There are a number of assessment and research endeavors being conducted at the clinic currently. We encourage you to learn more about these activities and get involved if asked. Please also feel free to speak with your clinician about these activities and please visit our lab page

Current Projects :

An emotional regulation framework for understanding and treating chronic worry and generalized anxiety

A number of studies being conducted in the clinic are concerned with developing and applying an empirically-driven emotion dysregulation framework to better understand and treat chronic worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Numerous studies have demonstrated that worry is as a type of abstract, verbally mediated thought (i.e., involves excessive talking to ourselves) that is used to avoid distressing internal experience (physiological arousal and aversive imagery). Our research began by asking what it is about emotional experience that would lead individuals to avoid it through worry. Our model suggests that the debilitating, chronic worry experienced by individuals with GAD is driven by a maladaptive cycle of emotion dysregulation. For example, Dr. Mennin's research indicates that individuals with GAD have a tendency to experience their emotions more intensely; have difficulty identifying and understanding their emotions; react negatively to their emotional experience; and have difficulty managing their emotions. In addition, Dr. Mennin's research team is currently involved in efforts to develop and evaluate a treatment targeting maladaptive emotion regulation in individuals with this debilitating disorder. The treatment orients clients to the function of worry as a form of emotional avoidance while helping them increases their ability to identify their emotions and understand their functional significance. In particular, the therapist and client collaborate in helping the client understand, experience, and manage his or her emotions in a more accepting and flexible manner.

For more information please visit Doug Mennin's Lab

Daily life experiences in depression

This study focuses on measuring the kinds of events that happen to people in the course of their daily lives and the way they feel and think about these events, as well as the way that they react to these events. Specifically, we are interested in knowing how events that occur in the daily lives of individuals suffering from depression are experienced prior to the beginning of treatment, and after several weeks of treatment. We study things that are associated with variations in depressed mood (e.g., thoughts, feelings, reactions). Examining daily experiences may also allow us to have a better understanding of the ways that change occurs due to psychotherapeutic treatment and this, in turn, may contribute to improving the treatments that are currently available for depression.

This study also involves the examination of genetic information. Participants will be asked to provide some saliva (by using mouthwash), which will be used for extraction of DNA. We will look for a genetic relationship between the way individuals think and feel and the way they react to events in their life; and for genetic predictors of treatment outcome. The major purpose of collecting DNA is to identify genes influencing depression, and other behaviors.

People who participate will complete some questionnaires and will carry a small, light microcomputer (like a Blackberry) for a few days to record the events of their day and their reactions to them. Participants who complete the study will be paid $50.

For more information please visit Susan Nolen-Hoeksema's Faculty page