Jennifer S Cheavens

• Ph.D.
• Professor at The Ohio State University

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is commonly comorbid with chronic pain and associated with pain symptoms and interference. BPD features are associated with negative affect, which is associated with pain catastrophizing and/or pain anxiety, and finally pain severity or interference. We extended models of the BPD–pain associations in a chronic...

Background Lifestyle interventions can promote improvement in dietary intake and physical activity (PA), on average, by strengthening motivation, self-regulatory efforts, and commitment to behavioral change. However, maintenance of behavioral change is challenging, and slow responders during treatment often experience less overall success. Adaptive...

Switching between different emotion regulation strategies may promote mental health by helping match strategy use to different situations. However, switching strategies very frequently might undermine any given regulation attempt. Individuals with high levels of self-reported neuroticism may have trouble finding the right balance of strategy switch...

249/250) Objective Observational data suggest hope is associated with the quality of life and survival of people with cancer. This trial examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of “Pathways,” a hope intervention for people in treatment for advanced lung cancer. Methods Between 2020 and 2022, we conducted a single‐arm tri...

Objective: One barrier to treatment seeking, uptake, and engagement is the belief that nothing can be done to reduce symptoms. Given the widespread use of social media to disseminate information about important issues, including psychological health, we sought to understand how the influence of social media communication regarding mental health im...

Background Interventions teaching cognitive-behavioral skills feature prominently among evidence-based treatments for emotional disorders. However, the relative impact of interventions that teach one cognitive-behavioral skill in-depth (i.e., an entrée intervention) versus those that provide limited coverage of multiple skills (i.e., a sampler inte...

Black Americans are arrested at disproportionate levels compared with White Americans. We sought to understand whether the association between psychopathology and arrest record is equally strong for Black Americans and White Americans, hypothesizing that the association would be stronger for Black Americans. In a sample of adults (age: M = 34.81 ye...

Early slow weight loss during treatment is associated with less weight loss overall. The impact of an augmented intervention designed for early slow weight loss responders compared with a standard diabetes prevention intervention was evaluated following 12 months of treatment and 6 months of no contact. The impact of standard vs. augmented interven...

Hope, the belief that one will achieve goals via pathway generation and perceived agency, is associated with favorable outcomes, including psychological and physical health. Research with physically ill populations and on hope interventions requires a brief measure of hope with minimal burden. We present the development and validation of a shortene...

Objective Behavioural weight loss interventions demonstrate success on average, yet participants who respond more slowly may benefit from an augmented, tailored approach. Thus, an augmented intervention for early, slow weight loss responders was implemented. This qualitative analysis explored participants’ perceptions of and experiences of the 12-m...

Background: Despite a growing literature characterizing risk factors associated with the development and maintenance of borderline personality disorder (BPD), substantially less is known about potentially protective factors in BPD. Methods: In a sample of online (n = 272) participants with likely BPD, major depressive disorder (MDD), or no disor...

Background: Despite a growing literature characterizing risk factors associated with the development and maintenance of borderline personality disorder (BPD), substantially less is known about potentially protective factors in BPD. Methods: In a sample of online (n = 272) participants with likely BPD, major depressive disorder (MDD), or no disorder...

Background: Young adult testicular cancer survivors experience adverse impacts after treatment. We developed Goal-focused Emotion-regulation Therapy (GET) to improve distress symptoms, emotion regulation, and goal navigation skills. Purpose: This pilot study examined GET versus an active control intervention in young adult survivors of testicula...

It is well-established that participation in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) results in patients using adaptive coping strategies more frequently. Although coping skill instruction may be necessary to promote decreases in symptoms and behavioral targets in DBT, it is unclear if the frequency with which patients use adaptive coping skills leads t...

Background Despite statistical evidence of a general factor of psychopathology (i.e., p -factor), there is little agreement about what the p -factor represents. Researchers have proposed five theories: dispositional negative emotionality (neuroticism), impulsive responsivity to emotions (impulsivity), thought dysfunction, low cognitive functioning,...

