Behaviour Research and Therapy 86 (2016) 1
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Behaviour Research and Therapy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/brat
Introduction to special issue: Experimental psychopathology approach to
understanding and treating mental disorders
I have always viewed Behaviour Research and Therapy as the
home for the most theoretically interesting and innovative findings
that spur new ways of conceptualizing psychopathology and its
treatment. In my view, significant advances in our field will depend
on greater understanding of the processes underlying psychopa-
thology that inform the target of treatment, and greater under-
standing of the processes underlying therapeutic change that
inform treatment development. Furthermore, more knowledge of
the ‘mechanistic features’ that moderate treatment response will
inform more personalized and thereby more effective treatments.
To this end, I have made the major focus of Behaviour Research
and Therapy an experimental psychopathology approach to under-
standing emotional and behavioral disorders and their prevention
and treatment. This includes laboratory-based experimental
studies of underlying processes of psychopathology with healthy
individuals and those with subclinical signs and symptoms as
well as studies with clinically severe samples. Theoretical reviews
of processes that contribute to psychopathology and offer new
treatment targets are encouraged. Tests of novel, mechanistically
focused interventions also are encouraged, especially ones that
include theory-driven or experimentally-derived predictors, mod-
erators and mediators. Dissemination and implementation of
evidence-based treatments into clinical practice remains an impor-
tant topic for Behaviour Research and Therapy; priority is given to
studies that focus on dissemination or implementation of treat-
ments that target underlying processes of psychopathology and
those that involve innovative practices and approaches to dissem-
ination or implementation.
My first task as Editor-in-Chief was to arrange a Special Issue on
the ways in which experimental psychopathology has expanded
our understanding of psychopathology and its treatment thus far.
I am extremely pleased to present this Special Issue with contribu-
tions from leaders in our field. This issue provides broad coverage of
mental disorders. Anita Jansen explores the need for an experi-
mental psychopathology approach to understanding and devel-
oping more effective treatments for eating disorders. Key
symptoms of eating disorders are considered with the fresh
perspective of an experimental psychopathology framework.
Spencer Bujarski and Lara Ray explore the role of experimental psy-
chopathology as a cornerstone of research in the area of alcohol use
disorders, and review methods of translational research including
genetics, neuroimaging and pharmacological and behavioral treat-
ment development. Johan Vlayean, Stephen Moreley and Geert
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2016.09.001
0005-7967/© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Crombez address the role of attention, learning and generalization
of pain-related fear and avoidance behaviour in chronic pain and
their effects upon “sense of self”. Jutta Joorman and Colin Stanton
link cognitive biases and deficits associated with depression to
the construct of poor emotion regulation. They outline topics in
need of future research in this domain. Sue Spence and Ron Rapee
update their conceptualization of social anxiety disorder based on
latest findings from genetic and biological influences, tempera-
ment, cognitive factors, peer relationships, parenting, adverse life
events and cultural variables. They also highlight areas in need of
further research in order to fully inform treatment development.
Colin MacLeod and Ben Grafton provide a critical review of atten-
tional bias and its modification within the broader context of the
distinction between process and procedure. Specifically, they argue
that procedures used to induce attentional bias modification are
not always successful, but that successful induction does indeed
result in reduction in anxiety symptoms. Sarah Scheveneels, Yan-
nick Boddez, Bram Vervliet and Dirk Hermans identify gaps in the
area of extinction research and its translation to the treatment of
anxiety disorders, with special consideration to the need for
external validity of experimentally based treatment models. And
Richard McNally presents network analysis as an alternative
approach that complements laboratory experimentation. In this
approach, mental disorders are conceptualized as arising from
causal interactions among symptoms. McNally contrasts the
network analysis approach to traditional approaches that assume
underlying latent constructs, and describes the novel computa-
tional methods network analyses employ.
These papers provide a window into the latest advances in the-
ory and research using an experimental psychopathology approach.
I think you will find them to be truly inspiring and thought provok-
ing. You will have the opportunity to listen to each of the primary
authors provide insights into their work on podcasts which will
be featured on the journal homepage.
Michelle G. Craske, Ph.D, Distinguished Professor,
BRAT Editor-in-Chief
University of California, Los Angeles, USA
E-mail address: craske@psych.ucla.edu.
Available online 2 September 2016