INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL THREAT ON REWARD FUNCTION IN AT-RISK ADOLESCENT GIRLS

2018

Depression and social anxiety disorders are co-occurring serious mental illnesses that typically emerge during adolescence, especially in girls, and pose tremendous cost to society in both human suffering and financial burden across the lifespan. Existing treatments for these disorders primarily target neural circuits and behaviors involved in responding to negative emotions, but as many as half of youth don't respond fully to these treatments, thus alternative intervention targets grounded in developmental neuroscience are needed. We identify developmental alterations in the RDoC Positive Valence System that are proposed to occur during adolescence among youth who are sensitive to negative social evaluation as a way to inform the development of personalized and developmentally-tuned interventions for social anxiety and depression that target reward- related neural function, attention, and behavior.

Performing Research or Evaluation

Health-Related Activities

Professionals and Para-Professionals, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN

Disadvantaged Circumstances

Regional

Federal

N/A