Neuromodulation to Enhance Attention Training in Socially Anxious Adolescents

Authors

Daniella Vaclavik, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Psychology

First Advisor's Name

Jeremy Pettit

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

George Buzzell

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Mathew Sutherland

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Miguel Angel Cano

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

anxiety disorders, social anxiety, children and adolescents, cognitive behavior therapy, acculturation, Latino, attention bias modification (ABM), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), event related potential (ERP)

Date of Defense

6-16-2022

Abstract

Anxiety and its disorders are prevalent and impairing in adolescents, often following a chronic course, and are associated with heightened prospective risk of depressive disorders, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors. Traditional interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have yielded response rates that highlight the critical need to examine treatment outcome moderators in underrepresented populations (i.e., Latino youth), as well as identify and evaluate innovative and alternative interventions that are brief, efficacious, and grounded in neuroscience. In a series of three manuscripts, this dissertation project presents findings on moderators of CBT outcomes in Latino youth (Chapter II) and explores novel and alternative treatments for social anxiety by targeting neural processes subserving attention to social threat in socially anxious youth (Chapters III and IV). Findings from Chapter II highlight the implications for selecting treatment targets and delivery format in the treatment of anxiety disorders in Latino youth, and the need to identify optimal ways to involve less acculturated Latino parents when receiving parent-involved CBT to maximize treatment outcomes. Findings from Chapter III support the feasibility and acceptability of attention bias modification (ABM) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as novel treatment modalities. Lastly, while findings from Chapter IV did not provide evidence of an enhancement effect of tDCS on state anxiety levels or neural processes subserving attention to social threat, it provides further support for the feasibility of using tDCS as an augment to ABM in older adolescents with elevated social anxiety. It also suggests that later stage attentional processes involved in the regulation and control of attention might be malleable in response to ABM and/or tDCS. The collection of manuscripts presented in this portfolio provide insights into the treatment of youth anxiety, for both traditional approaches (i.e., CBT) and innovative and alternative approaches (i.e., ABM and tDCS). It further highlights the importance of advancing understanding of mechanisms of change in both traditional and novel treatments for youth anxiety.

Identifier

FIDC010732

ORCID

0000-0002-6127-6487

Previously Published In

Vaclavik, D., Buitron, V., Rey, Y., Marin, C., Silverman, W.K., & Pettit, J.W. (2017). Parental acculturation level moderates outcome in peer-involved and parent-involved CBT for anxiety disorders in Latino youth. Journal of Latina/o Psychology, 5(4), 261- 274. doi: 10.1037/lat0000095

Vaclavik, D., Bechor, M., Foster, A., Gralnik, L. M., Bar-Haim, Y., Pine, D. S., Bikson, M., Silverman, W. K., Reeb-Sutherland, B.C., & Pettit, J. W. (2020). Case series of transcranial direct current stimulation as an augmentation strategy for attention bias modification training in adolescents with anxiety disorders. Clinical Psychology and Special Education, 9(3), 105-126.

Recommended Citation

Vaclavik, Daniella, "Neuromodulation to Enhance Attention Training in Socially Anxious Adolescents" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5065.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5065