Tom Ollendick leads editing of new Oxford textbook on clinical child and adolescent psychology

24 Jan 2019

A Virginia Tech professor of clinical psychology is the lead editor of the newly published Oxford Handbook of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, a text that will be used worldwide by academics and practitioners of child psychology and psychiatry.

Oxford University Press approached Tom Ollendick, a University Distinguished Professor of psychology in the Virginia Tech College of Science, in early 2017 about editing the book, noting his background as one of the world’s leading researchers in childhood psychiatric disorders and their treatment.

Oxford describes the book as “a state-of-the-science volume providing comprehensive coverage of the psychological problems and disorders of childhood. Conceptually rich and evidence-based, this handbook is an essential resource for students, practitioners, and researchers, providing a cutting-edge compendium of the latest theoretical and empirical developments by leaders of the discipline” in its advertising.

“This is a volume that is timely and cutting-edge and we are honored to be the editors,” Ollendick said. “We really do look for it to set the stage for the field of clinical child and adolescent psychology for years to come.”

Also editing the book were Susan White and Bradley White, two faculty colleagues of Ollendicks who were at Virginia Tech’s Department of Psychology when the project began and through its pre-publication phase. In July 2018 the duo departed for Tuscaloosa’s University of Alabama.

“This book is a labor of love,” Ollendick added. “Susan, Brad, and I worked many evenings and weekends to bring this volume to fruition. The many contributors were incredible in working with us and donating their expertise, time, and energy as well. So too were the production team at Oxford. Of course, our families were also extremely supportive of us and accepting of our time away from them.”

The volume contains 51 chapters covering a wide range of topics from conceptual and empirical issues to assessing and treating clinical disorders and special problems in childhood and adolescence, along with future directions for the field. Chapter authors range from fellow Virginia academics, including from Virginia Commonwealth University, and abroad, including Australia, Canada, England, Israel, the Netherlands, and South Korea.

It will be used by researchers conducting psychopathology and treatment outcome studies, clinicians interested in evidence-based practice with all major psychiatric disorders and related problems of childhood and adolescence, university students studying clinical child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry, and child and adolescent mental health policymakers.

Ollendick has 35 edited or written books, more than 100 book chapters, and 350 research articles to his credit, before the publication of this newest volume. In 2017, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Scientific Contributions from the Society of Clinical Psychology.

Three faculty members editing textbook on clinical child and adolescent psychology