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Program Overview & Philosophy
Program Overview & Mission
Research is a dynamic and interactive process of exploration and discovery,
with the process being just as important as the outcomes achieved. We are
committed to the systematic exploration of learning and psychological processes
that, either in whole or in part, contribute to the etiology, maintenance,
and treatment of fear and anxiety-related disorders. It is recognized that
anxiety disorders are a means to understand psychological and experiential
factors that contribute to human suffering more generally. Understanding
anxiety disorders as such is not an end in itself.
Our laboratory staff are quite active and are involved in three related activities
that make up the integrated mission of the laboratory.
First, we are committed to struggling with theoretical, philosophical, and
conceptual issues, and to clarifying their role in our activities, and more
broadly as they relate to human suffering, behavior change, and mechanisms
of action. Thus, we are not a research mill, but a group of thoughtful individuals
attempting to develop coherent, theory-driven formulations of
human suffering and psychological dysfunction.
Much of this activity occurs within a functional-contextual framework.
Second, we are committed to using basic science and laboratory experimentation as a
means to better understand a variety of factors that contribute to the
etiology and maintenance of anxiety-related disorders, but more importantly
to achieving a better understanding of variables and core processes that
contribute to psychological suffering and psychopathology. Here we tackle topics such
as the nature of human language, cognition, and emotion dysregulation,
and attempt to address
putative mechanisms and processes that drive the shift from adaptive experiences
of anxiety and fear to disordered and maladaptive
experiences of anxiety and fear. Much of this
work is grounded broadly in the areas of behavioral science and
experimental psychopathology, and has an explicit translational focus.
Third, we seek to integrate our conceptual and theoretical analysis with
our basic research work, and apply this knowledge to the advancement of more
efficacious treatments to alleviate anxiety and fear-related disorders. Here, the
emphasis is on innovation and process-oriented treatment development.
Thus, our third component involves theory-driven basic and applied assessment and treatment
activities with persons suffering from anxiety-related disorders. This work, in turn,
is set within a context of accountability, or the view that ethical and humane forms
of psychological services are those that are cost-effective, efficacious,
time-efficient, and durable. We are guided by knowing not only that treatments
work, but also why they work. This kind of question demands that we take what
we learn via applied assessment and treatment activities and bring them back to the
laboratory for further experimental and conceptual analysis.
Students in the laboratory are actively involved in all facets of our basic
mission and contribute to a viable and productive ongoing program of research.
Most students enjoy basic experimental psychopathology research, applied psychopathology
research, and their integration. Most graduate students have their sights set
on academic/research oriented careers. Undergraduates often want to gain
entry into Ph.D. training programs in clinical psychology.
Finally, we enjoy our work tremendously and maintain that behavioral science
can and should inform clinical practice, and that clinical practice can and
should inform basic behavioral science.
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