CYP Wellbeing Network Seminar: Dr Yinyin Zang- school interventions for PTSD

Abstract: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects millions worldwide, yet access to treatment remains highly unequal. In low-resource settings, fewer than 12% of individuals with PTSD receive care within a year, creating widespread suffering and societal burden. While effective PTSD treatments exist, they were largely developed in high-income countries and require extensive therapist training and clinical infrastructure—resources scarce in many global regions.

Our research addresses this gap through culturally informed written-based exposure therapies designed with implementation in mind from the outset. We developed a series intervention for Chinese PTSD populations, including a self-guided online program, online delivered individual therapy, and school-based group treatment for adolescents.

These approaches were designed to be affordable, culturally appropriate, and less reliant on specialized mental health professionals, making them well-suited for low-resource settings. This work contributes to efforts to reduce global mental health disparities through scalable, context-sensitive PTSD interventions.

Bio: Dr Yinyin Zang is a senior Research Fellow in Clinical Psychology at Peking University. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Psychology from the University of Nottingham and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. Dr Zang leads the Intervention, Prevention, and Promotion (IPP) Lab, where her research centers on trauma, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and mental health interventions for different populations. Her work spans trauma-related psychopathology and treatment, evidence-based practice implementation, AI-assisted interventions, cross-cultural positive psychology, and the mechanisms underlying psychological therapies.