Background: Despite statistical evidence of a general factor of psychopathology (i.e., p-factor), there is little agreement about what the p-factor represents. Researchers have proposed five theories: dispositional negative emotionality (neuroticism), impulsive responsivity to emotions (impulsivity), thought dysfunction, low cognitive functioning,...

Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) involves modulating one's emotions through social contact. Considering the extensive emotional and interpersonal difficulties associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD), it is particularly relevant to the study of IER. We examined the frequency and efficacy of IER in relation to BPD features, as wel...

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has demonstrated effectiveness for a range of emotional difficulties, and DBT skills training groups may be necessary to produce symptom change. However, it is unclear how skills training groups influence outcomes. Specifically, is participation in DBT skills modules associated with general effects (i.e., changes...

BackgroundA substantial body of research suggests that cognitive reappraisal is effective at improving momentary affect, but it remains unclear how reappraisal leads to these changes. We tested the quality of reappraisal as one potential mechanism.MethodsA sample of 314 participants (Mage = 36.30; 51.0% female; 69.4% White) recruited online were in...

Objective Identifying predictors of dropout is an important step in improving treatment outcomes. The alliance is the most frequently studied psychotherapy process variable, but its relation to dropout in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) of depression is not well understood. Methods We evaluated the alliance at session one as reported by clients...

Introduction A capitalization approach to enhancing client skills in cognitive behavioral interventions is focused on enhancing skills that represent relative strengths. This approach may bolster outcomes because the targeted skills are those that clients can most effectively use to recover from negative moods. Alternatively, the benefits might be...

Background Initial evidence suggests Socratic questioning predicts session-to-session symptom change in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression, but little is known about which clients are most likely to benefit from this approach. We examined pretreatment client characteristics as potential moderators of the relation between Socratic que...

Background In cognitive behavioral therapies, patients work to develop or strengthen various emotion regulation skills. Understanding the role of such skills in treatment and how focusing on different skills might be used to effectively personalize treatments requires a measure suited to these purposes. With this goal in mind, we developed the Styl...

Background: A substantial body of research suggests that cognitive reappraisal is effective at improving momentary affect, but it remains unclear how reappraisal leads to these changes. We tested the quality of reappraisal as one potential mechanism. Methods: A sample of 314 participants (Mage = 36.30; 51.0% female; 69.4% White) recruited online we...

Emotion dysregulation is fundamental to a range of psychiatric disorders. Leading psychological treatments are often designed to teach several emotion regulation strategies. However, teaching a wide range of strategies may be an inefficient way to enhance emotional functioning. We propose a framework of emotion dysregulation to guide the developmen...

Objective: Between 40% and 65% of lung cancer patients report concern about maintaining valued activities and roles, yet few interventions address this concern. Hope, a patient's perceived ability to generate goals and identify ways to pursue them, may be a promising intervention target to support function among lung cancer patients. The goal of t...

Interpersonal dysfunction is a core characteristic of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Cross-sectional research suggests that higher BPD features are associated with lower relationship quality. Many researchers have examined the associations between interpersonal stressors and short-term increases in emotional reactivity or impulsivity among...

Research suggests gratitude interventions—designed to increase appreciation of positive qualities, situations, and people in one’s life—may improve psychological well-being (e.g., Seligman et al. in Am Psychol 60:410–421, 2005. 10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410). Accordingly, mental health practitioners have promoted gratitude interventions as a means of...

Background Early response to treatment is a robust predictor of outcome in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression. When clients show a poor early response, therapists may understandably be concerned. We examine how early CBT skill development might be used to help inform therapists about patients’ prognoses in such circumstances.Methods...

Emotion dysregulation is fundamental to a range of psychiatric disorders. Leading psychological treatments are often designed to teach several emotion regulation strategies. However, teaching a wide range of strategies may be an inefficient way to enhance emotional functioning. We propose a framework of emotion dysregulation to guide the developmen...

