
Michelle Gayle NewmanPennsylvania State University | Penn State
Michelle Gayle Newman
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
About
367
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Introduction
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Education
September 1984 - August 1992
Publications
Publications (367)
BACKGROUND: As use of guided digitally-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (GdCBT) grows, pragmatic analytic tools are needed to evaluate coaches’ implementation fidelity. Aims: We evaluated how natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) methods might automate the monitoring of coaches’ implementation fidelity to a guided GdCBT...
BACKGROUND: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a chronic condition. Enabling the prediction of individual trajectories would facilitate tailored management approaches for these individuals. This study used machine learning techniques to predict the recovery of GAD at a nine-year follow-up.
METHOD: The study involved 126 participants with GAD. Va...
The contrast avoidance model suggests that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) use worry to sustain negative emotionality and thus avoid a sharp increase in negative emotion. Maintenance of negative mood increases the probability of subsequent decreased negative and increased positive affect (positive emotional contrast; PEC) when w...
Objective: This study explored the perspectives of key campus stakeholders on the status of college mental health services and digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) as a strategy to address mental health disorders among college students. Methods: A nationwide online survey (N = 615) was conducted, including clinicians (n = 87) and campus lead...
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of COVID-19-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and insomnia remains high in Chinese adolescents. Existing research suggests strong links between them and the influence of internet addiction (IA) on their development. This study therefore examined a longitudinal network of these psychological sympto...
BACKGROUND: Models focusing on transdiagnostic mechanisms, such as repetitive negative thinking, may be of additive value to existing conceptualizations of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). One such model is the Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM), which posits that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are sensitive to sharp increases...
Objective
Chatbots’ rapid advancements raise the possibility that they can be used to deliver mental health support. However, public utilization of and opinions toward chatbots for mental health support are poorly understood.
Methods
Survey study of 428 U.S. university students who participated in early 2024, just over one year after the release o...
BACKGROUND: Shame and stigma often prevent individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) from seeking and attending costly and time-intensive psychotherapies, highlighting the importance of brief, low-cost, and scalable treatments. Creating prescriptive outcome prediction models is thus crucial for identifying which clients with SAD might gain the...
Among juveniles in the justice system, depression and perceived opportunity have implications for long-term adjustment. The prospective associations between these two constructs have not yet been examined in this population. We studied the longitudinal association between depression and perceived opportunity in a sample of recently adjudicated juve...
BACKGROUND: Specific components of independent and interdependent self-construal have been associated with psychopathology. However, most studies on this topic have been cross-sectional, precluding causal inferences. We used contemporaneous and temporal cross-lagged network analysis to establish weak causal influences in understanding the associati...
Objective
Few individuals with eating disorders (EDs) receive treatment. Innovations are needed to identify individuals with EDs and address care barriers. We developed a chatbot for promoting services uptake that could be paired with online screening. However, it is not yet known which components drive effects. This study estimated individual and...
BACKGROUND: Theory and research indicated that executive functioning (EF) correlated with, preceded, and stemmed from worry in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The present secondary analysis (Zainal & Newman, 2023b) thus determined whether EF domains mediated the effect of a 14-day (5 prompts/day) mindfulness ecological momentary intervention (M...
Importance: Given the rising prevalence of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders among college students, optimizing population treatment outcomes for the college population is needed. Objective: To validate a machine learning model using baseline sociodemographic and clinical information to predict which college students would show long-term be...
Background
A better understanding of the relationships between insomnia and anxiety, mood, eating, and alcohol-use disorders is needed given its prevalence among young adults. Supervised machine learning provides the ability to evaluate which mental disorder is most associated with heightened insomnia among U.S. college students. Combined with Baye...
Positive reappraisal has been shown to be a generally effective emotion regulation strategy associated with multiple indices of greater psychological functioning. There are, however, some emotion-eliciting events, such as discrimination, that may not lend themselves to favorable alternative interpretations or which have relatively fewer affordances...
INTRODUCTION: The Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM) was developed to explain pathological worry in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The CAM posits that those with GAD are sensitive to sharp increases in emotions, and use worry to maintain heightened states of negative arousal to avoid these emotional shifts. Research has widely supported the CAM in...
Background
Constructs of common mental disorder (CMD) symptoms, including anxiety, depression, obsessions, compulsions, and worry, are observed in a wide range of psychiatric conditions. Reliable and valid measurements of these CMD symptoms are essential for building a generalizable science of psychopathology and ensuring valid comparisons of score...
