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Barney Dunn

bd

Contact Details

Email: barney.dunn@mrc-cbu.ac.uk

Postal: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge, CB2 7EF

Research

My research examines how people control their feelings, and how this can go awry in those suffering from depression and personality disorders. I am particularly interested in what underpins difficulties in experiencing positive emotions (anhedonia) in depression. I also investigate the 'somatic' (or bodily) symptoms of depression, and how these might influence how depressed individuals think and feel. I am additionally mapping out the consequences of different forms of emotion and interpersonal regulation strategies (for example, suppressing your emotions and hiding how you feel from others) in depression and borderline personality disorder. I use a combination of experimental (cognitive tasks, neuroimaging, psychophysiology) and naturalistic (diary and experience sampling) methods to try and connect up the laboratory with the real world. The eventual goal of this work is to help develop novel interventions to supplement existing therapeutic strategies. For more information about these projects click BarneyDunnResearch.

To help 'translate' basic science into clinical practice I am involved in the establishment of the Cambridge Clinical Research Centre in Affective Disorder (C2AD), a new inititiative to build links between the academic and clinical communities and to develop a platform to carry out treatment trials. I work at the CBU with Tim Dalgleish and in collaboration with other members of the emotion research group. I am an honorary senior lecturer at the Sub Department of Clinical Health Psychology at University College London, where I supervise the research dissertations of trainee clinical psychologists. I am particularly keen to train the next generation of clinicians to be active and critical consumers of the research evidence base.

Clinical Practice

I am also a qualified clinical psychologist, registered with the Health Professions Council. From 2009 to 2010 I worked one day a week in an adult mental health setting (Cambridge South Intake and Treatment team), practising cognitive behavioural therapy and cognitive analytic therapy (CAT). Between 2005 and 2008 I worked in a Psychology Assessment and Treatment Service in Camden, London. I am particularly interested in developing effective ways of working with emotion regulation difficulties in clients with personality and mood disorders.

Career History

I graduated from the University of Oxford in Experimental Psychology in 1997. I then worked as a research assistant at Cambridge University Department of Psychiatry, investigating early detection and differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. I completed my PhD at the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in 2002, examining the extent to which altered feedback from the body may contribute to depression. I then underwent clinical psychology training at University College London, before returning to the CBU as a Senior Investigator Scientist in 2005. I have recently completed my practitioner training in CAT on the Oxford Course and served as student representative on the ACAT council.

Collaborations

  • Examining interoception, decision-making and emotion processing following head injury, with colleagues at the Oliver Zangwill Centre.
  • Developing a novel maintanence model of anorexia nervosa, with Rebecca Parks in Oxford and Phil Barnard at the CBU.
  • Exploring neural and physiological mechanisms of contextual conditioning, with Sonia Bishop at Berkeley, University of California.
  • Investigating memory processing in depression, with Michelle Moulds at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
  • Training interpretation biases in mood disorders, with Bundy Mackintosh and Laura Hoppitt from UEA.
  • Exploring responses to interpersonal rejection in individuals vulnerable to depression, with Jeanette Brodbeck from University of Berne, Switzerland and colleagues from Cambridge University.
  • Examining the psychological and neural mechanisms of interoception, with Andrew Lawrence at Cardiff University and Rhodri Cusack from the CBU.
  • Intuitive decision making in health and psychopathology, with Luke Clark from Cambridge University.
  • Investigating disgust sensitivity in borderline personality disorder, with Robert Dudas and Ches Denman from the Complex Cases Service, Cambridge NHS.
  • Treating PTSD in childhood and adolescene. Richard Meiser-Stedman, CBU.
  • Interoception in addiction, Antonio Verdejo Garcia, Universidad de Grenada.

Publications

If you would like a copy of any of these articles please e-mail me.

Positivity and its blunting in depression

  • Dunn, B. D., Makarova, D., Evans, D., & Clark, L. (2010). "I'm worth more than that": Positive outlook predicts increased rejection of unfair financial offers. PLOS One,5 , e15095. article
  • Dunn, B. D., Stefanovitch, I. Buchan, K., Lawrence, A.D., Dalgleish, T. (2009) A reduction in positive self-judgment bias is unique to the anhedonic symptoms of depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 374-381. Pubmed
  • Dunn, B. D., Dalgleish, T., Lawrence, A. D., & Ogilvie, A. D. (2007). The accuracy of self-monitoring and its relationship to self-focused attention in dysphoria and clinical depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,116(1), 1 -15. Pubmed
  • Dunn, B. D., Dalgleish, T., Lawrence, A. D., Cusack, R., & Ogilvie, A. D. (2004). Categorical and Dimensional Reports of Experienced Affect to Emotion-Inducing Pictures in Depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113(4), 654 - 660. Pubmed
  • Dunn, B.D. (in press). Helping depressed clients reconnect to positive emotion experience: Current insights and future directions. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy.

