Current Research
Values and Self-Compassion Interventions for Self-Stigma
Principal Investigator: Sara V. White
Can you conjure to mind a stereotype about mental illness? I bet you could! Yet, most of us do not believe those stereotypes to be true or allow them to dominate our behavior in unhelpful ways. Approaching self-stigma from an ACT perspective may be more effective than trying to challenge self-stigmatizing thoughts directly. This study aims to investigate the effects two brief writing interventions--incorporating values clarification or self-compassion--on self-stigma and willingness to seek psychological help among college students.
Compassion, Identity, and Relationships
Principal Investigator: Shannon B. Underwood
Who is your biggest critic? Does this critic ever get in the way of your ability to connect with your romantic partner or others? This study on compassion aims to explore how self-compassion and compassion for others relate to romantic relationship satisfaction. Additionally, this study aims to also explore ways aspects of identity impact these relations.
Self-Compassion vs. Compassion for Others
Principal Investigator: Te'Airra Decount
This study aims to determine the the directional relations between self-compassion and compassion for others, as well as explore the mediating role of other related psychological process variables (e.g., psychological flexibility, emotional distress, feelings of connectedness). In addition, the present study seeks to add to the extant literature by exploring which processes are most influential in predicting one’s decision to extend compassion in response to a compassion-evoking stimulus.
Principal Investigator: Sara V. White
Can you conjure to mind a stereotype about mental illness? I bet you could! Yet, most of us do not believe those stereotypes to be true or allow them to dominate our behavior in unhelpful ways. Approaching self-stigma from an ACT perspective may be more effective than trying to challenge self-stigmatizing thoughts directly. This study aims to investigate the effects two brief writing interventions--incorporating values clarification or self-compassion--on self-stigma and willingness to seek psychological help among college students.
Compassion, Identity, and Relationships
Principal Investigator: Shannon B. Underwood
Who is your biggest critic? Does this critic ever get in the way of your ability to connect with your romantic partner or others? This study on compassion aims to explore how self-compassion and compassion for others relate to romantic relationship satisfaction. Additionally, this study aims to also explore ways aspects of identity impact these relations.
Self-Compassion vs. Compassion for Others
Principal Investigator: Te'Airra Decount
This study aims to determine the the directional relations between self-compassion and compassion for others, as well as explore the mediating role of other related psychological process variables (e.g., psychological flexibility, emotional distress, feelings of connectedness). In addition, the present study seeks to add to the extant literature by exploring which processes are most influential in predicting one’s decision to extend compassion in response to a compassion-evoking stimulus.
Recently Completed Research
Understanding Meditation Experiences in Everyday Life
How are people learning to practice meditation and how does it impact their experience with the practice, especially when it is being marketed in the U.S. as a way of getting rid of "negative" experiences? The primary question for this study asks: Does using meditation to avoid experience vs. accept experience vary as a function of how an individual has learned to meditate? Furthermore, what is the relationship between how one learns to meditate, their experiences with meditation, and various psychological processes (e.g., anxiety, depression, stress)? To explore this question, we are recruiting meditators from 2 populations: (1) meditators that have primarily learned the practice on their own (e.g., through smartphone apps, books, social media) and (2) meditators that have participated in the evidence-based Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. This study seeks to both replicate and expand upon some of the questions explored in the recently completed study: "Meditation in Everyday Life" (see below).
Views on Mental Health/Illness in a Diverse Sample
The primary aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between mental health self-stigma and distress. Further, this study investigates the mediating role of psychological (in)flexibility processes. We hope this study will add to the extant literature by elucidating which psychological flexibility processes may be beneficial targets in stigma interventions.
