Evaluating the impact of a brief, phone-based emotion regulation intervention on emotion perception within a transdiagnostic, clinical sample of adults.

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PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Although interpersonal dysfunction is common within many psychiatric illnesses, there is a lack of transdiagnostic, behavioral interventions addressing problematic social cognition underlying such dysfunction. Deficits in emotion perception, the ability to perceive other people’s emotions, are one of the key social processes emphasized in the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework that are associated with many serious psychiatric disorders. More research is needed to identify and intervene on processes that cause these deficits in disorders characterized by emotional difficulties (e.g. depression, borderline personality disorder). One potential target is emotion dysregulation, difficulties managing negative emotional experiences, because preliminary evidence suggests that it may impair emotion perception. As such, the overarching goal of the proposed research is to test whether an emotion regulation intervention can improve emotion perception in a transdiagnostic, clinical sample of adults with emotion dysregulation. This project will be a follow-up to the lab’s previously conducted pilot study that demonstrated efficacy of a brief, generalizable emotion regulation intervention in reducing emotional arousal and distress immediately within the lab and over one week outside the lab (R01MH095806). This proposed study will build systematically on this research program and evaluate the effects of this intervention on negative biases when perceiving other people’s emotions from facial expressions. The specific aims of this proposed study are to evaluate the impact of this intervention on negative biases in emotion perception (1) within a laboratory-based training session and (2) outside the lab over one week using mobile phone reminders. The project will provide a foundation for a new way to treat problems in social processes using brief, accessible, technology-based interventions, in line with NIMH’s mission of “developing new treatments based on discoveries in behavioral science.” The applicant will gain research experience on this clinical trial, led by Dr. Rosenthal (sponsor). The applicant’s long-term career goal is to become an independent researcher who develops such interventions for a wide range of populations, including those typically underserved in psychiatry. The proposed project integrates training and research plans to develop the applicant’s expertise, with fellowship funds allowing for mentored training in (1) conducting translational treatment research; (2) novel intervention technologies (e.g. mobile phones); (3) advanced statistical analyses; (4) grant-writing and presentation skills; and (5) ethical issues and practices involving diverse clinical populations. These goals will be achieved through coursework, mentorship by the sponsors, workshops and seminars, and conducting the proposed research project. This fellowship will provide the necessary support for the applicant to develop a specialized skill set in emotion, social cognition, and clinical science, as well as intervention development using cutting-edge digital technologies.