Bodily feedback mechanisms

  • Park, R. J., Dunn, B. D., Barnard, P. J. (2011). Schematic models and modes of mind in anorexia nervosa I: A novel process account. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 4, 415-437.
  • Dunn, B. D., Galton, H., Morgan, R., Evans, D., Oliver, C., Meyer, M., Cusack, R., Lawrence, A. D., Dalgleish, T. (2010). Listening to your heart: How interoception shapes emotion experience and intuitive decision-making. Psychological Science, 21, 1835-1844. Pubmed Selected Press: NewScientist National Geographic, Daily Mail, Time, Business week, Oprah Magazine Metro
  • Dunn, B.D., Stefanovitch, I., Evans, D., Oliver, C., Hawkins, A. Dalgleish, T. (2010) Can you feel the beat? Interoceptive awareness is an interactive function of anxiety- and depression- specific symptom dimensions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 1133-1138. Pubmed
  • Dunn, B. D., Dalgleish, T., Ogilvie, A. D., & Lawrence, A. D. (2007). Heartbeat perception in depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45,1921 - 1930. Pubmed
  • Dunn, B. D., Dalgleish, T., & Lawrence, A. (2006). The somatic marker hypothesis: A critical evaluation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, 30 (2), 239 – 271. Pubmed
  • Park, R. J., Dunn, B. D., Barnard, P. J. (in press). Schematic models and modes of mind in anorexia nervosa II: Implications for Treatment and Course. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy.

Emotion regulation

  • Dalgleish, T., Yiend, J., Schweizer, S. & Dunn., B .D. (2009). Ironic effects of emotion suppression when recounting distressing memories. Emotion, 9, 744-749. Pubmed
  • Dunn, B.D., Billotti, D, Murphy, M. & Dalgleish, T. (2009) The consequences of effortful emotion regulation when processing distressing material: A comparison of suppression and acceptance. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 761 - 773. Pubmed
  • Schartau, P. E. S., Dalgleish, T., & Dunn, B. D. (2009). Seeing the bigger picture: Training in perspective broadening reduces self-reported affect and psychophysiological response to distressing films and autobiographical memories. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 15-27. Pubmed
  • Yiend, J., Mathews, A., Weston, B., Dunn, B., Cusack, R. & Mackintosh, B. (2008) An Investigation of the Implicit Control of the Processing of Negative Pictures. Emotion, 8, 828-837. Pubmed
  • Dalgleish, T., Rolfe, J., Golden, A. M., Dunn, B. D., & Barnard, P. J. (2008). Reduced autobiographical memory specificity and posttraumatic stress: Exploring the contributions of impaired executive control and affect regulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 236-241. Pubmed

Other

  • Indovina, I., Robbins, T. W., Nunez-Elizalde, A. O., Dunn, B. D., & Bishop, S. J. (2011). Fear conditioning mechanisms associated with trait vulnerability to anxiety in humans. Neuron, 69, 563-571. Pubmed. Selected Press: Fox News(Video Clip) Spiegel ScienceDailyTimes of India
  • Clark, L., Crooks, B, Aitken, M., Dunn, B.D. (in press). Physiological responses to near-miss outcomes and personal control during simulated gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies. Pubmed
  • Dalgleish, T., Hill, E., Golden, A. J., Morant, N., & Dunn, B.D. (2011). The structure of past and future lives in depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 1-15. Pubmed
  • Dalgleish, T., Golden, A. M. , Yiend, J, & Dunn B.D. (2010) Differential predictions about future negative events in seasonal and nonseasonal depression. Psychological Medicine, 40(3), 459-465. Pubmed
  • Dalgleish, T., Dunn, B. D., Mobbs, D. (2009) Affective neuroscience: Past, present and future. Emotion Review, 1, 355-368. Sage
  • Dunn, B. D. (2009). Psychosomatic Disorders. In Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences, Oxford University Press. OUP
  • Blackwell, A. D., Dunn, B. D., Owen, A. M., & Sahakian, B. (2005). Neuropsychological assessment of dementia. In O'Brien, Ames & Burns (Eds.), Dementia (3rd ed.): Hodder Arnold.
  • Dunn, B. D., & Bolton, W. (2004). The impact of borderline personality traits on challenging behaviour: implications for learning disabilities services. British Journal of Forensic Practice, 6(4), 3 - 9. Pier
  • Dunn, B. D., Owen, A. M., & Sahakian, B. (2001). Neuropsychological Assessment of Dementia. In O'Brien, Ames & Burns (Eds.), Dementia (2nd ed.): Arnold Publishers. Amazon
  • Swainson, R., Hodges, J. R., Galton, C. J., Semple, J., Dunn, B. D., Iddon, J. L., et al. (2001). Early detection and differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease and Depression with neuropsychological tests. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 12, 265 - 280. Pubmed

Theses

  • Phd, University of Cambridge, 2002: Exploring the interaction of mind and body in depression
  • DClinPsy, University College London, 2004: Emotional suppression when processing trauma: Implications for mood and memory.

