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Patricia Z. Tan, PhD

CHILD CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST –

PSY 29874

Dr. Tan is a licensed child clinical psychologist, with expertise in pediatric anxiety disorders and in emotional and social development. Dr. Tan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, where she serves as the Associate Director of Clinical Training.

Linking neurodevelopment and social processes, Dr. Tan’s research is focused on understanding how a child’s social environment and biological predispositions together shape his/her emotion regulation and coping abilities. This work is aimed at improving treatments by identifying the factors that support, or undermine, a child’s ability to cope with stress, anxiety and other negative emotions, and has been supported by grants from the N.I.H. and A.P.A.

In her private practice, Dr. Tan draws upon the richness and depth of her training in science-based assessment and treatment approaches, neuroscience, family processes, and emotional development to craft personalized treatment plans for achieving lasting change.  Dr. Tan works with patients to build on the strengths of a child and his/her family in order to foster the socio-emotional skills that are critical for developmental success and well-being. She believes that a focus on skill enhancement is important in therapy as it develops a repertoire of tools for coping with stressors, navigating developmental transitions (changing schools, bedtime transitions, pubertal development), and promoting resiliency.

Dr. Tan lives in LA with her husband and her rambunctious, curious son. Together, they love to explore the diverse neighborhoods and canyon hikes of the city.

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Training

  • Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2011-2014): T32 Research Fellow, Clinical Research Training in ChildcPsychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • Pre-Doctoral Internship (2009-2010): Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, Pittsburgh PA
  • Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (2006-2008): T32 Research Fellow, Early Childhood Mental Health, The Pennsylvania State University, State College PA

Education

  • PhD (2011): Child Clinical Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University
  • MA (2008): Child Clinical Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University
  • BA (2002): Duke University

Selected Publications

  • Tan, P. Z., Oppenheimer, C. W., Ladouceur, C. D., Butterfield, R. D., & Silk, J. S. (2020). A review of associations between parental emotion socialization behaviors and the neural substrates of emotional reactivity and regulation in youth. Developmental Psychology, 56(3), 516.
  • Campos, E., Hazlett, C., Tan, P., Truong, H., Loo, S., DiStefano, C., … & Şentürk, D. (2020). Principle ERP reduction and analysis: Estimating and using principle ERP waveforms underlying ERPs across tasks, subjects and electrodes. NeuroImage, 212, 116630.
  • Peris, T. S., Rozenman, M., Gonzalez, A., Vreeland, A., Piacentini, J., Tan, P., & Ricketts, E. (2019). Family Functioning in Pediatric Trichotillomania, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Healthy Comparison Youth. Psychiatry research, 112578.
  • McGuire, J. F., Tan, P. Z., & Piacentini, J. (2019). Symptom Dimension Response in Children and Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 48(3), 529-538.
  • Tan, P.Z., Silk, J. S., Dahl, R. E., Kronhaus, D., & Ladouceur, C. D. (2018). Age-related Developmental and Individual Differences in the Influence of Dynamically-changing Face Distractors on Cognitive Performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 863.
  • Ladouceur, C.D., Tan, P.Z., Sharma, V.S., Bylsma, L., Silk, J.S., Siegle, G.J., … & Ryan, N. D. (2018). Error-related Brain Activity in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders Remains Elevated Following Individual Therapy: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
  • Bendezu, J. J., Cole, P. M., Tan, P.Z., Armstrong, L. M., Reitz, L., & Wolf, R. (2017). Anger Expression and Strategy Use Trajectories during Early Childhood: A Person-Centered Approach.
  • Wallace, M.L., Silk, J.S., Tan, P.Z., Rosen, D., Forbes, E.E., Ladouceur, C.D., Ryan, N.D, Siegle, G.J., Dahl, R.E., Kendall, P.C., Mannarino, A., McMakin, D.L. (2017) The role of day-to-day emotions, sleep, and social interactions in pediatric anxiety treatment.
  • Silk, J. S., Tan, P.Z., Ladouceur, C. D., Meller, S., Siegle, G. J., McMakin, D. L., … & Ryan, N. D. (2016). A randomized clinical trial comparing individual cognitive behavioral therapy and child-centered therapy for child anxiety disorders. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 1-13.
  • Benoit Allen, K., Silk, J. S., Meller, S., Tan, P.Z., Ladouceur, C. D., Sheeber, L. B., … & Ryan, N. D. (2015). Parental autonomy granting and child perceived control: effects on the everyday emotional experience of anxious youth. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
  • Tan, P.Z., Lee, K.H., Dahl, R. D., Nelson, E.E., Stroud, L. J., Siegle, G. J., Morgan, J.K., & Silk, J.S. (2014). Linking maternal negative affect and youth’s neural responses to peer evaluation. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 8, 28-39.
  • Silk, J.S., Sheeber L., Tan P.Z., Ladouceur C.D., Forbes E.E., McMakin D..L, Dahl R.E., Siegle G.J., Kendall P.C., Mannarino A., Ryan N.D. (2014). “You can do it!”: The role of parental encouragement to approach fears in child anxiety treatment. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 27(5):439-446.
  • Tan, P.Z., Armstrong, L. M., & Cole, P. M. (2013). Relations between Temperament and Anger Regulation over Early Childhood. Social Development, 22(4), 755-772.
  • Tan, P.Z., Forbes EE, Dahl RE, Ryan ND, Siegle GJ, Ladouceur CD, Silk JS (2012). Emotional reactivity and regulation in anxious and non-anxious youth: a cell-phone ecological momentary assessment study. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry., 53(2), 197-206.
  • Cole, P. M., LeDonne, E. N., & Tan, P.Z. (2012). A Longitudinal Examination of Maternal Emotions in Relation to Young Children Developing Self-Regulation. Parenting, 13 (2), 113-132.
  • Cole, P. M., Tan, P.Z., Hall, S. E., Zhang, Y., Crnic, K. A., Blair, C. B., & Li, R. (2011). Developmental changes in anger expression and attention focus during a delay: Learning to wait. Developmental Psychology, 47, 1078-1089.
  • ​Roben, P., Caroline, K., Bass, A. J., Moore, G. A., Murray‐Kolb, L., Tan, P.Z., & Teti, L. O. (2011). Let Me Go: The Influences of Crawling Experience and Temperament on the Development of Anger Expression. Infancy, 17(5), 558-577.