Objective Symptoms of general psychological distress disrupt goal pursuit; however, not everyone is equally impacted by distress when pursuing goals. We tested whether hope, self‐efficacy, and/or grit buffered the impact of symptoms of general psychological distress on longitudinal goal progress. Method Undergraduate students reported on these con...

Validation communicates that another’s experiences make sense and are understood, while invalidation dismisses the validity of an individual’s experience. Validation has the potential to preserve positive affect in the face of interpersonal stressors. We aimed to assess and replicate the effect of validation/invalidation on changes in affective exp...

Objective To develop more unified, process‐based, and disseminable psychotherapy treatments, it is important to determine whether there is consensus among therapists regarding intervention strategies. Design Because emotion regulation is a cornerstone of modern treatments and a thriving area of clinical research, we assessed therapists’ ratings of...

Although people often use multiple strategies to regulate their emotions, it is unclear if using more strategies effectively changes emotional outcomes. This may be because there is no clear, data-driven structure to organise which strategies people use together, so strategies with opposing impacts are modelled together. We first conducted a multil...

Objective: To develop more unified, process-based, and disseminable psychotherapy treatments, it is important to determine if there is consensus among therapists regarding intervention strategies. Design: Because emotion regulation is a cornerstone of modern treatments and a thriving area of clinical research, we assessed therapists’ ratings of the...

Although people often use multiple strategies to regulate their emotions, it is unclear if using more strategies effectively changes emotional outcomes. This may be because there is no clear, data-driven structure to organise which strategies people use together, so strategies with opposing impacts are modelled together. We first conducted a multil...

Objective Chronic pain and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are commonly comorbid and jointly associated with increased symptoms of both disorders and clinical and functional impairment. Little is known, however, about specific links between these disorders. In a cross-sectional study of patients with chronic pain, we compared participants hig...

Background: Testicular cancer diagnosis and treatment, especially given its threat to sexuality and reproductive health, can be distressing in the formative period of young adulthood and the majority of young survivors experience impairing, distressing, and modifiable adverse outcomes that can persist long after medical treatment. These include ps...

Purpose Cross-sectional research suggests that thinking about multiple ways to reach goals (hope pathways) and the belief that one can reach them (hope agency) may be adaptive for lung cancer patients. We examined the between-person and within-person associations among aspects of hope agency and pathways thinking, daily fatigue, pain, and functiona...

Interpersonal dysfunction is considered a cornerstone of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Relationships are described as intense and unstable, with individuals with BPD alternating between idealization and devaluation of relationship partners. Furthermore, a lack of stable and supportive relationships may be related to symptom maintenance and...

Linehan's (1993) biosocial theory posits that people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have emotion regulation skills deficits characterized by (a) less frequent use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies, (b) more frequent use of maladaptive strategies, or (c) poorer quality strategy implementation (i.e., strategies implemented less sk...

Linehan’s (1993) biosocial theory posits that people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) have emotion regulation skills deficits characterized by 1) less frequent use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies, 2) more frequent use of maladaptive strategies, or 3) poorer quality strategy implementation (i.e., strategies implemented less skill...

Background Therapist validation in treatment is theorized to be related to positive outcomes (Linehan, 1993), including keeping patients in therapy longer. Aims We sought to evaluate the role of therapist validation from both therapists’ and clients’ perspectives as a predictor of drop-out from psychotherapy in three cognitive behavioural training...

Introduction: Researchers have examined how several contexts impact the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies. However, few have considered the emotion-to-be-regulated as a context of interest. Specific emotions are important contexts because they may require particular responses to internal and external stimuli for optimal regulation. Met...

Introduction: Symptoms of depression are associated with difficulty achieving personal goals. Empirical investigations suggest that depressed individuals do not differ from healthy controls in their commitment to personal goals (i.e., goal commitment), though they express less confidence in their abilities to achieve goals (i.e., goal-related confi...

