Dr Klein's Research

Background

Dr. Klein was awarded a T-32 NIH postdoctoral fellowship to study dysregulated emotion as a shared risk factor contributing to multiple mental health disorders simultaneously. In his postdoctoral work thus far, he initially published work demonstrating that both behavioral emotion reacitivty¹ and pathological levels of negative emotion² were associated with substance experimentation as early as in childhood (M age = 9.9). Next, in a large dataset of low SES youth, Dr. Klein showed that a relative inability to regulate one’s emotions prospectively predicted the development of clinical anxiety, depression and substance use up to 7 years later³. A key area of his current research is examining links between specific emotion generation processes and different forms of psychopathology. This work extends Dr. Klein's dissertation research into clinical domains. Dr. Klein recently received priority funding status for an NIH pilot grant comparing and contrasting three emotion generation processes (individual differences in negative emotion reaction thresholds, emotion reaction intensity, and reaction duration) as predictors of both affective and substance abuse disorders. This work was designed to provide insight into the core emotion reactivity processes underlying mental ill-health, and ultimately to provide specific targets for broadly effective psychological health interventions.

Publications and Articles Under Review

1. Klein, R. J., Gyorda, J. A., & Jacobson, N. C. (in press). Anxiety, Depressive Disorders, and Substance Experimentation in Childhood. PLOS ONE

2. Klein, R. J., Gyorda, J. A., Damien, & Jacobson, N. C. (2021). Dysregulated Emotion and Substance Experimentation in Childhood: Insights from a Large Nationally Representative Cohort Study RG Preprint. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28496.23048

3. Klein, R. J., Nguyen, N., Gyorda, J. A., & Jacobson, N. C. (in press). Adolescent Emotion Regulation and Future Psychopathology: A Transdiagnostic Latent Growth Analysis. Journal of Research in Adolescence

Background

In psychological and philosophical theory spanning thousands of years, a flexible and accepting attitude toward life’s unpleasant aspects (such as experiencing intense sadness or anxiety) has been repeatedly emphasized as supporting psychological health. For instance, Eastern philosophers suggest that attachment to the experiences one desires is the central mechanism that drives human suffering. Relatedly, Carl Jung believed that an “unwillingness to experience legitimate suffering” was the root of all mental illness. Carried by the “third wave” of psychotherapies, acceptance-related attitudes have become an important emphasis in modern mental health treatment. Acceptance-related attitudes are also thought to be a key mechanism through which PF promotes psychological health. Such links are also quite consistent with the previously discussed research given that accepting attitudes have been specifically associated with decreased duration of emotional reactions. Decreased emotion reaction durations have also been repeatedly associated with increased psychological health. In the acceptance literature, Dr. Klein has focused on the construct of “nonattachment” because it encompasses acceptance of all forms of internal and external events, as well as both the experience of the unwanted and the non-experience of the wanted. In Dr. Klein's early nonattachment research, he emphasized the independence of nonattachment and trait mindfulness by showing that nonattachment is predicative of stress resilience and psychology flexibility above and beyond its association with mindful awareness¹.

In the intervention domain, existing interventions designed to increase nonattachment-related constructs (e.g., acceptance, distress-tolerance) have focused on a narrow set of behavioral meditation and exposure-based practices. To add to and expand this work, Dr. Klein piloted a cognitive intervention that teaches a 2500-year old teaching called the “Three Marks of Existence”. This teaching is a core intervention across Eastern philosophies. The teaching explains three fundamental life truths that, when understood, are thought to increase nonattachment. For example, the third "mark" reminds subjects that one’s personal emotion experiences are constantly changing in ways that one cannot fully control. Dr. Klein showed that a placebo-controlled 12-minute Three Marks training emphasizing nonattachment toward the experience of negative emotions and nonattached towards negative evaluations of the self by others 1) increased nonattachment/acceptance levels toward unwanted experiences, 2) reduced threat appraisals of an impending public speaking task, and 3) did not decrease peak emotional reactivity, but shortened the duration of negative emotional repsonses². Dr. Klein also currently has an active grant application at the American Psychological Foundation focusing on the development of an accessible nonattachment intervention that can be delivered digitally at low-cost.

Publications and Articles Under Review

1. Klein, R. J., & Robinson, M. D. (2019). Mindfulness, Nonattachment, and the Feeling-Action Relationship. Mindfulness, 10, 2121-2132

2. Klein, R. J., & Robinson, M. D. (2022). Cognitive foundations of affective dynamics: Accepting attitudes predict shorter emotion reactions to controlled stimuli. RG Preprint DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17673.98401