Selected Presentations

  • Examining emotional reactivity in depression: A case of too much or too little? Talk give at Department of Academic Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, 2011.
  • How interoception shapes affective experience. Talk given at 2011 Society of Experimental Social Psychology Annual Conference in Washington DC (symposium organised by Joshua Davis)
  • Listening to your heart: Does interoceptive accuracy influence cognitive and affective processing? Talk given at workshop on Interoceptive Awareness in Cognition, Institute of Philosophy, University of London, 2011
  • Listening to your heart: How bodily response, perception and regulation processes shape emotion in health and mental illness. Talk given as part of workshop on Affectivity and Embodiment, Department of Philosophy, University of Exeter, 2011.
  • Organised a symposium: "Exploring emotion regulation processes in health and psychopathology" at BABCP 2011 Annual Conference in Guildford. Speakers were myself, Davy Evans, Susanne Schweizer and Theresa Dahm (all from CBU)
  • The pain of being on the outside: Exploring how dysphoric participants respond to social rejection. Talk given at BABCP 2011 Annual Conference in Guildford (symposium organised by Michelle Moulds)
  • Finding ways to feel good: Understanding positive emotion regulation disturbances in depression. Talk given as part of C2AD seminar series, Cambridge Clinical Research Centre for Affective Disorders, 2011.
  • Finding ways to feel good: Understanding positive emotion regulation disturbances in depression. Talk given at School of Psychology, University of Manchester, 2011.
  • How not to feel good: Understanding positive affect regulation in depression. Talk given at Psychology Department, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2010.
  • Organised a symposium "Understanding anhedonia and positive information processing in depression: From basic science to clinical intervention" at BABCP 2010 Annual Conference in Manchester. Speakers were myself, Andrew McLeod (Royal Holloway), Helen Barlow (CPFT), and Richard Moore (CPFT).
  • Heartfelt emotions: How interoception shapes intuition. Cambridge Behavioural and Neuroeconomics workshop 2009, Cambridge University, UK.
  • Somatic regulation of cognitive-affective processes in depression and anxiety. International Society for Research on Emotion, 2009 meeting, Leuven, Belgium.
  • Follow your heart? Experimental investigations of whether mindfulness in part works by changing relationship to the body. 2nd Applied Positive Psychology Conference, Warwick, 2009.
  • Using the body to regulate emotions in CBT: Exploring interoceptive awareness in anxiety and depression. Talk presented at BABCP Spring Workshop, London, 2009.
  • Follow your heart? Examining the influence of bodily feedback on cognitive-emotional processing in healthy and mood disordered individuals. Talk given at Psychology Department, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2008.
  • Obstacles to effective emotion regulation: Implications for CBT. Talk presented at British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Annual Conference, Edinburgh, 2008.
  • Organised an invited symposium "Role of the body in mood disorder and brain injury: From basic science to clinical application", British Assoication for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Annual Conference, Brighton, 2007. Speakers were myself, Rebecca Park (University of Oxford), Fergus Gracey (Oliver Zangwill Centre), and Margaret Landale.
  • Does emotional suppression help regulate affect when processing traumatic material? Talk presented at World Congress of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies, Barcelona, 2007.
  • Follow your heart: Extending the Somatic Marker Hypothesis. Talk given at psychology department, University of Louvain, Belgium, 2007
  • Is emotional suppression a helpful or unhelpful form of affect regulation when processing traumatic material? Talk presented at British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Annual Conference, Warwick, 2006.
  • Developing exits in CAT. Talk copresented with Deirdre Williams at International Cognitive Analytic Therapy Conference, Dublin, 2006.
  • The Processing Of Discrete Basic Emotions in Dysphoria and Depression: Self-Report and Psychophysiology. Talk presented at British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Annual Conference, York , 2003.

