Clinical Research Directory

Improving Emotional Wellbeing of University Students: Emotion Regulation

University students' psychological well-being is a growing public health concern. University life involves major psychological, social, and academic changes, increasing vulnerability to mental health issues. Group-based Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) has been shown to support student well-being effectively. However, interventions tailored to specific cultural and contextual needs are more likely to be helpful. Western-based therapy models may not fully align with non-Western populations, such as students in Türkiye. In Türkiye, public mental health services are often limited to short psychiatric consultations, while therapy is typically accessed privately. University counselling centres offering free or low-cost therapy are therefore essential. Cost-effective interventions like group DBT may be especially valuable in these settings. To address this gap, culturally adapted DBT groups should be developed and evaluated for Turkish university students. This study is part of the UniWELL Project (sister to UniWELL-C) and examines the effectiveness of DBT-informed emotion regulation groups for Turkish students. Any Bogazici University student aged 18+ is eligible. Exclusion criteria include severe mental illness, high risk of harm to self/others, or scoring below threshold on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16), as these students may require more individual support. The study includes participation in an 8-session DBT-informed group. Participants are expected to benefit from free psychological support, guided reflection, and shared experiences with peers. The research will also contribute to the evidence base for culturally adapted interventions. There are some risks: participants may feel overwhelmed during the sessions or while completing questionnaires. If so, support will be provided by a clinical psychology master's student and/or the group facilitator, under supervision of an experienced clinical psychologist. If a participant's risk increases, they will be referred to psychiatric services. An emergency contact will be requested to ensure safety if needed. The study will take place at Bogazici University through the Translational Clinical Psychology Lab, in collaboration with BUREM. It is expected to run for at least one year, possibly extending up to three years. The study is partially funded by the Bogazici Scientific Research Projects Unit (20022). Dr Ayse Akan (t-clinpsylab@bogazici.edu.tr) is the study lead and main contact.

DOD Regulating Together Intervention

Our long-term goal is to validate Regulating Together (emotion regulation intervention) and improve psychosocial outcomes for youth with autism spectrum disorder and emotion dysregulation.

Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression (MERA)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions affecting Veterans who have served since 9/11. Veterans with PTSD report difficulty controlling impulsive aggression (IA). An inability to manage one's emotions (emotion dysregulation) is an underlying mechanism of IA. Reducing IA and increasing use of PTSD evidence-based psychotherapies are two critical missions for the Veterans Health Administration. The proposed research supports these missions by comparing a 3- session emotion regulation treatment (Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression) to a control group in order to determine if MERA can reduce IA and prepare Veterans for PTSD treatment. By enhancing Veterans' abilities to cope with trauma-related emotions and feel equipped to initiate PTSD treatments, this research aims to help Veterans decrease IA and ultimately recover from PTSD.

Emotion Diary Application

Pediatric patients, hospitalization in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is not merely a situation requiring physical treatment, but also an experience that has significant psychosocial effects. This project was designed to evaluate the effect of a mood journal intervention on anxiety levels, mindfulness, and emotion regulation skills in conscious pediatric patients aged 9-14 years in a pediatric intensive care unit. An emotion journal is a supportive tool that allows children to express the experiences they have during the day, the emotions they feel, and their reactions to these emotions in a structured format. It is anticipated that this practice may help children develop their abilities to recognize, express, and regulate their emotions; it may also reduce their anxiety levels related to the intensive care process. Children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit who are conscious, able to communicate, and meet the inclusion criteria will be assigned to the intervention and control groups using a randomization method. At the start of the study, both groups will be provided with the Child and Parent Information Form, the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Scale, the Emotion Regulation Scale for Children and Adolescents, and the State Anxiety Scale for Children will be administered to both groups. The intervention group will participate in an emotion journaling program for 5 days, approximately 30 minutes per day, while the control group will receive routine clinical care. Data will be analyzed using the SPSS 30.0 statistical software; descriptive statistics, normality tests, parametric or non-parametric group comparison tests, and correlation analyses will be performed. As a result of the project, it is expected that the emotion journaling intervention will reduce children's anxiety levels, increase their mindfulness, and support their emotion regulation skills. It is anticipated that the findings will contribute to the development of implementable, low-cost, and child-centered psychosocial care interventions in pediatric intensive care units.

