Christopher Layne, Ph.D.

• Curriculum Vitae

Education:

• Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
• M.A. University of California, Los Angeles
• B.A. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Professional Interests

Dr. Layne holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in post-war Bosnia and conducted extensive trainings with clinicians working with youth exposed to the September 11^th 2001 terrorist attacks. Dr. Layne is a co-author of several widely-used manualized interventions including Psychological First Aid, Skills for Psychological Recovery, Families Overcoming Under Stress, and Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents. Dr. Layne is lead developer of multidimensional grief theory and has constructed and validated measures of grief reactions, war exposure, and social support. He also led the development of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s (NCTSN) Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma since its 2006 launch. Dr. Layne worked closely with the American Psychiatric Association in creating developmentally sensitive criteria for Prolonged Grief Disorder in DSM-5-TR. He is currently Principal Investigator of a SAHMSA NCTSN Category II grant overseeing the adaptation and evaluation of the Core Curriculum for training in psychology and child psychiatry. Dr. Layne’s professional interests include the assessment and treatment of traumatic stress/PTSD and bereavement/grief, competency-based professional education, evidence-based practice, evidence-based assessment, research methods, developmental psychopathology, and resilience. He provides trainings and consultation in many settings including high-risk schools, juvenile justice, community violence, and cases involving traumatic bereavement.

News and Events

• Child and Adolescent Traumatic Stress Program
• The Middle-Out Approach to reconceptualizing, assessing, and analyzing traumatic stress reactions LINK
• Layne, C.M., Ho Misiaszek, K.S., Barrientos, B. A., Ahmad, A., Andrè, K., Gellman, J., Golden, C., & Schapiro, S. (2024). Grief in bereaved children and adolescents: Developmental features, assessment, and intervention. In Doka, K. J. and Tucci, A.S. (Eds.). (2024). Understanding Prolonged Grief Disorder. Hospice Foundation of America. ISBN: 978-1-893349-27-8
• Dr. Layne's multidimensional grief theory manual LINK
• Preparing for the COVID-19 Second Wave: An Overview of the New Prolonged Grief Disorder through the Lenses of Multidimensional Grief Theory by Dr. Christopher Layne (2 hour webinar) LINK
• Developmental Recommendations and Implications for a Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) in DSM-5-TR: Become an Informed Consumer and Advocate (slide set for 2-hour webinar provided on 25 March 2020 by Dr. Christopher Layne) LINK
• Fostering “Good Grief” in the Aftermath of Traumatic Death (slide set for a keynote address 2-hour webinar provided on 25 March 2020 by Dr. Christopher Layne) LINK
• Layne, Kaplow, Oosterhoff, & Hill (2019). Developmental Perspectives on DSM-5-TR Prolonged Grief Disorder Criteria: Proposals for Improvement. Invited presentation at the American Psychiatric Association Workshop on Developing Criteria for a Disorder of Pathological Grieving for DSM-5-TR LINK
• Layne, C. M. (2021). Clinical Perspectives on Bereavement & Grief: Past, Present, and Future. Keynote address given at the Eating Recovery and Pathlight Foundation Annual Conference. [Focus on bereavement, grief, suicide risk, and promoting wellness] LINK
• Presentation provides an overview of Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents (TGCTA; Saltzman, Layne, Pynoos, Olafson, Kaplow, & Boat, 2017) treatment and training. This includes a brief description of TGCTA’s primary components, modularized design, eight primary strengths, multidimensional grief theory, and evidence of TGCTA’s effectiveness. The slide set also contains links to websites to access further information about TGCTA, TGCTA-compatible assessment tools, and training in implementing TGCTA. LINK  

• Dr. Layne’s invited symposium presentation (with additional notes) on developmental psychopathology perspectives on traumatic stress (resilience and resistance) given at the annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, November 2004. LINK