Current Students

  • Davy Evans (full time phd student, previously Wellcome funded summer student and undergraduate student): Emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder (primary supervisor).
  • Joe Hickey (clinical trainee, UCL): Memory and borderline personality disorder (primary supervisor).
  • Sarah Howley (clinical trainee, UCL): Positive elaboration in depression (primary supervisor).
  • Darius Gadeikis (placement student, Bath): Positive emotion regulation in depression (primary supervisor).
  • Emma Hill (MRC funded PhD student): Perspective broadening in depression (2nd supervisor).
  • Nina Brauner (clinical trainee, UCL): Training sustained attention in depression (2nd supervisor).

Previous Students

completed 2011:

  • Anna Rosselli (part time voluntary RA): Mechanisms of mindfulness (primary supervisor). Now working as an assistant clinical psychologist.
  • Adele Pacini (clinical trainee, UEA): Suppression and positive emotion experience in depression (primary supervisor).
  • Clem Edwards (part II student, University of Cambridge, previously a summer student): Social decision making in depression (primary supervisor). Accepted onto 4 year funded PhD programme at IOP.
  • Maxine Howard (full time voluntary RA and MRC funded summer student): Interoception and emotional memory (primary supervisor). Accepted onto 4 year mental health funded PhD programme at UCL.

completed 2010:

  • Mairi Stewart (clinical trainee, UCL). Affective forecasting in depression. Now completing her clinical placements at UCL.
  • Esther Maissi (clinical trainee, Holloway): Affective forecasting in depression. Now working as an NHS clinical psychologist.
  • Melanie Jarvis (part time placement student, Bath University): Interoception and head injury. Now completing her degree at Bath.
  • Josh White (work experience student, London): Interoception and the ultimatum game. Now an undergraduate student in Biochemistry at Kings College London.
  • Dasha Makarova (undergraduate student, Cambridge University): The ultimatum game and autistic features. Now studying for a PhD at Birmingham University.
  • Rosie Banks (full time placement student, Bath University): Depression and positive emotional experience. Now completing her degree at Bath.

completed 2009:

  • Amy Hawkins (placement student, Bath University): Mindfulness and positivity. Now working as an assistant psychologist.
  • Emma Louch (placement student, Bath University): Interoception and decision-making. Currently travelling in Australia.
  • Lucy Parkin (clinical trainee, UCL): Mindfulness and emotion processing. Now working as a clinical psychologist in the NHS.
  • Anna Adlam (clinical trainee, UEA): Empathy and emotional recognition following head injury. Now a clinical lecturer at University of East Anglia.

completed 2008:

  • Stuart Pearson (undergraduate student, University of Cambridge): Mindfulness and decision-making.
  • Kate Buchan (voluntary research assistant): Mindfulness and the body. Moved on to an assistant psychologist job in neurorehabilitation.

completed 2007:

  • Patricia Schartau (PhD student, MRC CBU): Examining the consequences of cognitive reappraisal. Now training as an NHS medic.
  • Clare Oliver (undergraduate student, University of Cambridge): Decision making in depression.
  • Ruth Morgan (clinical trainee, UCL): Does mindfulness work by changing relationship to the body? Now working as an NHS clinical psychologist.
  • Louise Quarmby (clinical trainee, UCL): Consequences of habitual acceptance versus suppression on response to trauma. Moved to Canada.

completed 2006:

  • Iolanta Stefanovitch (clinical trainee, UCL): Self focused attention to mind and body in anxiety. Now working as an NHS clinical psychologist.
  • Hannah Galton (undergraduate student, University of Cambridge): Validating Damasio's Somatic Marker Hypothesis. Now working as an NHS medic.
  • Danielle Billotti (masters student, University of Cambridge): The consequences of acceptance in response to trauma. Now completing clinical psychology training at the Institute of Psychiatry.

Teaching Experience

  • Critically evaluating the evidence base for depression (One day workshop for High Intensity IAPT trainees at Charlie Waller Institute, University of Reading)
  • A cognitive analytic therapy perspective on transdiagnostic therapy for complex cases (UCL clinical psychology winter conference, 10)
  • Exploring mechanisms of change in 3rd wave therapies (UCL clinical psychology summer conference, 09)
  • Managing emotional symptoms in neuro-rehabilitation: What can we learn from research into emotion regulation? (British Psychological Society Neuropsychological Division Post Training Qualification Day, London, 2008).
  • Working with personality Disorders (University of East Anglia Clinical Psychology Training Course, 07)
  • Social Psychiatry lecture series for final year undergraduates (Anglia Ruskin University, 07)
  • Working with the body in psychotherapy (CBT diploma, Institute of Psychiatry, 05)
  • Research Methods lecture (Research Methods Masters, City University, 04)
  • Supervising 2nd year medical and psychology undergraduates (University of Cambridge, 01 - 03)
  • Supervising a range of PhD, Masters, DClinPsy and undergraduate research students (04-ongoing)

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