Research

Miami Depression and Anxiety Disorders Lab

Director: Dr. Jutta Joormann

The lab's primary research goal is to gain a better understanding of how basic cognitive processes and individual differences in emotion and mood regulation increase the risk for the onset of depression and anxiety disorders, and hinder recovery from these disorders. We are currently working on a number of projects that integrate psychological and biological risk factors and investigate the role of attention, memory, and emotion regulation in the onset and maintenance of depressive disorders and anxiety disorders. We also started projects that investigate factors that might explain the high rates of co-occurrence of depression and social anxiety.

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People

Director, Jutta Joormann

Jutta Joormann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. She received her doctoral degree from the Free University of Berlin and was an Assistant Professor at the Ruhr-University in Bochum in Germany. In 2002 she was awarded a fellowship from the German Research Foundation to work at Stanford University. Her main areas of interest include the identification of cognitive risk factors for depression, research on the comorbidity of anxiety and depression, and research on social anxiety disorder. Her current work examines attention and memory processes in depression and how these are linked to rumination and emotion dysregulation. In her work, she integrates a multitude of measures, including cognitive tasks, psychophysiological measures of stress reactivity and regulation, neuroendocrine assessments, genotying, and brain imaging. She is currently an Associate Editor of Cognition and Emotion.

Post-doctoral Fellow, K. Lira Yoon

K. Lira Yoon is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology. She received her doctoral degree from Northwestern University in 2006. Her main research interest is experimental psychopathology with an emphasis on anxiety and depression, particularly information processing in anxiety and depression. Her other research interest includes emotion regulation, risk factors for anxiety and depression, and comorbidity of anxiety and depression. Her current work examines interpretation and memory processes in depression and social anxiety and how these are linked to inhibition and interference control functions using multiple measures such as cognitive tasks, psychophysiological and neuroendocrine measures of stress reactivity and regulation.

Graduate Student, Catherine D'Avanzato

Catherine D'Avanzato is interested in the role of information processing biases in emotional disorders, particularly depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Her past research experience has focused on how biases in autobiographical memory predict risk for emotional disorders. Catherine is very interested in learning more about how information processing biases develop and about how they are causally linked to depression. She is also interested in how information processing biases and rumination might relate to gender differences in the prevalence of depression.

Graduate Student, Joelle LeMoult

Joelle LeMoult graduated from UC Berkeley in 2001 and obtained her Masters from San Francisco State University in 2006. Her research focuses on examining the cognitive processes of individuals with depression, social anxiety disorder, and comorbid social anxiety and depression. She is currently conducting a study that looks at differences in the attention, memory, and interpretation biases across these three groups. In addition, she is interested in the biological mechanisms that may underlie mood and anxiety disorders and is examining whether groups differ in their neuroendocrine stress response.

Graduate Student, Tanya Tran

Tanya Tran graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Her research focuses on examining the cognitive and interpersonal processes in individuals with depression. She is currently conducting a study that examines the effect of rumination on the recall of autobiographical memories, and their effects on one's motivation to engage in interpersonal events. She is also interested in examining the cognitive factors that contribute to the onset and maintenance of depression in order to develop more effective treatment and prevention programs. Thus, she plans to study the effectiveness of implicit positive interpretation training on emotional vulnerability in people with depression. Tanya also enjoys eating sushi, traveling, and arts and crafts.

Visiting Researcher, Ulrike Zetsche

Ulrike Zetsche is a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Psychology and a PhD student at the University of Tübingen, Germany. She received her Masters in Clinical Psychology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 2005. She has studied at the University of Freiburg and the University of Münster, Germany, and the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, UK. Her research focuses on individual differences in cognitive processes and how they are related to the onset and maintenance of emotional disorders. In her current project, she is investigating whether deficits in inhibiting negative information may explain why some people tend to ruminate extensively when they are depressed.