Meditation in Everyday Life
This study aims to identify the percentage of college students who meditate, the reasons why they meditate, what types of meditation are used, and outcome differences between those who do and do not meditate. Meditation is associated with numerous short-term benefits including lower blood pressure, decreased feelings of stress and anxiety, and increased feelings of peace and happiness. The Western world has used meditation as a means to rid themselves of suffering and to control their stress, unwanted thoughts, and unpleasant feelings (e.g. anxiety). Traditionally, meditation has been used to reach enlightenment, cultivate balance and compassion, be present in the world, and be aware of one's existence within space. As such, this study further aims to identify the context in which people meditate, and if that context impacts their experience, or is associated with other outcome variables.
Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 Pandemic is likely having wide-ranging impacts on mental health. This study aims to contribute information about the nature of such mental health impacts, as well as identify possible targets for providing mental health support.
Psychological Inflexibility and Problematic Smartphone Use
Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is a growing public health concern. This survey study aims to investigate the roles of psychological inflexibility and its underlying processes in maintaining PSU.
The Context of Meditation
This study aims to examine how the intended use of mindfulness meditation may influence subjective experiences of meditation. Participants will breathe CO2-enriched air, designed to elicit angiogenic effects, while listening to a guided meditation. Participants are told to either utilize the guided audio in an effort to control their experience of the CO2 enriched air, or to be open to the effects of the enriched air without struggling or trying to control their experience. This study captures how meditation may be used in the general public: in an effort to control experience (e.g. feel less anxiety), or to be open and accepting of experience (i.e. how meditation is traditionally taught). If the context of mindfulness meditation impacts experience, clinicians and teachers should play close attention to how they package mindfulness meditation for their clients.
Anxiety in Daily Life
Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health concern in the United States. Yet, many who suffer from anxiety do not receive treatment or fail to respond to well-established cognitive and behavioral interventions. Mindfulness- and values-based strategies are possible alternatives for these individuals. However, values-based approaches have not been adequately studied in anxious populations and it is unclear how they may interact with mindfulness-based approaches. Moreover, little is understood about the mechanisms of action underlying behavioral changes resulting from mindfulness meditation (MM) practices. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one approach that employs values clarification (VC) and mindfulness to bring about improvements in quality of life (QOL). ACT also provides a behavioral account of human vitality that may increase specificity of mediating and moderating variables that are critical for good outcomes following mindfulness-based treatment. The present investigation aimed to evaluate the effects of MM and VC on QOL and anxiety symptomology and to elucidate significant mediators and moderators of the relations between MM and VC and positive outcomes.
The Effect of Cognitive Defusion on Behavioral and Psychological Flexibility
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) utilizes cognitive defusion strategies to alter the function of unwanted, distressing thoughts so as to reduce their impact and foster greater psychological flexibility. This study sought to determine whether positive impacts of defusion are associated with the behavioral process of defusion itself; namely, behavior that is relatively broad and flexible compared with behavior that is narrow and inflexible. To address this issue, this study assessed the impact of a defusion intervention on behavior, as measured by the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Results from the study, published in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, suggested that defused behavior is broad and flexible in nature, relative to narrow and inflexible.
Assessment of Weight/Shape Implicit Bias Related to Attractiveness, Fear, and Disgust
The project aimed to clarify the nature of weight and shape biases, and investigate emotion-specific nuances in responding. Specifically, the study evaluated self-oriented weight/shape relational responding linked to attractiveness, fear, and disgust using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP).
Mindful Practices in Daily Life
Mindfulness meditation appears to result in several behavioral benefits, including improved attention and awareness of environmental contingencies, and overall better quality of life. However, little is known regarding the needed "dose" to achieve improved behavioral outcomes, who may benefit from meditation, how meditation affects daily experience, or the behavioral processes that meditation impacts. Our goal was to identify the effects of engaging in a brief daily mindful practice over the course of two weeks. Participants attended a Learning Day session where they complete a pre-instruction survey and were then randomized to learn one of two meditation exercises. Brief daily surveys were completed from participants' home computer or mobile device for 14 days, and were followed by a post-experimental questionnaire.