Group Skills Training (DBT vs CBT) for Alexithymia in Young Adult Women

This pilot randomized controlled trial examined whether group skills training based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can reduce alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing emotions), anxiety, and interpersonal problems in young adult women with elevated alexithymia. Forty-one women aged 18-25 were randomly assigned to a DBT skills-training group, a CBT skills-training group, or a waitlist control group. Both active groups attended 12 weekly online group sessions of 90 minutes. Alexithymia, anxiety, interpersonal problems, mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal competence, and distress tolerance were assessed before, midway through, and after the 12-week program. The study aimed to provide preliminary evidence on whether, and how, these two group interventions affect alexithymia and related outcomes.

Progression of a Group of Patients Suffering From Emotional Dysregulation But Heterogeneous in Terms of Diagnosis, Benefiting From the DBT Group Programme.

Human beings experience emotions and have the ability to manage them, but when these abilities are undermined by mental illness, the result is emotional dysregulation. Borderline patients (1 to 4% of the population) suffer from this symptom and can benefit from a specific therapy: DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy; Linehan, 1993). Created specifically for this condition, DBT significantly reduces emotional dysregulation, a dimension at the root of behavioural disorders that is known to be poorly relieved by drug treatments. The DBT group training programme offers patients the opportunity to learn and practise emotional regulation skills. Four types of skills are taught skills: mindfulness, interpersonal skills, emotional regulation and and distress tolerance. This therapy is part of the psychiatric care, in which patients take responsibility in their own care. There are many studies showing the effectiveness of DBT and its programme with borderline patients. But there are other pathologies concerned by emotional dysregulation: thymic disorders in particular bipolar (1 to 2.5%), addictive disorders (8 to 10%), eating disorders (ADD, 10%), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, 2%).

Enhancing Early Care and Education Through Reflective Supervision

The goal of this clinical trial is to test an enhancement to early care and education, which is a professional development series that includes a foundational training and skill development workshops focused on training and supporting early learning supervisors in Reflective Practice and Supervision. Directors and education coordinators within state pre-kindergarten programs, and the teachers they supervise, will be the focus of this research. Hypothesized outcomes include promotion of reflective capacity and supervisory skill in supervisors, more effective supervisor-supervisee interactions, increases in reflective functioning and well-being in supervisees, increases in positive teaching practices and observed classroom quality, and increases in adaptive social-emotional development among children alongside prevention of emotion regulation difficulties. Researchers will compare whether these outcomes differ between participants who are currently receiving the Reflective Supervision enhancement and participants who are in the waitlist control condition.

An Interactive Education Program to Reduce High Risk Behavior in Adolescents Ph II (iTRAC HERO)

Using the efficacious iTRAC intervention to enhance emotion regulation competencies as a foundation, this study will create and test iTRAC-HERO to teach emotion regulation skills in the context of sexual health education.

Parenting-STAIR Modular for Military Fathers and OCONUS Families

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a family-based treatment called Parenting-STAIR-Modular (PSTAIR-M) can help military parents recover from trauma, strengthen emotion regulation skills, and improve parent-child relationships. Participants will be trauma-exposed active-duty Service Members (SM) or their spouses who screen positive for PSTD and/or depression, and one identified child (ages 2-10). The main questions it aims to answer are: 1) Does PSTAIR-M reduce parental PTSD and depression symptoms, lower parenting stress, and improve child behavior compared to treatment-as-usual?; and 2) Is PSTAIR-M feasible and acceptable when delivered to military families stationed overseas? Researchers will compare PSTAIR-M to treatment-as-usual (TAU) to see if PSTAIR-M leads to greater improvements in parental PTSD, depression, parenting stress, emotion regulation, child maltreatment risk, and child behavior than usual care. Participants will: 1) attend 12-16 weekly, 1-hour online treatment sessions with their assigned clinicians, 2) complete three 1-hour online assessments administered by research staff, 3) engage with their child in three 15-30-minute online, observed play sessions, 4) have assessments and observed play sessions audio and video recorded.

