Category: Transdiagnostic
Erin Kang, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor
Montclair State University
Montclair, New Jersey
Rachel McDonald, M.A. (she/her/hers)
Doctoral Candidate
Montclair State University
West Orange, New Jersey
Susan White, ABPP, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Doddridge Saxon Chair in Clinical Psychology
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Vera Vine, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Rachel McDonald, M.A. (she/her/hers)
Doctoral Candidate
Montclair State University
West Orange, New Jersey
Julia McQuade, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor
Amherst College
Amherst, Massachusetts
Megan Mikhail, M.A. (they/them or she/her)
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
Recent efforts in mental health research have focused on understanding mechanisms underlying psychopathology, and there is emerging consensus toward transdiagnostic approaches that cut across traditional diagnostic boundaries in research and clinical practice (Insel et al., 2010). Such an approach can offer novel insights into the mechanisms and targets that can be effectively impacted by interventions such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) across multiple mental health conditions. One such factor that has received considerable attention is emotion regulation, which refers to attempts at influence one’s own or others’ emotions (McRae & Gross, 2020). Over the past decade, there has been a surge of research on emotion dysregulation (ED), an inflexible pattern of regulating emotions, and its associations with multiple forms of psychopathology (e.g., see Lincoln, Schulze, & Renneberg, 2022 for a review). This suggests that ED may be a worthwhile transdiagnostic treatment target. Furthermore, it may be important to examine the relationship between ED and psychopathology across different developmental periods during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, as dynamic changes occur in emotion regulation development and different periods mark the onset or worsening of psychopathology.
Consistent with this year’s Convention theme, “Cultivating Joy with CBT,” this symposium will highlight recent advancements in research on ED in mental health across youth and young adult populations, focusing on ED as predictors and correlates of multiple forms of psychopathology. Identifying transdiagnostic factors such as ED in understanding and treating mental health problems can better understand and target mechanisms for improving CBT outcomes and well-being. Moreover, it can point towards a flexible treatment model that can be applied across a range of presentations, and thereby can facilitate clinical training and minimized barriers to dissemination.
The first presentation will discuss the role of adolescents ’s multimodal emotional responses (e.g., subjective affect, sympathetic responses, parasympathetic responses) to a variety of different parent-child interaction contexts as predictors of elevated suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Vera Vine, PhD). The second presentation will examine how specific facets of emotion dysregulation (e.g., dysphoria and reactivity) predict specific autistic traits across autistic and non-autistic youth (Rachel McDonald, MPS). The third presentation will examine whether dysregulation in positive emotions and associated impulsivity predicts antisocial behavior in adolescents with ADHD (Julia McQuade, PhD). The final presentation will
elucidate the role of both adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategy use in longitudinally predicting disordered eating behaviors through changes in positive affect (Megan Mikhail, MA). The Discussant (Susan White, PhD), an expert in youth development and intervention, will provide integrative insight across that cut across targeting problems and age groups, to highlight the role of emotion dysregulation to inform and improve mental health care.
