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Steven Marans, MSW, PhD

Harris Professor in the Child Study Center
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Additional Titles

Director, National Center for Children Exposed to Violence/Childhood Violent Trauma Center at the Yale Child Study Center

Director, Trauma Service

Professor of Psychiatry

About

Titles

Harris Professor in the Child Study Center

Director, National Center for Children Exposed to Violence/Childhood Violent Trauma Center at the Yale Child Study Center; Director, Trauma Service; Professor of Psychiatry

Biography

Dr. Marans, a child and adult psychoanalyst, is the Harris Professor of Child Psychoanalysis and Professor of Psychiatry at the Child Study Center and Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine. He is the director of the Yale Center for Traumatic Stress and Recovery and founder of the Child Development-Community Policing Program, a pioneering collaboration between mental health and law enforcement professionals providing collaborative response to children and families exposed to violence and trauma that occurs in their homes, neighborhood and schools. This program has been replicated in numerous communities around the country and abroad.

Dr. Marans is also co-developer, with Child Study Center faculty member Carrie Epstein, of the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention, a brief, early, evidence-based treatment that has proven effectiveness in interrupting and reducing post-traumatic disorders in children exposed to traumatic events. Under the auspices of a SAMHSA grant, this intervention is being disseminated broadly both nationally and internationally. Additionally, Dr. Marans and Prof. Epstein developed the Acute Stress Intervention for Adults, a brief intervention intended to support hospital staff impacted by the psychological demands associated with responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. A training was also developed for mental health professionals implementing the model with impacted hospital staff at Yale-New Haven Hospital and elsewhere.

Dr. Marans also continues to see children, adolescents and adults for clinical consultations, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. He teaches and supervises child psychiatry, psychology and social work fellows in psychodynamic evaluation and treatment.


Over the past 25 years, Dr. Marans has worked closely with the local, state and federal agencies on issues related to responding to trauma associated with violence in homes and communities, on terrorism and natural disasters and served on Attorney General Eric Holder's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence as well as the US Department of Health and Human Services National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism.


Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Fellow
Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis (1995)
PhD
London University (1993)
Fellow
Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic/Anna Freud Centre (1984)
MSW
Smith College (1979)

Research

Overview

Our research has been focused on the experience of violent trauma in the lives of children and families as well as changes in systems of care that can improve services and clinical outcomes. The partnership between mental health and law enforcement professionals in New Haven and around the country has generated broad opportunities to identify and respond to thousands of children and families each year who have experienced violence in their homes, schools and communities. Our work in responding to acute, peri-traumatic and longer-term responses to violent and catastrophic events has led to the development of new clinical approaches to meeting the needs of traumatized children and families. These innovative intervention strategies are also grounded in an integration of developmental, psychodynamic, behavioral and neurophysiologic aspects of the traumatic response. We have applied a similar perspective in developing new collaborative responses to domestic violence and to psychologically-informed approaches to emergency management responses to mass casualty man-made and natural disasters.

The Trauma Section at the Yale Child Study Center is currently involved in several research initiatives aims to influence practice and service delivery with mental health, law enforcement agencies, child advocacy centers, pediatric emergency care and to improve direct clinical service for children and their families.

1. Domestic Violence Home Visit Intervention Program (DVHVI)
The DVHVI is an innovative outreach program in which an advocate and a patrol officer conduct follow-up home visits to improve physical and psychological security in the aftermath of a domestic violence incident. Our initial findings showed that women who received this intervention felt officers were more helpful, they were more likely to call the police again and were more willing to engage their children into treatment. This model is currently being disseminated in three other communities with the goal of doing a cross site data collection and analysis of the program.

2. Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI)
The CFTSI is a 4-session secondary prevention approach to children and families exposed to violence and other traumatic events. The intervention is currently being evaluated to determine its effectiveness in reducing post-traumatic stress disorders and symptoms. Initial findings have shown positive results.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Adolescent Psychiatry; Child Abuse; Child Psychiatry; Domestic Violence; Mental Disorders; Psychiatry; Psychoanalysis; Psychology, Adolescent; Psychotherapy; Violence

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Steven Marans's published research.

Publications

2021

2019

2018

2017

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Child Study Center

Clinical Care

Overview

Steven Marans, PhD, MSW, is a psychoanalyst who specializes in the evaluation and psychotherapeutic treatment of children, adolescents, and adults who are struggling with interferences with positive feelings about themselves and others, relationships, achievements in daily life, and longer-term goals.

He also specializes in the post-traumatic distress and treatment of acute, early, and long-term reactions to overwhelming events. Marans is the director of the Childhood Violent Trauma Center and co-developer of the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention, a brief, early, evidence-based treatment that has proven effectiveness in interrupting and reducing post-traumatic disorders in children exposed to traumatic events. This intervention is being disseminated broadly both nationally and internationally.

“The most gratifying part of my work is to help individuals, families, and communities mobilize optimal capacities for mastery of internal and external sources of distress that can interfere with feelings of well-being and success,” Marans says.

He says he enjoys helping people to no longer feel alone with their struggles and to discover that there can be new ways of thinking about themselves—as well as a broader range of options as to how they are living their lives.

“The complexity of being human includes not always being able to consciously identify the sources of our distress or counterproductive patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that impact our experiences of ourselves and others,” he says. “Psychotherapy can be a powerful tool to achieve increased understanding of personal challenges and can open the door to new solutions or options to address new or familiar problems.”

Marans is also founder of the Child Development-Community Policing Program, a pioneering collaboration between mental health and law enforcement professionals providing collaborative responses to children and families exposed to violence and/or trauma that occurs in their homes, neighborhoods, and schools. This program has been replicated in numerous communities around the country and abroad.

Additionally, he co-developed the Acute Stress Intervention for Adults, a brief intervention intended to support hospital staff impacted by the psychological demands associated with responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. A training was also developed for mental health professionals implementing the model with impacted hospital staff at Yale New Haven Hospital and elsewhere.

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Marans has worked closely with local, state, and federal agencies on issues related to responding to trauma associated with violence in homes and communities and on terrorism and natural disasters, and he has served on the National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, as well as on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism.

Clinical Specialties

Psychiatry; Pediatric Developmental and Behavioral Medicine; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

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Contacts

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Child Study Center

PO Box 207900, 230 South Frontage Road

New Haven, CT 06520-7900

United States

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Locations

  • Yale Child Study Center

    Academic Office

    Sterling Hall of Medicine, I-Wing

    333 Cedar Street

    New Haven, CT 06510

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