Research studies and publications

role

Principal Investigator

co-investigators

Drs. Angela Fang and Lillian Reuman

purpose

The current study aims to improve the field’s understanding of imagery rescripting (ImR). ImR is an underutilized clinical technique that helps patients (a) identify the childhood origins of present-day psychological difficulties, and (b) “rescript” the aversive outcome by revisiting the memory as an adult and addressing their unmet childhood needs. This investigation, in collaboration with Stonehill College and University of Washington, evaluates the efficacy of an automated online ImR and aims to elucidate the mechanisms of change via quantitative and qualitative analyses.

sponsors

Batchelor Ford Summer Fellowship; COVID-19 Internal Grant

role

Principal Investigator

co-investigators

Drs. Angela Fang, Hannah Reese, Jed Siev, Kiara Timpano, and Michael Wheaton

purpose

In collaboration with Bowdoin College, Swarthmore College, Barnard College, University of Miami, and University of Washington, the HOPE Lab conducted a longitudinal study to identify the risk (e.g., loneliness) and resilience (e.g., emotion regulation abilities) factors that moderate the short- and long-term impact of COVID-19 on college students' development and mental health outcomes.

sponsors

Batchelor Ford Summer Fellowship

role

Principal Investigator

co-investigator

Dr. Jumi Hayaki

purpose

The HOPE Lab examined how the content of an intrusive thought (taboo vs. contamination) impacts emotional reactivity and emotion dysregulation.

sponsors

International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation, Livingston Award for Young Investigator at Harvard Medical School

role

Principal Investigator

purpose

Examine how OCD-related information processing styles (e.g., attention and interpretation biases) are generationally transmitted from parents to children.

sponsors

Kaplen Fellowship on Depression at Harvard Medical School

role

Principal Investigator

purpose

Examine how depression affects subjective and objective measures of exposure processes in individuals with OCD.

sponsors

Charles A. King Postdoctoral Fellowship and Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust

role

Principal Investigator

purpose

Examine the effects of positive mood on threat perception, emotional processing, and physiological reactivity in adults with OCD.

sponsors

William F. Milton Fund at Harvard University

role

Co-Principal Investigator

Co-Principal Investigator

Jamie Micco, Ph.D.

purpose

Examine the physiological dysregulation that characterizes information processing biases in youth at risk of developing OCD.

sponsors

Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative at Harvard University

role

Co-Principal Investigator

Co-Principal Investigators

Sabine Wilhelm, Ph.D. and I. Glenn Cohen, J.D.

purpose

Examine biases that underlie mental health professionals’ clinical decision-making regarding suicide risk.

Siev, J., Berman, N. C., Zhou, R., & Himelein-Wachowiak, M. (2022). Predicting negative emotions in response to in vivo triggers of thought-action fusion. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 33, 100723.

Berman, N. C., Hezel, D., & Wilhelm, S. (2021). Is my patient too sad to approach their fear? Depression severity and imaginal exposure outcomes for patients with OCD. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 70, 101615.

Berman, N. C., Gallegos-Guarjardo, J., Reuman, L., Ramirez, M., Valdez, G., & Abramowitz, J. (2020). Cross-cultural differences in obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions across young adults in Mexico and USA. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture. Advanced Online Publication.

Olivares-Mora, R., Berman, N. C., Fisak, B., Ruvalcaba-Romero, N., & Gallegos-Guajardo, J. (2020). Validation of the interpretation of intrusions inventory (III - 31) for the Mexican population: Cross-cultural discrepancies. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 34(1), 47-57.

Castillo-Huerta, P., Ruvalcaba-Romero, N., Fisak, B., Berman, N. C., & Gallegos-Guajardo, J. (2019). Validation of the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire short version (CERQ-VC) for the Mexican population. Journal of Psychology and Education (Revista Intercontinental de Psicología y Educación), 21(1), 57-82.