Research Assistant, Norma Ford

Norma Ford is a junior at the University of Miami. Her concentrations include Psychology, Business Administration, and Spanish. Norma works in the office for Undergraduate Academic Services in Psychology as a peer advisor. She plays violin in the Frost Symphony Orchestra, is the Recruitment Chair for LINK volunteer organization, is a member of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, and is a member of Psi Chi. She enjoys bicycling, listening to music, and reading. After graduation, she plans to teach English in a Spanish-speaking country and to eventually get her PhD in clinical psychology.

Research Assistant, Janine Galione

Janine Galione is an undergraduate majoring in psychology with a minor in Biology at the University of Miami. She is entering her senior year and hopes to graduate by the end of 2007 with hopes of attending graduate school for clinical psychology. Janine is in the middle of writing her honor's thesis on cognitive processes in sociotropic individuals with depression and social anxiety disorder. She is originally from Long Island where she gained interest in her major after working in a pharmacy for 3 years.

Research Assistant, Tara Michelle Irani

Tara Michelle Irani is a senior psychology major earning minors in English and anthropology. She has an identical twin sister who also attends the University of Miami. Tara was born in Washington, D.C. and she lives in Potomac, Maryland. After she graduates in May 2008, she plans to travel as much as she can. After traveling she plans to earn her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Tara is involved in Student Government and loves playing tennis, singing, writing, and reading. Tara is interested in moods, resilience, leadership, physiology, and anything else that involves working with, understanding, and helping people.

Research Assistant, Aixa Marchand

Aixa Marchand is a junior majoring in psychology with a minor in anthropology. She is the president of both the Haitian American Youth Organization of Kendall and the University of Miami's Haitian Student Organization. In addition she is also a newly inducted member of Psi Chi and a Peer Advisor for the Psychology Department. Upon graduation Aixa plans on continuing on to receive a masters and doctorate degree in psychology.

Research Assistant, Aparna Saini

Aparna Saini is a junior at the University of Miami; she is obtaining her Bachelors of Science in psychology with Minors in Biology and Business Administration. She is currently researching Cortisol response, autobiographical memories and inhibition in depressed populations. She was president of Inquiry, the research club on campus last year, and is currently a member of the President's 100. She plans to eventually get her Ph.D. in Adult psychology and establish her own cake decorating business.

Research Assistant, Noris Rios

Noris Rios is nineteen years old. She was born in the Dominican Republic and lived there until she was five. She then moved to Miami and has been living in Miami ever since. She is a student at the University of Miami majoring in Psychology and minoring in Foreign Languages: French & Italian. In the future she hopes to get her PhD and become a clinical psychologist. She is addicted to music. She plays the piano, the guitar, and is taking drumming lessons. She also adores movies (who doesn't?), dancing, and basically just enjoying life. She's a very easy-going, positive person.

Research Assistant, Shira Zeman

Shira Zeman is a Psychology major earning minors in Criminology and Educational and Psychological Services (EPS). More specifically, Shira enjoys studying and learning about neuroscience and psychobiology, and is interested in researching neuroendocrine and psychophysiological correlates of response styles in individuals with depression. Shira is originally from Potomac, Maryland, and in the near future she hopes to get accepted to graduate school for Clinical Psychology to pursuer her Ph.D.

Research Projects

Autobiographical memory in depressed and/or socially anxious individuals (PI: Dr. K. Lira Yoon)

There is mounting evidence that individuals with depression have a tendency to retrieve generic autobiographical memories. In contrast, there are only a few studies on overgeneral memory in socially anxious individuals. Despite high comorbidity rates between depression and social anxiety, individuals with comorbid depression and social anxiety have been neglected in this literature. More recently, executive functioning has been linked to depressed individuals' tendency to retrieve overgeneral memories. In this study, we are investigating whether socially anxious individuals and comorbid participants exhibit overgeneral memory. We are also investigating the relationship between inhibition and the specificity of autobiographical memory in depressed and/or socially anxious individuals. In addition, by collecting biological markers of stress reactivity (i.e., cortisol), we will be able to examine the link between stress reactivity, autobiographical memory, and psychopathology (i.e., depression and social anxiety disorder).
RAs: Aparna Saini, Janine Galione