According to biopsychosocial models, experiencing parental child abuse increases susceptibility to adulthood psychopathology. However, there is a paucity of studies examining potential mechanisms of the parental child abuse and adulthood psychopathology relationship. The purpose of the current study was to determine if Time 2 (T2) trait self-esteem...
BACKGROUND: Previous studies showed that comorbidity and demographic factors added to burden on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Only one study explored the relationship between HRQoL and comorbidity in college students with mental disorders, leaving generalizability of findings uncertain. Less is known about the association of demographics...
BACKGROUND: In theory, habitually exercising mindfulness skills can improve cognitive functioning abilities. However, no comprehensive quantitative reviews of the efficacy of MBIs on global and unique cognitive subdomains exist to date. METHOD: This meta-analysis examined the effects of MBIs on global cognition and 15 cognitive subdomains. Inclusio...
OBJECTIVE: Theories propose that judgment of and reactivity to inner experiences are mediators of the effect of mindfulness-based interventions on generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, no study has tested such theories using brief, mindfulness ecological momentary intervention (MEMI). We thus tested these theories using a 14-day MEMI vs. sel...
This study analyzed effects of savoring on unstudied positive mindset targets of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) treatment (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05040061). 85 students with GAD were randomly assigned to one of two ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) on smartphone for seven days. The SkillJoy EMI promoted practices for savoring positive e...
This Virtual Issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders honors the legacy of the late Dr. C. Barr Taylor in the eating disorders (EDs) field. For decades, Dr. Taylor led the way in not only conducting the research needed to achieve the ultimate goal of making affordable, accessible, evidence-based care for EDs available to all, but also...
Mental health disparities experienced by sexual and gender diverse (SGD) young adults are well documented. Yet, few studies have examined mental health disparities between SGD subgroups. Even fewer have investigated disparities that may exist for individuals whose SGD identities are nonmonosexual (i.e., diverse sexual orientations besides gay/lesbi...
Despite their proliferation, limited knowledge exists regarding possible benefits of brief Mindfulness Ecological Momentary Interventions (MEMIs) for social anxiety disorder (SAD). Propositions that MEMIs could alleviate SAD symptoms and related clinical outcomes remain untested. This trial evaluated a 14-day MEMI for SAD. Participants with self-re...
This study examined the relationship between the Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM; Newman & Llera, 2011) and impairment in the problem-solving process using an in-vivo laboratory-based problem-solving task. We also explored whether general emotional CA tendencies explained the relationship between trait worry and problem-solving outcomes. In this stud...
Precision medicine methods (machine learning; ML) can identify which clients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) benefit from mindfulness ecological momentary intervention (MEMI) vs. self-monitoring app (SM). We used randomized controlled trial data of MEMI vs. SM for GAD (N = 110) and tested three ML models to predict one-month follow-up relia...
OBJECTIVES: In a national sample of college students, this study aimed to evaluate whether barriers to mental health treatment varied by race and ethnicity.
METHODS: Data were drawn from a large multicampus study conducted across 26 US colleges and universities. The sample (n = 5841) included students who screened positive for at least one mental...
Background: A better understanding of the structure of relations among insomnia and anxiety, mood, eating, and alcohol-use disorders is needed, given its prevalence among young adults. Supervised machine learning provides the ability to evaluate the discriminative accuracy of psychiatric disorders associated with insomnia. Combined with Bayesian ne...
OBJECTIVES: The current assessor-blinded, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial (RCT) thus aimed to test these theories in social anxiety disorder (SAD).
METHODS: Participants with SAD (defined as having a pre-randomization cut-off score of ≥20 on the Social Phobia Inventory self-report) were randomized to a 14-day fully self-guided MEMI (n =...
Exposure to parental abuse and lack of parental affection during childhood are risk factors for adulthood psychopathology. Tendencies to engage in positive reappraisal may be a plausible mechanism underlying this relationship. The current study examined if positive reappraisal coping mediated the relationship between maternal/paternal abuse/affecti...
BACKGROUND: The utility of brief mindfulness ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) to improve empathy and theory-of-mind have been under-investigated, particularly in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
OBJECTIVES: The present randomized controlled trial (RCT) thus examined the efficacy of a 14-day fully self-guided mindfulness EMI on empathy...
The current paper introduces the special issue on the contrast avoidance model. The contrast avoidance model theorizes that chronic worriers are afraid of a sharp increase in negative emotion and/or sharp reduction in positive emotion (labeled negative emotional contrasts; NECs). They thus use perseverative thought as means to create and sustain ne...
