Affective Science and Psychopathology
Lecture 1: An introduction to affective science and psychopathology
An introduction to affective science
The study of affective science:
- Study of affective processes is not new but has seen a recent rise
Affective processes:
- Affect (affictus – to have been influenced/ attacked): involves an evaluation of a
situation as salient and thereby triggering an evolutionary adaptive response
- Consist of:
o Subjective (negative or positive feeling) components
o Behavioural (motor expression or inclination) components
o Physiological (brain/body) components
- James Gross’ modal model:
Affective science:
- Affective science: the scientific study of affective processes
- A scheme for some of the most prominent affective processes:
, o Embodiment: to what extent there is a strong physiological component
involved in an affective process
o Event-focus: to what extent an affective process occurs at a specific time in
relation to a specific event that occurred
Affective science & psychopathology
Affective symptoms in psychopathology:
- Central in affective disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety)
o Worldwide, depressive disturbances rank number 1 in ‘years lost due to
disability’ (11,5%; WHO)
o Anxiety disorders are the most common form of psychopathology in US and
NL
- Affective disturbance is present in almost every other psychological disorder:
o Emotional flattening (schizophrenia, psychopathy)
o High sensitivity to reward (addiction)
o Being hyposensitive to social emotional cues (autism)
o Explosive emotional responding (conduct disorder, borderline)
The nature of emotional disturbance:
,Categories of affective disturbance:
- Emotional reactivity problems
Emotional intensity (over- or underreactions)
Emotional duration (too short or long)
Emotional frequency (too little or frequent)
Emotion type (inappropriate)
- Emotion regulation problems
Awareness (over or under)
Goals (excessive dampening or searching for the peak)
Strategies (overuse or wrong implementation)
How can we use affective science to improve understanding and treatment of
psychopathology?
The typical approach over the last decades:
The state of mental health science:
, - Efficacy of psychological and pharmacological treatment for mental disorder is +/-
50%
- Likely reasons for the lack of higher efficacy despite all the research:
1. Clinical heterogeneity
o Psychiatric syndromes are hugely diverse: for depression, two patients could
share only one symptom
▪ E.g., 636.120 unique symptom profiles to match a diagnosis of
PTSD!!
2. Lack of mechanistic understanding
o Lack of mechanistic specificity understanding precludes tailored treatment
The complex reality of clinical practice: a case:
- Different diagnoses are possible (e.g., social anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD)
Comorbidity and the need for a transdiagnostic perspective:
- Possible explanations:
o Poor discriminant validity (not specific enough)
o One disorder may act as a risk factor for another
▪ Primary versus secondary disorder?
o Common risk (predisposing, precipitating, or perpetuating)
Lecture 1: An introduction to affective science and psychopathology
An introduction to affective science
The study of affective science:
- Study of affective processes is not new but has seen a recent rise
Affective processes:
- Affect (affictus – to have been influenced/ attacked): involves an evaluation of a
situation as salient and thereby triggering an evolutionary adaptive response
- Consist of:
o Subjective (negative or positive feeling) components
o Behavioural (motor expression or inclination) components
o Physiological (brain/body) components
- James Gross’ modal model:
Affective science:
- Affective science: the scientific study of affective processes
- A scheme for some of the most prominent affective processes:
, o Embodiment: to what extent there is a strong physiological component
involved in an affective process
o Event-focus: to what extent an affective process occurs at a specific time in
relation to a specific event that occurred
Affective science & psychopathology
Affective symptoms in psychopathology:
- Central in affective disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety)
o Worldwide, depressive disturbances rank number 1 in ‘years lost due to
disability’ (11,5%; WHO)
o Anxiety disorders are the most common form of psychopathology in US and
NL
- Affective disturbance is present in almost every other psychological disorder:
o Emotional flattening (schizophrenia, psychopathy)
o High sensitivity to reward (addiction)
o Being hyposensitive to social emotional cues (autism)
o Explosive emotional responding (conduct disorder, borderline)
The nature of emotional disturbance:
,Categories of affective disturbance:
- Emotional reactivity problems
Emotional intensity (over- or underreactions)
Emotional duration (too short or long)
Emotional frequency (too little or frequent)
Emotion type (inappropriate)
- Emotion regulation problems
Awareness (over or under)
Goals (excessive dampening or searching for the peak)
Strategies (overuse or wrong implementation)
How can we use affective science to improve understanding and treatment of
psychopathology?
The typical approach over the last decades:
The state of mental health science:
, - Efficacy of psychological and pharmacological treatment for mental disorder is +/-
50%
- Likely reasons for the lack of higher efficacy despite all the research:
1. Clinical heterogeneity
o Psychiatric syndromes are hugely diverse: for depression, two patients could
share only one symptom
▪ E.g., 636.120 unique symptom profiles to match a diagnosis of
PTSD!!
2. Lack of mechanistic understanding
o Lack of mechanistic specificity understanding precludes tailored treatment
The complex reality of clinical practice: a case:
- Different diagnoses are possible (e.g., social anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD)
Comorbidity and the need for a transdiagnostic perspective:
- Possible explanations:
o Poor discriminant validity (not specific enough)
o One disorder may act as a risk factor for another
▪ Primary versus secondary disorder?
o Common risk (predisposing, precipitating, or perpetuating)