Interoceptive cues and social anxiety disorder (PI: Dr. K. Lira Yoon)

According to the cognitive model of social phobia (Clark & Wells, 1995), socially anxious individuals shift their attention inward and use interoceptive cues and feared behavioral symptoms to construct impressions of themselves that they believe reflect how others see them. One way to test the model is to investigate whether manipulation of the focus of attention affects the level of social anxiety one experiences. If focus of attention is manipulated, then any consequent changes in social anxiety or performance would suggest that attention to interoceptive cues may be causally related to social anxiety, supporting the Clark and Wells model. If manipulations in focus of attention do not affect anxiety or social performance, then perhaps attention toward interoceptive cues could be better regarded as an epiphenomenon or consequent of social anxiety disorder. Thus, in these studies we are investigating the role of attention to interoceptive cues in social anxiety and performance by: (a) demonstrating that socially anxious participants pay more attention to stimuli representing interoceptive cues (vs. external cues (i.e., audience) compared to healthy controls; (b) manipulating one's attentional focus in a group of control participants; and (c) providing bio-feedback to individuals with social anxiety disorder. Identifying the underlying mechanisms of social anxiety by investigating the role of attentional shift would provide us with a more comprehensive understanding of social anxiety disorder, and could help to improve therapeutic interventions for social anxiety disorder
RAs: Aparna Saini, Janine Galione

Cross-cultural study on emotion regulation and its consequences (PI: Dr. K. Lira Yoon)

There is a growing body of literature addressing different ways of regulating mood and their consequences. Studies have also shown that the consequences of emotion regulation could be culture-specific (e.g., Butler, Lee, & Gross, 2007). Investigating the influence of culture on the consequences of emotion regulation is still at its early stage, and studies thus far focused on different cultural groups within the United States. In this study, we are investigating the influence of culture on emotion regulation and its consequences. More specifically, we are comparing Western-European culture and Asian culture to examine (a) the prevalence of different types of emotion regulation (e.g., rumination, suppression, reappraisal) in two cultures, and (b) whether consequences (i.e., psychological and general well-being) of emotion regulation differ depending on the culture.

Attention, Memory, and Interpretation Biases in Comorbid Depression and Social Anxiety (PI: Joelle LeMoult)

The biased processing of emotional material plays an important role in the onset and maintenance of social anxiety and depression (e.g., Teasdale, 1988). Understanding these biases has thus been an integral component to successfully developing intervention programs (e.g., Clark, 2001). Cognitive models of anxiety and depression (e.g., Beck, 1967) suggest that individuals with mood disorders attend to and remember negative information, and interpret ambiguous information in a negative manner. The nature of information processing biases in comorbid depression and social anxiety, however, is not clear. In carefully diagnosed comorbid and non-comorbid participants, we are investigating the roles of: (a) orienting towards and disengaging from negative stimuli; (b) memory of negative stimuli; and (c) interpreting ambiguous information.
RAs: Tara Irani and Shira Zeman

Emotion Regulation and the Cortisol Stress Response in Depressed Individuals (PI: Joelle LeMoult)

Stressful life events have been strongly associated with the onset and severity of depression (Brown, Harris, & Hepworth, 1994). This link, however, is not consistent across individuals. Rather, stressful life events are suggested to interact with individual vulnerability factors to predict the onset of depression (Caspi et al., 2003). One vulnerability factor, rumination, is an emotion regulation style that has been shown to be both a risk factor for depression and a mechanism that exacerbates the distress (Nolen-Hoeksema & Davis, 1999). Rumination involves passively and repetitively concentrating on ones negative feelings and the consequences of these feelings. This indicates that different emotion regulation styles may differentially impact the human stress response. Cortisol is one of the most important hormones released in response to stress, and thus can be used as a marker of the human stress response (Stansbury & Gunnar, 1994). We are currently investigating the impact that different emotion regulation styles (rumination, distraction, and reappraisal) have on individuals' cortisol stress response and recovery. This research may explain individual differences in the propensity to develop depression after a negative life event.
RA: Shira Zeman

