Patterns and mediators of emotion regulatory disturbance in panic disorder

描述(由申请人提供)：拟议培训计划的目标是进一步发展申请人在心理生理学、认知科学和情感科学以及实验精神病理学领域的知识和研究技能。最终，该奖学金提供的培训经验将极大地促进申请者实现对情绪障碍的生理和认知机制进行高质量研究的目标，并基于这些机制开发新的预防和治疗干预措施。主要建议的培训经验是一个研究项目，将使用心理生理学方法来调查惊恐障碍(PD)中的情绪调节(ER)障碍，并检查这种障碍的可能认知机制。拟议的培训计划还包括认知科学和统计学的课程；与赞助商的定期会议；赞助商和顾问指导的读物；临床实践；以及专业发展活动。拟议的研究将通过提供心理生理学和认知方法、临床样本招募和筛选以及数据分析和解释方面的应用经验来补充这一培训计划。之所以选择这一特定的研究课题，不仅是因为它与申请者的职业目标和先前的经验很好地契合，还因为焦虑症是一个高度普遍和使人残疾的公共卫生问题。更好地理解为什么有些人难以控制焦虑，这将对干预发展产生直接影响。与此一致，“监管系统”是NIMH最近的研究领域标准(RDoC)倡议的一个建议领域。以前在这一领域的研究受到对ER能力的自我报告测量的依赖和对可能的调解人的不频繁调查的限制。因此，本研究的目的1是评估与对照组相比，帕金森病患者在多大程度上能够自愿调节(即减少和增加)情绪反应的生理指标，以应对不可预测的威胁(休克)。目标2是评估帕金森病患者和对照组之间的努力控制能力(情绪调节缺陷的一种潜在机制)，以及在威胁环境中努力控制被破坏的程度。然后，我们将评估努力控制(无论是在威胁期间还是在基线时)是否会调节群体ER能力的差异。数据将从以下地点收集 45例帕金森病患者和45例健康对照。本项目将由以下领域的专家提供指导：PD的心理生理学和威胁处理(Stewart Shankman博士)，情绪障碍的认知和认知基础(Scott Langenecker和Ian Gotlib博士)，以及实验精神病理学(Shankman、Langenecker和Gotlib博士)。这项研究将是第一次评估帕金森病患者ER能力的客观指标，也是第一次在这一人群中将认知表现与ER联系起来。因此，拟议的研究金将有助于推动申请者的职业生涯，并有望产生直接适用于开发新的焦虑症干预措施的结果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed training plan is to further develop the applicant's knowledge and research skills in the areas of psychophysiology, cognitive and affective science, and experimental psychopathology. Ultimately, the training experiences provided by this fellowship will greatly promote the applicant's goals to conduct high- quality research on physiological and cognitive mechanisms of emotional disorders and develop novel preventative and treatment interventions based on these mechanisms. The primary proposed training experience is a research project that will use psychophysiological measures to investigate emotion regulatory (ER) disturbance in Panic Disorder (PD) and examine possible cognitive mechanisms of this disturbance. The proposed training plan also includes coursework in cognitive science and statistics; regular meetings with sponsors; sponsor- and consultant-guided readings; clinical practical; and professional development activities. The proposed research will complement this training plan by providing applied experience with psychophysiological and cognitive methodology, clinical sample recruitment and screening, and data analysis and interpretation. This particular research topic was chosen not only because it fits well with the applicant's career goals and prior experience, but also because anxiety disorders are a highly prevalent and disabling public health problem. A better understanding of why some individuals have difficulty regulating anxiety would have direct implications for intervention development. Consistent with this, "regulatory systems" is a proposed domain for the NIMH's recent Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative. Previous research in this area has been limited by a reliance on self-report measures of ER ability and infrequent investigation of possible mediators. Therefore, Aim 1 of the proposed study is to assess the degree to which individuals with PD, relative to controls, can voluntarily regulate (i.e, decrease and increase) physiological indicators of emotional responding to unpredictable threat (of shock). Aim 2 is to assess effortful control ability (a potential mechanism of emotion regulatory deficits) among PD individuals vs. controls, as well as the degree to which effortful control is disrupted in a threatening context. We will then assess whether effortful control (eithe during threat or at baseline) mediates group differences in ER ability. Data will be collected from 45 individuals with current PD and 45 healthy controls. Mentorship for this project will be provided by experts in the areas of psychophysiology and threat processing in PD (Dr. Stewart Shankman), cognition and cognitive bases of emotional disorders (Drs. Scott Langenecker and Ian Gotlib), and experimental psychopathology (Drs. Shankman, Langenecker, and Gotlib). This study will be the first to assess objective indices of ER ability in individuals with PD, as well a the first to relate cognitive performance to ER in this population. Thus, the proposed fellowship will be instrumental in propelling the applicant's career and promises to yield results directly applicable to the development of new interventions for anxiety disorders.