Berman, N. C., Summers, B., Weingarden, H., & Wilhelm, S. (2019). Positive affect and imaginal exposure processes in patients with taboo obsessions. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 23, 100474.

Berman, N. C. (2019). Treating taboo or forbidden thoughts: Integrating mindfulness, acceptance and emotion regulation into an exposure-based intervention. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 33(3), 196-212.

Berman, N. C., Weingarden, H., & Wilhelm, S. (2019). Symptom-specific threat perception mediates the relationship between obsessive beliefs and OCD symptoms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 43(4), 705-712.

Trevino de la Garza, B., Berman, N. C., Fisak, B., Ruvalcaba-Romero, N., & Gallegos-Guajardo, J. (2019). Validation of the dimensional obsessive-compulsive scale for the mexican population. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 21, 13-17.

Williams, K., Shorser-Gentile, L., Sarvode, S., Berman, N. C., Pasternack, M., Geller, D., & Walter, J. (2019). Immunoglobulin A dysgammaglobulinemia is associated with pediatric-onset obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 29(4), 268-275.

Berman, N. C., Wilver, N., & Wilhelm, S. (2018). My child’s thoughts frighten me: Maladaptive effects associated with parents’ interpretation and management of children’s intrusive thoughts. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 61, 87-96.

Berman, N. C., Shaw, A. M., Curley, E. E., & Wilhelm, S. (2018). Emotion regulation and obsessive-compulsive phenomena in youth. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 19, 44-49.

Wilhelm, S., Berman, N. C., Small, B., Porth, R., Geller, D., & Storch, E. (2018). D-cycloserine augmentation of cognitive behavior therapy for pediatric OCD: Predictors and moderators of outcome. Journal of Affective Disorders, 241, 454-460.

Berman, N. C., Jacoby, R. J., Sullivan, A., Hoepnner, S., Micco, J., & Wilhelm, S. (2018). Parent-level risk factors for children’s obsessive beliefs, interpretation biases, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms: A cross-sectional examination. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 18, 8-17.

Greenberg, J., Berman, N. C., Braddick, V., Schwartz, R., Mothi, S., Wilhelm, S., & Mothi, S. (2018). Treatment utilization and barriers to treatment engagement among individuals with olfactory reference syndrome (ORS). Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 105, 31-36.

Fang, A., Berman, N. C., Chen, J., & Zakhary, L. (2018). Treating postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder: Diagnostic and cultural considerations. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 26(2), 82-29.

Lizano, P., Popat-Jain, A., Scharf, J., Berman, N. C., Widge, A., Dougherty, D., & Eskandar, E. (2016). Treatment challenges in managing the comorbidity of obsessive-compulsive disorder and tourette’s disorder. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 24(4), 294-301.

Berman, N. C., Tung, E., Matheny, N., Cohen, I. G., & Wilhelm, S. (2016). Clinical decision-making regarding suicide risk: Effect of patient and clinician age. Death Studies, 40(5), 269-274.

Reese, H. E., Pollard, A., Szymanski, J., Berman, N. C., Spigler, M., Crowe, K., Rosenfield, E., Keegan, M., & Wilhelm, S. (2016). The behavior therapy training institute: Preliminary data on a model of therapist training. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 8, 79-85.

Jacoby, R., Berman, N. C., Graziano, R., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2015). Examining attentional bias in scrupulosity: Null findings from the dot probe paradigm. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 29(4), 302-314.

Berman, N. C., Stark, A., Cooperman, A., Wilhelm, S., & Cohen, I. G. (2015). Effect of patient and therapist factors on suicide risk assessment. Death Studies, 39(7), 433-441.

Berman, N. C., Fang, A., Hansen, N., & Wilhelm, S. (2015). Essentials of exposure: Role of cognitive therapy techniques. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 6, 158-166.