The Effects of Induced Interpretation Biases on Emotional Vulnerability in Depression (PI: Tanya Tran)

This study proposes to examine whether positive and negative interpretation biases can be experimentally induced, and if so, whether these training programs can be applied to treatments for depression. Past studies have found that interpretive biases can be induced in individuals with anxiety disorders, which affect state anxiety and reactivity to an acute stressor (e.g. Grey & Mathews, 2000; Mathews & MacLeod, 2000, etc.). However, to date, no studies have been conducted to examine the effects of interpretive training in depression. This study also aims to examine the effect that manipulating interpretations may have on an individual's ability to cope with stress. Lastly, we would like to examine the link between memory and interpretation biases in depression. It seems that negatively distorted memories of ambiguous events may distort initial interpretations. We therefore examine whether our interpretation training affects memory biases in depression. By applying knowledge of the cognitive factors involved in the maintenance of depression to training techniques, this study aims to bridge the gap between the basic research and treatments for depression.
RA: Norma Ford

Rumination and Interpersonal Interactions in Depression (PI: Tanya Tran)

Numerous studies suggest that the tendency to respond to negative mood states and negative life events with ruminative thinking increases the risk for the onset of depressive episodes (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991; 2000). Though much research has been done investigating the cognitive consequences of rumination, fewer studies have focused on examining the subsequent effects of these cognitive changes on interpersonal interactions. Lyubomirksy and Nolen-Hoeksema found that while dysphoric participants who ruminated predicted that future interpersonal activities would be just as enjoyable as nondysphoric participants and as dysphoric participants who did not ruminate, they were less likely to engage in these social activities (1993). This study proposes to investigate the mediating factor between maladaptive rumination and one's motivation to engage in future interactions. Specifically, this study aims to examine if rumination increases the salience and recall of negative autobiographical memories in people with major depressive disorder (MDD), and if increased recall of negative memories, in turn, affects one's motivation to engage in future interpersonal interactions. Investigating the cognitive and interpersonal consequences of maladaptive ruminative responses may provide new insight into the factors that increase vulnerability for the onset of depression and impair recovery from depression.
RA: Norma Ford (Aixa Marchand, Tony Salerno)

Deficits inhibiting negative information and its relation to depressive rumination (PI: Ulrike Zetsche)

Recent research has suggested that individual differences in the ability to inhibit negative information might explain differences in the tendency to ruminate. Inhibitory processes operate at different stages of processing and are bases for a range of cognitive functions, such as attention, memory and problem solving. Individuals with dysfunctional inhibitory processes are easily distracted by irrelevant information or thoughts possibly leading to the kind of rumination observed in depressed people. The goal of the present project is to investigate, whether difficulty inhibiting negative information is associated with the tendency to ruminate. In particular, we are examining two different inhibitory processes in order to determine which specific inhibitory processes are linked to rumination. These are a). inhibition of external information before entering working memory (WM), and b). inhibition of no longer relevant information that has already been in WM. In a second part of this research project, we are looking at how different inhibitory processes are related to each other, as well as to rumination. We expect that the inhibition tasks used in this study measure two different inhibitory processes, i.e. preventing irrelevant information from entering WM and inhibiting no longer relevant information in WM. We further expect that there is a moderate positive correlation between these two processes. Finally, we predict that difficulty inhibiting negative information will be related to level of rumination.
People involved in this project: Ulrike Zetsche (PhD student), Jessica Hughes, Beverley Montgomery, Michelle Tano, Aixa Marchand, and Noris Rios (undergraduate students).

Participate

Do you want to participate in our studies? Call us at 305- 284-4917 or email the Miami Depression and Anxiety Disorders Lab at mood@psy.miami.edu.

We thank you for your help!

Contact

Miami Depression and Anxiety Disorders Lab
Psychology Department, University of Miami
5665 Ponce de Leon Blvd.
Coral Gables, FL
Phone: 305- 284-4917
Email: mood@psy.miami.edu