Category: Research Publications

High-quality parental communication supports and facilitates psychological adjustment to illness for both parents and children, but many parents do not have timely access to these important mental health services. In this project we developed and tested a novel web-based, psychosocial intervention designed to facilitate parental communication about cancer.

This study tested how threat-processing in hippocampus, a brain structure critical for forming memories of situations that are dangerous and safe, relates to development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using brain-imaging techniques coupled with laboratory and survey-based tests for trauma, the researchers found that individuals who showed less activity in...

This paper shows that activation of neuroimmune signaling can promote increases in alcohol drinking.

This study finds marked inter-individual variability in the locations of functional cortical areas, making standardized atlas-based targeting unreliable. This report urges the field to adopt functional mapping in individuals before targeting, which should help researchers obtain reproducible data without erroneously pooling multiple functional areas.

We explored how adolescents, their parents, school professionals, and hospital professionals viewed school as it positively or negatively influences adolescent mental health. Findings underscore the need for school-based approaches to address the unique academic, social, and emotional needs of students with suicide-related risk that complement the supports and services provided...

We showed that the pregnancy hormones estrogen and progesterone can be used to turn on and turn off symptoms of depression in women. We also showed that these hormones reduce activity in areas of the brain that respond to rewards, which may help explain why some women do not experience...

The present case report describes a patient with recurrent catatonia in the setting of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and subsequent orthotopic liver transplant. Several important considerations are highlighted, including inherent vulnerability to catatonic states, heightened risk in the posttransplant period, and overlap of catatonia with delirium.

Dissociation is a common, disabling phenomenon that involves profound detachment from the self or surroundings. In the largest prospective, longitudinal neurobiological study of dissociation to date, work by the AURORA team suggests feeling detached from one’s surroundings may suggest a higher risk of later developing psychiatric symptoms. It’s important to...

Compared with non-exposed infants, neonates with prenatal opioid exposure demonstrated altered functional resting state connectivity in multiple brain circuits, beyond changes associated with prenatal exposure to other substances, particularly in reward-related frontal-sensory connections. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) during pregnancy significantly reduced these alterations, particularly in limbic and frontal...

Youth on the autism spectrum often face difficulties accessing mental health services. In this study, we found that clinicians reported feeling less intent on providing therapy to autistic youth compared to youth with ADHD because of differences in their attitudes, social pressures, and knowledge.