Wilhelm, S., BBerman, N. C., Keshaviah, A., Schwartz, R. & Steketee, G. (2015). Mechanisms of change in cognitive therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder: Role of maladaptive beliefs and schemas. Behavior Research and Therapy, 65, 5-10.

Berman, N. C., Calkins, A., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2013). Longer-term effects of inducing harm related intrusions: Implications for research on obsessional phenomena. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 2, 109-113.

Calkins, A., Berman, N. C., & Wilhelm, S. (2013). Recent advances in the research on cognition and emotion in OCD: A review. Current Psychiatry Reports, 15, 357-364.

Berman, N. C., Wheaton, M. G., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2013). Rigid rules of conduct and duty: Prediction of thought action fusion. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 27(2), 1-13.

Berman, N. C., Wheaton, M. G., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2013). Childhood trauma and thought action fusion: A multi-method examination. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 2, 43-47.

Berman, N. C., Wheaton, M. G., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2012). The “arnold schwarzenegger effect”: Is strength of the “victim” related to misinterpretations of harm intrusions? Behavior Research and Therapy, 50, 761-766.

Wheaton, M. G., Deacon, B., McGrath, P., Berman, N. C., Abramowitz, J. S. (2012). Dimensions of anxiety sensitivity in the anxiety disorders: Evaluation of the ASI-3. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 401-408.

Mahaffey, B., Wheaton, M. G., Fabricant, L., Berman, N. C., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2012). The contribution of experiential avoidance and social cognitions in the prediction of social anxiety. Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 28, 1-14.

Berman, N. C., Wheaton, M. G., Fabricant, L. E., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2012). Prediction of mental pollution: Contribution of religion, parenting strategies, and trauma. Journal of Obsessive and Compulsive Related Disorders, 1, 153-158.

Wheaton, M. G., Abramowitz, J. S., Berman, N. C., Fabricant, L. E., & Olatunji, B. (2012). Psychological predictors of anxiety in response to H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(3), 210-218.

Wheaton, M. G., Mahaffey, B., Timpano, K., Berman, N. C., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2012). Relationship between anxiety sensitivity and OC spectrum symptom dimensions. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43(3), 891-896.

Wheaton, M. G., Abramowitz, J. S., Franklin, J. C., Berman, N. C., & Fabricant, L. E (2011). Experiential avoidance and saving cognitions in the prediction of hoarding symptoms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35(6), 511-516.

Berman, N. C., Abramowitz, J. S., Wheaton, M., Pardue, C., & Fabricant, L. (2011). Development and evaluation of an in vivo behavioral paradigm for thought-action fusion. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 25(2), 155-164.

Berman, N. C., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2010). Recent developments in the assessment and treatment of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder. Child and Youth Care Forum, 39(2), 125-126.

Abramowitz, J. S., Deacon, B., Olatunji, B., Wheaton, M., Berman, N. C., Losardo, D., et al. (2010). Assessment of obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions: Development and validation of the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. Psychological Assessment, 22(1), 180-198.

Berman, N. C., Abramowitz, J. S., Pardue, C., & Wheaton, M. G. (2010). The relationship between religion and thought-action fusion: Use of an in vivo paradigm. Behavior Research and Therapy, 48, 670-674.

Wheaton. M. G., Abramowitz, J. S., Berman, N. C., Riemann, B., & Hale, L. (2010). Obsessive beliefs show specific relationships to dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behavior Research and Therapy, 48, 949-954.

Wheaton, M. G., Berman, N. C., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2010). The contribution of experiential avoidance and anxiety sensitivity in the prediction of health anxiety. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 24(1), 229-239.

Berman, N. C., Wheaton, M., McGrath, P., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2010). Predicting anxiety and worry: The role of experiential avoidance and anxiety sensitivity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 109-113.

Flessner, C., Berman, N. C., Garcia, A., Freeman, J. & Leonard, H. (2009). Symptom profiles in pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder: The effects of comorbid grooming behaviors. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23(6), 753-759.