In this special series, new research on the contrast avoidance model (CAM) was presented, including studies on the role of CAM in the maintenance of chronic worry, the incremental validity of CAM, CAM as a mediator of the association between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and other variables, CAM as transdiagnostic, and interpersonal behaviors...
BACKGROUND: Recent evidence suggests that multiple emotional disorders may be better assessed using dimensional models of psychopathology. The current study utilized a cross-sectional population survey of college students (N = 8,613 participants) to examine the extent to which broad psychopathology factors account for specific associations between...
Precision medicine methods (machine learning; ML) can identify which clients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) benefit from mindfulness ecological momentary intervention (MEMI) vs. self-monitoring app (SM). We used randomized controlled trial data of MEMI vs. SM for GAD (N = 110) and tested three ML models to predict one-month follow-up relia...
Visual stimuli influence our affective state and reactions, subsequently shaping our preferences. These interactions fall within the domain of affective computing research. Furthermore, affective state and emotions could be influenced by the demographic differences in affective and aesthetic reactions to visual stimuli. This study aims to examine t...
Accessible, low-cost intervention options are necessary to address the rise in mental health problems among college students. Digital guided self-help, or coached, programs have been developed to provide such services, with many commercially available. As such, there are a large and growing number of individuals coaching these programs. However, an...
BACKGROUND
The utility of brief mindfulness ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) to improve empathy and theory-of-mind has been underinvestigated, particularly in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
OBJECTIVE
In this randomized controlled trial, we aimed to examine the efficacy of a 14-day, fully self-guided, mindfulness EMI on the empathy an...
Research shows that increased pursuit of intrinsic goals and decreased pursuit of extrinsic goals are associated with elevated perceived communal behaviors. This preliminary study extends prior research by examining how day-to-day variations in intrinsic (i.e., community feelings) and extrinsic relational goals (i.e., self-image, conformity) link t...
BACKGROUND
Theories propose that brief, mobile, self-guided mindfulness ecological momentary interventions (MEMIs) could enhance emotion regulation (ER) and self-compassion. Such changes are posited to be mechanisms of change. However, rigorous tests of these theories have not been conducted.
OBJECTIVE
In this assessor-blinded, parallel-group rand...
The emergence of artificial emotional intelligence technology is revolutionizing the fields of computers and robotics, allowing for a new level of communication and understanding of human behavior that was once thought impossible. Whereas recent advancements in deep learning have transformed the field of computer vision, automated understanding of...
Objective
To examine the mental health problems that college students with eating disorders (EDs) and comorbid depression and/or anxiety disorders preferred to target first in a digital treatment program and explore correlates of preferred treatment focus.
Methods
Four hundred and eighty nine college student users of a digital cognitive‐behavioral...
The emergence of artificial emotional intelligence technology is revolutionizing the fields of computers and robotics, allowing for a new level of communication and understanding of human behavior that was once thought impossible. While recent advancements in deep learning have transformed the field of computer vision, automated understanding of ev...
Introduction:
Emerging technological interventions for psychological disorders are being developed continually. Offering imaginal exposure exercises as a self-help intervention presents the opportunity to acquire foundational skills to address social anxiety. The current study evaluates the feasibility and effectiveness of a novel smartphone appli...
Objective:
There is a strong association between sleep disturbance and negative affect. However, the day-to-day directional connections between sleep and negative affect remain unclear. We examined day-to-day relationships between sleep duration and negative affect in community adults.
Methods:
Participants were two subsamples of the Midlife in...
Background
Vulnerability theories propose that suboptimal levels of lipid markers and proinflammatory proteins predict future heightened depression. Scar models posit the reverse association. However, most studies that tested relationships between non-specific immune/endocrine markers and depression did not separate temporal inferences between peop...
OBJECTIVE: We studied current psychotherapy utilization rates among college students with mental health problems and identified characteristics associated with differential utilization. PARTICIPANTS: Nationwide online survey of students screening positive for at least one clinical mental health problem (N = 18,435). METHODS: Rates and correlates of...
Online surveys are routinely used in mental health screening and treatment follow-up assessment, though they can yield low response rates. We tested the effects of social psychology-informed influence strategies for increasing rates of participation in an online mental health screening survey (Experiment 1) and a treatment follow-up survey (Experim...
BACKGROUND: Mental health problems are increasing in prevalence among college students, yet few students receive treatment due to barriers such as insufficient resources in college counseling centers. Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) have potential to overcome barriers and offer accessible, evidence-based care to college students. Howeve...