A Comparison of Acceptance and Cognitive Restructuring Techniques for Coping with Acute Panic
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to be an efficacious treatment for panic disorder. However, significant proportions of patients fail to achieve clinically significant improvement. Acceptance, an alternative contextually-focused approach to content- and change-based cognitive strategies, has gained popularity within the field. Research on the utility of acceptance-based strategies for anxiety is promising, particularly in comparison to control-based emotion regulation strategies, such as suppression and distraction, yet, to date no studies have rigorously compared acceptance-based strategies to analogs of cognitive behavioral techniques. The present study was the first to rigorously investigate the relative utility of acceptance and cognitive restructuring strategies for coping with acute panicogenic distress. Research compared the psychophysiological (i.e., skin conductance) and subjective self-report indices of panic severity, distress, and symptomatology for the different strategy groups (acceptance, cognitive restructuring, and no provided strategy) as well as behavioral avoidance in a randomized sample of high anxiety sensitive undergraduate females undergoing a carbon dioxide-enriched air biological challenge.
ACT Self-Help Workbook Study
There are more than a dozen self-help workbooks based upon Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (or ACT, said as one word) that are available to the general public, and yet there are no good evaluations of whether such books are actually helpful for the alleviation of human suffering. The purpose of this international study was to examine the effectiveness of a new self-help workbook based upon ACT, The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, for people who are suffering from anxiety and see their anxiety as a significant problem in their lives. Initial exploration of the data indicates promising outcomes as the final post-treatment scores are collected.
ACT & CBT Self-Help Workbook Study
CBT approaches are currently the most empirically supported clinical interventions for anxiety disorders and thus provide a rigorous comparison method against which to test an ACT intervention. Building upon the favorable data emerging from our ACT Self-Help Workbook Study, we examined the effectiveness of The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety relative to an existing CBT workbook in the alleviation of anxious suffering and improvement in quality of life in individuals suffering from anxiety disorders. A second purpose of the study was to explore whether ACT and CBT workbooks produce clinical change via similar or unique processes, while elucidating for whom such treatments may be appropriate.
How are people learning to practice meditation and how does it impact their experience with the practice, especially when it is being marketed in the U.S. as a way of getting rid of "negative" experiences? The primary question for this study asks: Does using meditation to avoid experience vs. accept experience vary as a function of how an individual has learned to meditate? Furthermore, what is the relationship between how one learns to meditate, their experiences with meditation, and various psychological processes (e.g., anxiety, depression, stress)? To explore this question, we are recruiting meditators from 2 populations: (1) meditators that have primarily learned the practice on their own (e.g., through smartphone apps, books, social media) and (2) meditators that have participated in the evidence-based Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. This study seeks to both replicate and expand upon some of the questions explored in the recently completed study: "Meditation in Everyday Life" (see below).
Views on Mental Health/Illness in a Diverse Sample
The primary aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between mental health self-stigma and distress. Further, this study investigates the mediating role of psychological (in)flexibility processes. We hope this study will add to the extant literature by elucidating which psychological flexibility processes may be beneficial targets in stigma interventions.
Meditation in Everyday Life
This study aims to identify the percentage of college students who meditate, the reasons why they meditate, what types of meditation are used, and outcome differences between those who do and do not meditate. Meditation is associated with numerous short-term benefits including lower blood pressure, decreased feelings of stress and anxiety, and increased feelings of peace and happiness. The Western world has used meditation as a means to rid themselves of suffering and to control their stress, unwanted thoughts, and unpleasant feelings (e.g. anxiety). Traditionally, meditation has been used to reach enlightenment, cultivate balance and compassion, be present in the world, and be aware of one's existence within space. As such, this study further aims to identify the context in which people meditate, and if that context impacts their experience, or is associated with other outcome variables.
Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 Pandemic is likely having wide-ranging impacts on mental health. This study aims to contribute information about the nature of such mental health impacts, as well as identify possible targets for providing mental health support.
Psychological Inflexibility and Problematic Smartphone Use
Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is a growing public health concern. This survey study aims to investigate the roles of psychological inflexibility and its underlying processes in maintaining PSU.