This study examines the feasibility and effectiveness of a Mind-Body Skills training (MBST) curriculum in promoting physician compassion and mindfulness, and reducing stress and burnout. Participants were offered up to 7 hours of training: four free online modules on MBST and three interactive discussion sessions. Primary outcomes included feasibil...

Facial expressions are fundamental to interpersonal communication, including social interaction, and allow people of different ages, cultures, and languages to quickly and reliably convey emotional information. Historically, facial expression research has followed from discrete emotion theories, which posit a limited number of distinct affective st...

Validation is the accurate reflection of someone's internal experiences. Validation has been theorized to enhance the process of therapy and facilitate effective outcomes (Lynch, Chapman, Rosenthal, Kuo, & Linehan, 2006). Additionally, validation may play an integral role in reducing emotional arousal specifically for individuals with borderline pe...

Objective: Evidence supports high rates of co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain disorders involving central sensitization (CS). The nature of this relationship, however, remains relatively unexplored. In this study, we aimed to (1) assess how both trauma exposure and current PTSD symptoms are related to clinical m...

Facial expressions are fundamental to interpersonal communication, including social interaction, and allow people of different ages, cultures, and languages to quickly and reliably convey emotional information. Historically, facial expression research has followed from discrete emotion theories, which posit a limited number of distinct affective st...

Purpose The relationship between exposure to abuse and interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is well‐documented. However, studies have yet to examine posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which develops following exposure to trauma and worsens health outcomes in chronic pain. We aimed to assess the prevalence and impact of PTSD in pa...

Objective: For the past two decades, hope theory has been an important framework for conceptualizing goal pursuits. Surprisingly there has been little effort to test the underlying suppositions of hope theory or to further validate the Hope Scale. Method: In Study 1, participants (N = 162, Mage = 19, 61% female) completed the Hope Scale and nominat...

Researchers have proposed three core deficits of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): emotion dysregulation, interpersonal problems, and self-identity disturbance. Previous methods for testing these deficits rest on problematic assumptions (e.g., the assumption that observable/measured features of BPD, such as chaotic relationships and affective...

We propose a model of healthy intentional emotion regulation that includes a large repertoire of adaptive strategies that one persists with despite initial negative feedback. One hundred forty-four undergraduates (average age = 19.20 years; 68% female, 79% Caucasian) completed a novel performance task indicating what they would think or do to feel...

Objectives: A large body of work suggests that cognitive reappraisal is an effective strategy for modifying emotional intensity. In addition, its habitual use has been linked to adaptive psychological functioning, operationalized as low levels of symptoms of psychopathology. However, little is known about the impact of cognitive reappraisal on beh...

Researchers have proposed three core deficits of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): emotion dysregulation, interpersonal problems, and self-identity disturbance. Previous methods for testing these deficits rest on problematic assumptions (e.g., the assumption that observable/measured features of BPD, such as chaotic relationships and affective...

Background: Chronic pain is common and challenging to treat. Although cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is efficacious, its benefit in disadvantaged populations is largely unknown. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of literacy-adapted and simplified group CBT versus group pain education (EDU) versus usual care. Design: Randomized controlled...

Future-oriented expectancies, including pessimism and hopelessness, are long-established risk factors for suicide; however, modern theories and developing treatments also address positive views of the future, such as an adaptive future orientation, optimism, and hopefulness. In this chapter, Hope Therapy, Future-Directed Therapy, and Future-Oriente...

People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) tend to distrust others. We hypothesized that acetaminophen might reduce distrust in people with high BPD features because disordered affective responses are partially responsible for the interpersonal difficulties of people with BPD features, and acetaminophen has been shown in multiple studies to...

Purpose: A healthy diet and consistent physical activity (PA) form the foundation for effective self-management in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Behavioral interventions, which target diet and PA, can facilitate effective diabetes self-management practices. Greater clarity regarding the ‘active ingredients’ incorporated into behavior...

