Distress tolerance
Life inevitably brings distress, and distress tolerance is the ability to manage it in a healthy way. In this talk, Dr Anu Asnaani will address distress tolerance in undergraduate students. She will describe recent experimental studies investigating distress tolerance using a range of exposure-based tests. In these studies, she also compared different distress tolerance strategies (e.g., mindfulness, psychoeducation, self-compassion). The studies were conducted in large groups of undergraduate students with high (subthreshold clinical) symptom levels of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). She will also describe findings regarding a novel monitoring ring device for OCD compulsions, which was included in one of the studies.
For whom?
This talk belongs to our joint theme "Empowering the Young". It should be relevant to anyone interested in mental health in general and student health in particular.
About the speaker
Dr Anu Asnaani is particularly interested in understanding how basic emotion processes (such as how we regulate strong emotions in the face of stressful life events) can be targeted to reduce negative impacts on mental health, and how we can do this for a greater diversity of individuals from a range of backgrounds and countries.
Improve treatments for fear-based disorders
Her research focuses on understanding the underlying mechanisms to improve treatments for fear-based disorders such as anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder in diverse local and global community settings. Most recently, she received the prestigious "Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology" from the American Psychological Association.
Leading Clinical Psychologist and expert in Anxiety Disorders
She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist who is currently the Principal Investigator of the Treatment Mechanisms, Community Empowerment, and Technology Innovations (TCT) laboratory and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah. She was previously an Assistant Professor at University of Pennsylvania and Associate Director of the Center for Treatment and Study of Anxiety, which is a world-renowned research powerhouse for PTSD, OCD, and anxiety disorders.