Neuro- and Biofeedback in Nonsuicidal Self-injury

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as the direct, deliberate destruction of one's own body tissue without suicidal intent, typically including behaviors such as cutting, burning, or hitting oneself. The risk of engaging in NSSI is particularly high during adolescence. NSSI is associated with impairments in emotion regulation and NSSI behavior serves as an attempt to regulate emotion. We propose to examine whether training adolescents with NSSI to self-regulate using emotion regulation skills to down-regulate hemodynamic activity of the salience network, involved in emotional processing. Moreover, we propose to examine whether limbic-prefrontal cortex connectivity can be increased following neurofeedback, thereby helping adolescents find an optimal way to emotionally regulate with the help of neurofeedback, instead of engaging in NSSI to regulate emotions. We also aim to examine effects of real-time biofeedback by investigating if adolescents can regulate their psychophysiological activity during emotional reactivity with biofeedback. Sixty participants with NSSI will be recruited and offered either real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI-NF) (n = 30) or real-time biofeedback (n = 30) training. Participants each each condition will then be randomized to either an active or a control condition (n = 15/group). Participants will take part in three runs of feedback training. Changes in emotional reactivity as measured with facial electromyography (EMG) before and after feedback training will be the proximal outcome measure together with changes of the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response during real-time fMRI-neurofeedback for the neurofeedback training. Proximal outcome measures for the biofeedback will include psychophysiological measures of emotional reactivity (facialEMG). More distal outcome measures for both neuro- and biofeedback will be measures of NSSI: frequency, methods and severity as well as self-report measures of difficulties with regulating emotions, emotional reactivity and psychiatric symptoms.

Mindful Emotion Regulation in Organizational Contexts

This randomized controlled trial investigates the effects of an 8-week mindfulness-based interventions, Mindfulness for Life (MBCT-L) on daily emotion regulation, psychological functioning, and work-related outcomes. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the underlying mechanism of change between mindfulness and job performance and satisfaction.

Adaptive Music Therapy for Psychosocial and Cognitive Functions of Older Adults

The proposed study is a pilot study that aims to understand if the Pi Electronics adaptive music intervention (AM) is effective to promote positive psychosocial and cognitive outcomes, over and above a traditional music intervention (TM) among healthy older adults. This study will contribute to the ongoing literature on the benefits of music interventions and provide insight on how emerging technology can enhance the therapeutic effects of music as a viable intervention for older adults. The study will adopt a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT). Eligible participants will be randomized into one of three groups: traditional music therapy group (TM), Pi Electronic's adaptive music program (AM), and a waitlist control group (CG). Informed consent will be collected from all participants. All three groups will complete outcome measures at three sessions: pretest, posttest, and at a three-month follow-up, but only the TM and AM group will receive music between the pretest and posttest sessions, spanning for 4 weeks, with 4 music therapy sessions per week, and each session lasting 30 minutes. Data will be analyzed for each outcome variables to understand the group differences in the performance on the psychosocial and cognitive outcome measures. The study will also validate the Pi Electronics EEG headset with the BioSemi, 64-channel EEG system.

Therapeutic Writing for Adults Suffering From Chronic Pain and Comorbid Mental Health Disorders

The goal of this observational study is to understand the effects and experiences of therapeutic writing interventions in adult women with chronic pain and co-occurring mental health conditions. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can therapeutic writing help relieve chronic pain and emotional distress? How does writing support emotional processing, regulation, and meaning-making during rehabilitation? Participants will take part in a two-part writing intervention involving: Guided writing exercises that focus on emotional processing, emotion regulation, and creating meaning. Individual interviews after the writing sessions to explore their experiences. The study uses qualitative analysis methods-phenomenology and logotherapy-to better understand how these writing interventions may support recovery, improve well-being, and offer non-pharmacological tools for managing chronic pain and mental health challenges.

