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Barney Dunn Current Research Projects

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Understanding Anhedonia in Depression

Clinical and theoretical approaches to depression have long emphasised the importance of an exaggerated response to negative material in depression but have perhaps underplayed the significance of a blunted response to positive material in the disorder. We are running a series of studies investigating anhedonic responses in depression, exploring how this might relate to common emotion regulation strategies used in depression, and examining the extent to which these processes maintain the disorder. We have found that both depression and dysphoria are characterised by reduced self-report to positive emotional material (Dunn et al., 2004) and a reduced positive-bias when evaluating self performance (Dunn et al., 2007). This reduction in positive bias appears to have some specificity to the anhedonic symptoms of depression (Dunn et al., 2009). Current studies are exploring potential positive biases in prospective cognition in depression, influenced by the affective forecasting framework. We are also examining a range of other mechanisms that may drive anhedonia in depression, including altered appraisal style, difficulties elaborating positive experiences, a tendency to suppress emotions, and deficits in dispositional mindfulness.

Representative Publications

  • Dunn, B.D. (in press). Helping depressed clients reconnect to positive emotion experience: Current insights and future directions. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy
  • 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

The Role of Body State Feedback in Emotion and Cognition

It is increasingly realised that feedback from the body may shape how we think and feel. Most famously the James-Lange theory of emotion asserted that emotional experience is simply the perception of changes in the body that occur in emotional situations (James, 1892). More recently, the 'somatic marker hypothesis' (Damasio, 1994) has argued that how we make decisions in situations of uncertainty may be shaped by emotional biasing signals arising from the body.

Theoretically, we are running a range of basic science studies attempting to examine empirically the link between the body and mind. We have developed a novel decision-making task and are using this to examine the extent to which activity in the body influences decision making (Dunn et al., 2011). We are also manipulating body-state activity (using mindfulness based approaches) and seeing how this influences decisions and emotional experience. In a related series of studies we are investigating the degree to which individuals can accurately 'read' signals from their body (interoception) relates to these processes, using the Schandry heartbeat perception task.

Clinically, we are also examining the extent to which disturbances in the body may contribute to mental illness. While a role for somatic symptoms has long been acknowledged in anxiety disorders (e.g. Clark's model of panic disorder), these features have been neglected in other common mental health problems. In particular, depression has a range of bodily symptoms, but these have historically been seen as a marker of severity rather than somehow being involved in maintenance of the disorder. We are examining how bodily feedback disturbances contribute to cognitive-affective symptoms of depression (Dunn et al., 2007; 2010. Further, in collaboration with Rebecca Park from Oxford and Phil Barnard from the CBU, a new maintanence model of anorexia has been proposed, focused in part on the importance of bodily feedback mechanisms (Park et al., 2011). Finally, in collaboration with the Oliver Zangwill Centre, we are running a series of studies examining interoception ability following head injury and how this impacts on emotional experience, decision-making and empathy.

Representative Publications

  • 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
  • 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

Investigating the Consequences of Emotional Regulation

A number of theorists propose that intentional efforts to manage experienced emotions may differ in their short and long term consequences (e.g. Gross, 1994). Helpful emotion regulation may be protective in the face of stress, whereas unhelpful emotion regulation may confer vulnerability to mental health difficulties. In particular, a central tenet in a number of forms of therapy is that trying to avoid negative emotions can be counter-productive in mental health problems (e.g. experiential avoidance in ACT; Hayes et al., 1999). There has been little empirical investigation of this claim to date. We are running a series of studies contrasting the short- and longer- term effects of emotional suppression versus acceptance when processing traumatic material, using both individual differences and manipulation designs. Adele Pacini (DClinPsy, UEA) has been examining how suppression impacts on positive emotion experience in depression. Davy Evans (PhD, CBU) has investigated how borderline personality disorders impact on the utilisation of acceptance versus suppression emotion regulation strategies. We are also examining the degree to which differences in 'executive control' resources may interact with the success of different emotion regulation strategies. Finally, we are evaluating new ways of training individuals to adaptively reappraise and automatically interpret material, in collaboration with Laura Hoppitt and Bundy Mackintosh from University of East Anglia. The goal of this work is to help us understand whether emotion regulation may be a vulnerability or maintenance factor for PTSD, depression, borderline personality disorder and related mental health problems.

Representative Materials and Publications

  • 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
  • Dunn (2004) Emotional suppression when processing trauma: Implications for mood and memory. Unpublished DClinPsy, University College London, 2004.