Expressive flexibility (EF), the ability to enhance and suppress emotional expressions , predicts decreases in anxiety and depression symptoms years later (Bonan-no, Papa, Lalande, Westphal, & Coifman, 2004). Bonanno and Burton (2013) proposed that knowing the most appropriate strategy for a situation (context sensitivity ; CS), and awareness of ho...

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by interpersonal difficulties including fears of abandonment, unstable relationships, and intense and inappropriate anger (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, there is limited research aimed at understanding the social networks of individuals with BPD, particularly in comparison t...

Objectives The interpersonal theory of suicide posits that perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness are risk factors for suicide ideation. To more comprehensively characterize this model, it is important to identify resilience factors. Forgiveness of oneself may attenuate the relation between perceived burdensomeness and suicide ideation...

The present symposium includes four studies that use these types of innovative methods to explore the characteristics, functions, and consequences of anger and aggression in BPD. The first two talks focus on more immediate precipitants and functions of anger and aggression in BPD. Herr, Keenan-Miller, Rosenthal, Hughes, and Feldblum will present th...

Emotion regulation research links regulatory responding to important outcomes in psychological well-being, physical health, and interpersonal relations, but several fundamental questions remain. As much of the previous research has addressed generalized regulatory habits, far less is known about the ways in which individuals respond to emotions in...

Objective: Psychological interventions can attenuate distress and enhance coping for those with an initial diagnosis of cancer, but there are few intervention options for individuals with cancer recurrence. To address this gap, we developed and tested a novel treatment combining Mindfulness, Hope Therapy, and biobehavioral components. Method: An...

Theoretical accounts and clinical conceptualizations of borderline personality disorder (BPD) highlight pervasive interpersonal dysfunction. Recent investigations have found differences in the interpersonal interactions and social networks of individuals with BPD compared to healthy controls. However, there are few laboratory investigations of thes...

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was originally developed for chronically suicidal adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and emotion dysregulation. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicate DBT is associated with improvements in problem behaviors, including suicide ideation and behavior, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), attrition,...

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of women relative to men who are pursuing and obtaining doctoral degrees in clinical psychology. How will this feminization impact the field of psychotherapy (A. Howard, 1987)? Many possible sequelae are addressed in this chapter. The authors first review the demographic changes pertaining to this in...

By one count (T. B. Karasu, 1986), there are at least 400 distinct approaches to psychotherapy. By the turn of the millennium, this number will swell to over 500 (Snyder et al, 1999). Amidst all of these purportedly differing approaches, what can be discerned about possible shared frameworks that can bridge this multitude of psychotherapy techniqu...

Despite long-standing calls for the individualization of treatments for depression, modest progress has been made in this effort. The primary objective of this study was to test two competing approaches to personalizing cognitive-behavioral treatment of depression (viz., capitalization and compensation). Thirty-four adults meeting criteria for Majo...

Theories point to different mechanisms through which borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms may be developed and maintained: (a) emotion regulation dysfunction, (b) problematic relations, and (c) nonintegrated self. However, researchers have not investigated the relative contribution of these mechanisms simultaneously in accounting for the...

Intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) have become increasingly common for treating highly distressed patients, and a burgeoning number of IOPs are based on, or informed by, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). The goal of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of DBT in a community mental health center IOP for patients with heterogeneous...

The Background of Hope TherapyThe Need for Hope-Based TreatmentDeveloping a Hope-Based TreatmentThe AssessmentDeveloping Goals for TherapyClient ResourcesHope-Based Therapy as Opposed to Other TreatmentsTherapy TargetsInterventionOutcomeLessons Learned

Hope is defined as the perceived ability to produce pathways to achieve desired goals and to motivate oneself to use those pathways. The historical origins of hope theory are reviewed. Definitions and explanations are given for the core concepts of Snyder's (1994c) cognitive model of hope, including goals, pathways, and agency. Goals are abstract m...