The Context of Meditation
This study aims to examine how the intended use of mindfulness meditation may influence subjective experiences of meditation. Participants will breathe CO2-enriched air, designed to elicit angiogenic effects, while listening to a guided meditation. Participants are told to either utilize the guided audio in an effort to control their experience of the CO2 enriched air, or to be open to the effects of the enriched air without struggling or trying to control their experience. This study captures how meditation may be used in the general public: in an effort to control experience (e.g. feel less anxiety), or to be open and accepting of experience (i.e. how meditation is traditionally taught). If the context of mindfulness meditation impacts experience, clinicians and teachers should play close attention to how they package mindfulness meditation for their clients.
Anxiety in Daily Life
Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health concern in the United States. Yet, many who suffer from anxiety do not receive treatment or fail to respond to well-established cognitive and behavioral interventions. Mindfulness- and values-based strategies are possible alternatives for these individuals. However, values-based approaches have not been adequately studied in anxious populations and it is unclear how they may interact with mindfulness-based approaches. Moreover, little is understood about the mechanisms of action underlying behavioral changes resulting from mindfulness meditation (MM) practices. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one approach that employs values clarification (VC) and mindfulness to bring about improvements in quality of life (QOL). ACT also provides a behavioral account of human vitality that may increase specificity of mediating and moderating variables that are critical for good outcomes following mindfulness-based treatment. The present investigation aimed to evaluate the effects of MM and VC on QOL and anxiety symptomology and to elucidate significant mediators and moderators of the relations between MM and VC and positive outcomes.
The Effect of Cognitive Defusion on Behavioral and Psychological Flexibility
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) utilizes cognitive defusion strategies to alter the function of unwanted, distressing thoughts so as to reduce their impact and foster greater psychological flexibility. This study sought to determine whether positive impacts of defusion are associated with the behavioral process of defusion itself; namely, behavior that is relatively broad and flexible compared with behavior that is narrow and inflexible. To address this issue, this study assessed the impact of a defusion intervention on behavior, as measured by the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Results from the study, published in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, suggested that defused behavior is broad and flexible in nature, relative to narrow and inflexible.
Assessment of Weight/Shape Implicit Bias Related to Attractiveness, Fear, and Disgust
The project aimed to clarify the nature of weight and shape biases, and investigate emotion-specific nuances in responding. Specifically, the study evaluated self-oriented weight/shape relational responding linked to attractiveness, fear, and disgust using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP).
Mindful Practices in Daily Life
Mindfulness meditation appears to result in several behavioral benefits, including improved attention and awareness of environmental contingencies, and overall better quality of life. However, little is known regarding the needed "dose" to achieve improved behavioral outcomes, who may benefit from meditation, how meditation affects daily experience, or the behavioral processes that meditation impacts. Our goal was to identify the effects of engaging in a brief daily mindful practice over the course of two weeks. Participants attended a Learning Day session where they complete a pre-instruction survey and were then randomized to learn one of two meditation exercises. Brief daily surveys were completed from participants' home computer or mobile device for 14 days, and were followed by a post-experimental questionnaire.
A Comparison of Acceptance and Cognitive Restructuring Techniques for Coping with Acute Panic
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to be an efficacious treatment for panic disorder. However, significant proportions of patients fail to achieve clinically significant improvement. Acceptance, an alternative contextually-focused approach to content- and change-based cognitive strategies, has gained popularity within the field. Research on the utility of acceptance-based strategies for anxiety is promising, particularly in comparison to control-based emotion regulation strategies, such as suppression and distraction, yet, to date no studies have rigorously compared acceptance-based strategies to analogs of cognitive behavioral techniques. The present study was the first to rigorously investigate the relative utility of acceptance and cognitive restructuring strategies for coping with acute panicogenic distress. Research compared the psychophysiological (i.e., skin conductance) and subjective self-report indices of panic severity, distress, and symptomatology for the different strategy groups (acceptance, cognitive restructuring, and no provided strategy) as well as behavioral avoidance in a randomized sample of high anxiety sensitive undergraduate females undergoing a carbon dioxide-enriched air biological challenge.
