigma limits help-seeking. Brief, computerized single-session interventions (SSIs) that contain empirically supported stigma-reducing elements may help expand access to treatment. We developed and evaluated such an intervention for Kenyan adolescents. METHOD: High school students (N = 103, age 13-18) were randomized to a digital SSI Shamiri-Digital (Shamiri means "thrive" in Kiswahili) or a study-skills control intervention. Shamiri-Digital consisted of reading and writing activities about 3 concepts: growth mindset, gratitude, and value affirmation. Both Shamiri-Digital and the study-skills control condition were delivered electronically in schools. RESULTS: Compared to the control, Shamiri-Digital produced a greater reduction in adolescent depressive symptoms in both the full sample (p = .028, d = 0.50) and a subsample of youths with moderate to severe depression symptoms (p = .010, d = 0.83) from baseline to 2-week follow-up. The effects exceed the mean effects reported in meta-analyses of full-length, face-to-face psychotherapy for youth depression. There were no significant effects on anxiety symptoms, well-being, or happiness. CONCLUSION: This is the first report that a brief, computerized SSI may reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. Replication trials with extended follow-ups will help gauge the strength and durability of these effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01MH068806

  NIH · $1.9M · 2009

• NIH Grant R34MH093511

  NIH · $582k · 2015

• NIH Grant R01MH057347

  NIH · $2.9M · 2003

• NIH Grant R01MH049522

  NIH · $2.5M · 2000

• NIH Grant R21MH063302

  NIH · $671k · 2005

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen Scott

  King's College Hospital

  1505 shared

• John M. McClellan

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1435 shared

• Christoph U. Correll

  Zucker Hillside Hospital

  1400 shared

• Fritz Mattejat

  1295 shared

• Aribert Rothenberger

  1260 shared

• Jan K. Buitelaar

  1260 shared

• Stan Kutcher

  McGill University

  1260 shared

• Elizabeth Pappadopulos

  Eisai (United States)

  1225 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Psychology

  Harvard University

  1991

• B.A., Psychology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1986

Awards & honors

• Klaus-Grawe Award for the Advancement of Innovative Research…
• Sarah Gund Prize for Research and Mentorship in Child Mental…
• James McKeen Cattell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ass…

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