Increasing Mitochondrial Respiration as a Novel Mechanism for Cognitive Augmentation

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of increasing brain energy on cognition. The hypothesis is that by using a special kind of light, in combination with a nutritional supplement, it may be possible to increase energy production in the brain, which may lead to improvements in cognition.

Just-In-Time Intervention to Reduce Alcohol-Facilitated Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

Acute alcohol intoxication is a robust predictor of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration for young adult men and women; therefore, interventions delivered proximally to drinking episodes - a period of high risk - are needed to reduce alcohol-facilitated IPV. This project seeks to improve public health by delivering a just-in-time text messaging intervention proximally to drinking episodes and evaluating the impact of the intervention on alcohol-facilitated IPV in a sample of at-risk young adult men and women. Additionally, through an innovative design this project is poised to answer these important questions: whether receiving a message, when, for whom, what type, and under what conditions this just-in-time messaging intervention leads to reductions in alcohol use and IPV perpetration.

VR-CBT With Inuit in Quebec

The study design is a two-arm randomized controlled pilot trial. The investigators will recruit Inuit in Montreal and randomly assign them to two treatment groups (n=20 each). The active psychotherapy group will receive a ten-week manualized virtual reality (VR) assisted cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy (VR-CBT) at the clinic and guided by a psychotherapist. The VR-CBT will aim at improving emotion regulation. The comparison group will use a VR self-management program, Calm Place, for guided relaxation during ten weeks at home. To evaluate outcome in both groups, the researchers will measure self-reports of emotion regulation, affect, distress and well-being, as well as a psychophysiological reactivity paradigm pre-post treatment.

Supplementing Brief Psychotherapy With a Mobile App

Suicide is among the leading causes of death worldwide, and the risk of suicide is highest in the period immediately following discharge from inpatient psychiatric care.1Importantly, despite the enormously elevated risk during this period, nearly 50% of patients do not attend scheduled therapy after discharge. Even among those who do attend therapy, however, the skills learned in treatment may be difficult to use during the highly distressing time leading up to and during a suicide crisis. Most traditional treatments are not designed to be effective during a suicide crisis. In order to reduce the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in general and specifically during the post-discharge period, interventions are needed that: (1) are easily adhered to and (2) are accessible and effective during a suicide crisis. As such, the purpose of this research study is to test an innovative, new intervention in order to develop an effective and accessible intervention for those at high risk for suicide

Little ACF (Lilla ABC): Evaluation of a Parental Support Program for Parents of Children Aged 1-2 Years

Society can promote children's mental health at an early stage by creating good conditions with, for example, general parental support programs that are offered to all parents. One program that has been developed is called All Children in Focus (ACF) \[in Swedish: Alla Barn i Centrum (ABC)\] which has been evaluated for parents with children aged 3-12 years. The results showed effects on parenting ability, parenting strategies and on children's well-being. Staff in child health care (CHC), a natural arena for parental support programs reaching almost all families, have requested modifications in the program ACF to involve parents with younger children. The parent groups offered within CHC today are not evaluated in younger children and could be thus replaced by researched parental support based on evidence. The investigators therefore want to study the effects of a modified version of ACF for parents of children 1-2 years (Little ACF) to see if Little ACF can strengthen parenting ability and have effects on children's social and emotional development. Parents within CHC are asked to participate and are randomly assigned to Little ACF or the regular CHC program plus a lecture. Little ACF is offered during four group meetings and potential effects are measured with questionnaires. Measurements are made before randomisation, during and after participation in Little ACF. Children's behavior is followed up at 3 years through questionnaires and CHC documentation. The study can provide important knowledge about how Little ACF can promote children's mental health and strengthen parents. The investigators see it as a strength that Little ACF is based on research and on dialogue with parents and professionals. Little ACF, which is aimed at everyone, can form a basis for identifying families and children who need preventive and treatment measures.