Background:
There is substantial heterogeneity in how people react to potentially traumatic events (PTEs). Although some literature has explored this heterogeneity, there are only a few studies identifying factors associated with it within the disaster literature.
Objective:
The current investigation identified latent classes of post-traumatic s...
Background:
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) often precede and predict one another. Heightened stress reactivity may be a mediation mechanism underlying the long-term connections between GAD and MDD. However, cross-sectional studies on this topic have hindered directional inferences.
Method:
The present stud...
Given its interpersonal underpinnings, relational factors may be salient in psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Supporting this point, research has indicated a positive total alliance-improvement correlation in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for GAD. However, less research has disaggregated this correlation into within- and be...
Introduction:
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) co-occur at high rates, often preceding and predicting one another over long durations. Interpersonal theories propose that relationships with others may contribute to the longitudinal connections between MDD and GAD. Therefore, the current study examined the medi...
Background:
This study examined the incremental validity of the Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM) in predicting generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms when compared against well-established constructs in the GAD literature: intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and negative problem orientation (NPO).
Method:
In this study, 185 students (108 of whom...
Background: Biopsychosocial models posit that experiencing parental childhood abuse increases vulnerability to psychopathology in adulthood. There is a lack of studies investigating mediators of the parental childhood abuse-adulthood psychopathology relation. The current study investigated if trait self-acceptance mediated the parental childhood ab...
This study examined the relationship between the Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM; Newman & Llera, 2011) and impairment in the problem-solving process using an in-vivo laboratory-based problem-solving task. We also explored whether general emotional CA tendencies explained the relationship between trait worry and problem-solving outcomes. In this stud...
BACKGROUND: The Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM) suggests that although worry increases negative emotion, it also increases the probability of a subsequent decrease in negative emotions and increase in positive emotions (labeled positive emotional contrasts; PECs), in the face of benign or positive events. Such PECs reinforce maintenance of worry. Ho...
The contrast avoidance model (CAM) suggests that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are sensitive to a sharp increase in negative and/or decrease in positive affect. They thus worry to increase negative emotion to avoid negative emotional contrasts (NECs). However, no prior naturalistic study has examined reactivity to negative eve...
BACKGROUND: Little is known about whether brief mindfulness ecological momentary interventions (MEMI) yield clinically beneficial effects. This gap exists despite the rapid growth of smartphone mindfulness applications. Specifically, no prior brief MEMI has targeted generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Moreover, although theories propose that MEMI c...
Little is known about whether brief mindfulness ecological momentary interventions (MEMI) yield clinically beneficial effects for generalized anxiety disorder. Thus, this randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a 14-day smartphone MEMI (vs. self-monitoring placebo (SMP)). Sixty-eight MEMI participants exercised multiple core mindfulne...
Objective:
This study sought to determine if upregulating positive emotion both reduces symptoms and increases well-being for those with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Method:
Eighty-five participants were diagnosed with GAD by both questionnaire and clinical interview. They were then randomly assigned to one of two seven-day smartphone-del...
Interpersonal theory organizes social behavior along dominant (vs. submissive) and warm (vs. cold) dimensions. There is a growing interest in assessing these behaviors in naturalistic settings to maximize ecological validity and to study dynamic social processes. Studies that have assessed interpersonal behavior in daily life have primarily relied...
Introduction
This was a re-analysis of Zainal and Newman (2022) correcting for critiques by Sorjonen, Nilsonne, et al. (2022). As recommended by these authors, in this reanalysis we no longer adjust for baseline measures of the outcome variable in our examination of the longitudinal within-person relations between need for cognition (NFC) and anxie...
Background:
The contrast avoidance model (CAM) proposes that persons with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are sensitive to sharp increases in negative emotion or decreases in positive emotion (i.e., negative emotional contrasts; NEC) and use worry to avoid NEC. Sensitivity to and avoidance of NEC could also be a shared feature of major depressi...
Background
Little is known about whether brief mindfulness ecological momentary interventions (MEMIs) yield clinically beneficial effects. This gap exists despite the rapid growth of smartphone mindfulness applications. Specifically, no prior brief MEMI has targeted generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Moreover, although theories propose that MEMIs...
Background:
Biopsychosocial models posit that experiencing parental childhood abuse increases vulnerability to psychopathology in adulthood. There are a lack of studies investigating mediators of the parental childhood abuse-adulthood psychopathology relation. The current study investigated if trait self-acceptance mediated the parental childhood...
This secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) examined whether contrast avoidance (CA) in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) could be reduced through savoring—purposeful engagement with positive emotions. 85 participants were diagnosed with GAD by both clinical interview and questionnaire. They were then randomly assigned to one of...
Background: The contrast avoidance model (CAM) proposes that persons with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are sensitive to sharp increases in negative emotion or decreases in positive emotion (i.e., negative emotional contrasts; NECs) and use worry to avoid NECs. Sensitivity to and avoidance of NECs could also be a shared feature of major depres...
This secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) examined whether contrast avoidance (CA) in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) could be reduced through savoring-purposeful engagement with positive emotions. 85 participants were diagnosed with GAD by both questionnaire and clinical interview. They were then randomly assigned to one of...
NTRODUCTION: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) co-occur at high rates, often preceding and predicting one another over long durations. Interpersonal theories propose that relationships with others may contribute to the longitudinal connections between MDD and GAD. Therefore, the current study examined the mediat...
Purpose of Review
We synthesize theories proposing complex relations between cognitive functioning and anxiety-related concepts. We evaluate vulnerability theories suggesting that deficits in various cognitive functioning domains predict future anxiety-associated concepts. We examine scar theories asserting the opposite direction of effects (i.e.,...
Background:
The Contrast Avoidance Model (Newman & Llera, 2011) proposes that worry is reinforced by avoiding a negative contrast and increasing the likelihood of a positive contrast.
Objective:
To determine if reinforcement of worry occurs naturalistically via contrasts in both negative and positive emotion.
Method:
Using event-contingent mom...
Introduction
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is common and disabling. Different versions of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have been tested, but no treatment works for everyone. Therefore, researchers have attempted approaches to enhance CBT.
Areas covered
The current narrative review examines meta-analyses and individual trials of CBT-base...
Purpose:
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for mental healthcare that can be delivered remotely and at scale to college students. This study evaluated the efficacy of online self-help for stress among students during the pandemic.
Method:
College students with moderate or higher stress (N = 585) were recruited between November 2020 a...
Interpersonal theory organizes social behavior along dominant (vs. submissive) and warm (vs. cold) dimensions. There is a growing interest in assessing these behaviors in naturalistic settings to maximize ecological validity and to study dynamic social processes. Studies that have assessed interpersonal behavior in daily life have primarily relied...
Background:
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) reliably precede and predict one another. However, there is insufficient data on mediators through which the longitudinal GAD-MDD association unfold. Based on insomnia theories, such as the hyperarousal model of sleep, we tested the degree to which poor global sleep...
According to dynamic systems theory, initial symptom instability is necessary for long-term stable change to occur from psychotherapy. Such instability may be assessed using sudden gains (SGs), sudden losses (SLs), and reversals. The present study examined these symptom change patterns and their association with treatment outcome using intensive di...
Introduction: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) co-occur at high rates, often preceding and predicting one another over long durations. Interpersonal theories propose that relationships with others may mediate the longitudinal MDD–GAD pathway. Therefore, the current study examined the mediational effect of posit...
Vulnerability models posit that executive functioning (EF) problems centrally impact future common (vs. rare) psychopathology symptoms. Conversely, scar theory postulates that depression/anxiety (vs. other psychopathology) symptoms centrally influence reduced EF. However, most studies so far have been cross-sectional. We used cross-lagged panel net...
Background
Within-person growth in life satisfaction (LS) can protect against declines in cognitive functioning, and, conversely, over time. However, most studies have been cross-sectional, thereby precluding causal inferences. Thus, we used bivariate dual latent change score modeling to test within-person change-to-future change relations between...
Objective
The need for clinical services in U.S. colleges exceeds the supply. Digital Mental health Interventions (DMHIs) are a potential solution, but successful implementation depends on stakeholder acceptance. This study investigated the relevance of DMHIs from students' perspectives.
Methods
In 2020–2021, an online cross-sectional survey using...
Background
Scar theory proposes that heightened depression and anxiety precede and predict worse cognitive functioning outcomes, whereas the vulnerability theory posits the opposite pathway. However, most investigations on this topic have been cross-sectional, precluding causal inferences. Thus, we used cross-lagged prospective network analyses to...
According to the Contrast Avoidance model (CAM), worry causes increased and sustained negative affect and such negative affect enables avoidance of a future sharp increase in negative emotion. However, only pathological worriers (vs. controls) view worry as a positive coping strategy to avoid a negative emotional contrast (NEC). We examined if rumi...