ACT Self-Help Workbook Study
There are more than a dozen self-help workbooks based upon Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (or ACT, said as one word) that are available to the general public, and yet there are no good evaluations of whether such books are actually helpful for the alleviation of human suffering. The purpose of this international study was to examine the effectiveness of a new self-help workbook based upon ACT, The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, for people who are suffering from anxiety and see their anxiety as a significant problem in their lives. Initial exploration of the data indicates promising outcomes as the final post-treatment scores are collected.
ACT & CBT Self-Help Workbook Study
CBT approaches are currently the most empirically supported clinical interventions for anxiety disorders and thus provide a rigorous comparison method against which to test an ACT intervention. Building upon the favorable data emerging from our ACT Self-Help Workbook Study, we examined the effectiveness of The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety relative to an existing CBT workbook in the alleviation of anxious suffering and improvement in quality of life in individuals suffering from anxiety disorders. A second purpose of the study was to explore whether ACT and CBT workbooks produce clinical change via similar or unique processes, while elucidating for whom such treatments may be appropriate.
Grant Activity
- Forsyth, J.P. (Consultant). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Improving Social Support in Veterans with PTSD. Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Research Enhancement Award
(period of 9/30/2010 – 8/31/2012) - Forsyth, J.P. (PI) (2009, funded). Improving the lives of veterans and their families. Department of Defense subcontract in collaboration with the University of South Florida and Tampa VA Medical Center (direct costs = $503,908; period 9/30/2010 – 8/31/2012).
- Forsyth, J. P. (PI) (2004, competitive renewal funded). Fear conditioning and attentional bias for threat. National Institute of Mental Health Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers (period of 6/1/2004 5/31/2006).
- Forsyth, J. P. (PI) (2002, funded). Fear conditioning and attentional bias for threat. National Institute of Mental Health Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers (period of 6/1/2002 5/31/2004).
- Forsyth, J. P. (PI) (2000, funded). Parameters of fear conditioning and cognitive processing. Faculty Research Award Program (Category B) sponsored by the University at Albany Research Foundation (direct costs = $1,500.00; period of 4/15/2000-4/14/2001).
- Forsyth, J. P. (PI) (1999, funded). Fear conditioning and cognitive processing. Three year RO1 (MH60107) from the National Institute of Mental Health (direct costs = $281,433).
- Forsyth, J. P. (PI) (1998, funded). A parametric dose-response analysis of psychological and physiological responding to varied concentrations of CO2-enriched air. Individual Development Awards Program of the New York state/United University Professions Professional Development and Quality of Work Life Committee, University at Albany, SUNY ($990.00 direct costs; period of 9/1998-6/1999).
- Forsyth, J. P. (PI) (1997, funded). Imagined control vs. uncontrollability in the learning etiology of specific phobias. Faculty Research Award Program (Category A) sponsored by the University at Albany Research Foundation ($8,220.00 direct costs; period of 4/1998-5/1999).
- Forsyth, J. P. (1996, funded). Intensity of systemic alarms in human fear conditioning comparing 20% vs. 13% CO2 -enriched air as UCSs. Department of Psychology Alumni Fund, West Virginia University ($250.00).
- Forsyth, J. P. (1996, funded). Intensity of systemic alarms in human fear conditioning comparing 20% vs. 13% CO2 -enriched air as UCSs. Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University ($600.00).
- Forsyth, J. P. (1994, funded). Classically conditioned cardioceptive associations between internal and environmental stimuli. Grant-in-Aid of Research from Sigma-Xi, The Scientific Research Society ($450.00).
- Forsyth, J. P. (1994, funded). Classically conditioned cardioceptive associations between internal and environmental stimuli. West Virginia University Foundation ($175.00).