From Toddler to Early Adolescent Emotion Regulation Strategies

This study will examine the relation between behavioral emotion regulation (ER) strategies at toddler age 3 to cognitive ER strategies in early adolescence as part of an ongoing longitudinal study of children's typical development. Aim 1 is to test whether self-soothing/caregiver-focused and distraction behavioral ER strategies at child age 3 predict avoidant and engaging cognitive ER strategies, respectively, at a follow-up assessment to be completed when children are 10-15 years old. In a completed wave of data collection, children's ER behaviors were elicited in laboratory tasks characterized by threat (novelty and uncertainty) at age 3. Avoidant and engaged cognitive ER strategies will be assessed by youth self-report, parent-report, and interviews with youth after they engage in new laboratory tasks characterized by mild threat. Hypothesis 1a: Self-soothing/caregiver-focused toddler behavioral ER strategies will predict avoidant cognitive strategies in early adolescence. Hypothesis 1b: The toddler behavioral ER strategy of distraction will predict engaged cognitive ER strategies in early adolescence. To provide additional developmental information, Aim 2 is to test whether child age at the follow up assessment (ranging 10-15 years) moderates the relation between behavioral ER strategies at age 3 and cognitive emotion regulatory strategies in early adolescence. Hypothesis 2: Because older children will have undergone more development underlying cognitive ER strategies, relations specified in Hypotheses 1a and 1b will strengthen across older ages. Finally, the Exploratory Aim is to test theoretically-supported individual (i.e., inhibited/fearful temperament) and environmental (i.e., family emotional environment) variables as potential mediators or moderators of the relation between behavioral ER strategies at age 3 and cognitive ER strategies in early adolescence. The investigators expect inhibited/fearful temperament to be involved in the link between behavioral ER strategies and avoidant cognitive ER strategies. The investigators expect the emotional family environment to be involved in linking behavioral ER strategies to both avoidant and engaged ER strategies.

Feasibility Testing a Meditation App for Professionals Working With Youth in the Legal System

This feasibility clinical trial aims to assess the feasibility of implementing a 1-month app-based meditation program with officers in the juvenile legal system and other professionals working directly with legal-involved youth.

A Novel Adaptation of the Unified Protocol (UP) as a Transdiagnostic Intervention for Emotional Disorders in Addictive Behaviors

This study aims to pilot a psychological intervention protocol designed for individuals who use substances and who experience difficulties in emotion regulation. Emotion regulation refers to a person's ability to understand, manage, and respond to emotions in a healthy way. When these skills are impaired, individuals may develop emotional disorders (such as anxiety or depression) and addictive behaviors. For this reason, improving emotion regulation is considered a key component in addiction treatment.

Pilot Trial of an Emotion Regulation and Executive Functioning Intervention for Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors (SITBs) in Children

The goal of this study is to develop and test an outpatient intervention for preadolescents (ages 7-12) with self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs). The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Are the recruitment targets and study design feasible? 2. Is the new intervention feasible, acceptable, and appropriate? 3. Does the new intervention lead to more improvements in SITBs, mental health symptoms, and treatment targets relative to treatment as usual (TAU)? In Phase 1 (pre-implementation, months 1-6), enrolled preadolescent and caregiver dyads will receive TAU. In Phase 2 (post-implementation, months 7-13), enrolled dyads will receive the newly-developed SITB intervention. Participants will be recruited through referrals from the psychiatric emergency department at Children's Hospital Colorado. Participants will: 1. Complete an initial baseline assessment to determine eligibility and assess SITBs, mental health symptoms, executive functioning, and emotion regulation 2. Participate in an intervention lasting 6-12 weeks, including weekly or biweekly sessions 3. Complete additional assessments at post-treatment and 3-month follow-up 4. Participate in an interview sharing their perceptions of the intervention

Emotion Regulation Skill Program: Impact on Emotion Regulation, Experiential Avoidance & Compassion Fatigue

In this study, the effects of the skills development program for regulating emotions applied to oncology nurses on oncology nurses' emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, and comorbidity fatigue will be examined. The research will be conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study with pretest-posttest and follow-up design.

Social Facilitation of Emotion Regulation in Adolescence

The goal of this project is to test whether regulating emotions with help from a friend is more effective and long-lasting in adolescents than regulating alone, and to characterize age-related differences in the neural mechanisms supporting social versus cognitive emotion regulation. Participants will complete a psychology experiment while undergoing fMRI scanning.