The aim of this preliminary study was to examine whether individuals with avoidant personality disorder (APD) could be characterized by deficits in the classification of dynamically presented facial emotional expressions. Using a community sample of adults with APD (n = 17) and non-APD controls (n = 16), speed and accuracy of facial emotional expre...

Major depressive disorder (Mdd) and Borderline Personality disorder (BPd) are both significant mental health conditions that impact millions of individuals and have deleterious effects. There is a high rate of co-morbidity between these two disorders; in particular individuals with BPd report high levels of Mdd symptoms. identification of shared an...

Older adults have the highest risk of death by suicide in the United States. Improving our understanding of the factors that lead to increased risk of suicide in older adults will greatly inform our ability to prevent suicide in this high-risk group. Two studies were conducted to test the effect of perceived burdensomeness, a component of the inter...

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is one of the most widely used measures of depressive symptoms in research today. The original psychometric work in support of the CES-D (Radloff, 1977) described a 4-factor model underlying the 20 items on the scale. Despite a long history of evidence supporting this structure, research...

Hope may be important in explaining the variability in how patients adjust to lung cancer. The aim of this study was to examine how hope, as conceptualized by Snyder et al., is associated with multiple indices of adjustment to lung cancer. This theoretical model of hope suggests that people with high levels of hope are able to think about the pathw...

We examined the impact of negative affectivity, chronic shame, and emotion regulation skills on eating disorder symptoms in undergraduate women (N = 154). We hypothesized that self-reported emotion regulation skills would mediate the well-documented relationship between chronic shame and eating disorder symptoms. Results revealed that chronic shame...

The contribution of personality traits and social support to mental health is well established, but to our knowledge there have been no longitudinal investigations of the relation between personality and social support in depressed older adults. In the current study, we examined a repeated measures multi-level mixed model of change in perceived soc...

In this study, self-reported experiences of negative affectivity and emotional regulation in a sample of older and younger adults with and without psychiatric co-morbidity were evaluated. Study participants were divided into four separate groups (younger nonpsychiatric = YN; younger psychiatric = YP; older non-psychiatric = ON; and older psychiatri...

Depression is associated with behavioral avoidance of potentially rewarding environmental contexts. The present study examined the performance of depressive individuals and controls on a neuropsychological measure of decision-making that favors risk avoidance. Depressive (n=41) and control (n=44) participants were administered the Iowa Gambling Tas...

Late-life depression rarely occurs in isolation. Thus, screening for and assessment of late-life depression should always involve screening for other psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, personality disorders, and alcohol misuse. Comorbidity often makes treatment to relieve depressive symptoms more complicated, more comprehensive, and longer....

Suicide rates are higher among older adults than any other age group and suicidal ideation is one of the best predictors of completed suicide in older adults. Despite this, few studies have evaluated predictors of suicidal ideation and other correlates of death by suicide (e.g. hopelessness) among older adults. Even fewer studies on this topic have...

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was originally designed as a treatment of emotionally dysregulated, impulsive, and dramatic disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder) and populations (e.g., parasuicidal women). However, a number of complex disorders represent the dialectical opposite of BPD and related disorders; these disorders are chara...

Although problems with emotional functioning are considered central to borderline personality disorder (BPD), it is only recently that studies have begun utilizing laboratory biobehavioral measures (including neuroimaging and psychophysiological measures) to examine emotional responding in BPD. The application of basic science methodologies used in...

Antecedentes e Importancia. El tratamiento de los trastornos de la personalidad en personas mayores, particularmente aquellos con otros trastornos comórbidos del Eje I (por ejemplo, Trastorno Depresivo Mayor), es un fenómeno clínico poco estudiado. También se ha demostrado que los trastornos de la personalidad complican el tratamiento de las person...

Personality disorders, by DSM-IV (American Psychological Association, 1994) definition, are long-standing/stable, first evidenced in adolescence or early adulthood, and have associated pervasive difficulties in both interpersonal and impulsive functioning. Based on these criteria, it is difficult to adequately assess personality pathology in older...