Graduate Student, Psychology
Thesis Title: Biobehavioral Mechanisms Underlying Emotionality in Antisocial Personality Disorder: The Role of Psychopathic Traits
Jack J. Blanchard, Ph.D.
Carl W. Lejuez, Ph.D.
About
Broadly, my current research interests lie in substance use disorders and co-occurring psychopathology. More specifically, I am interested in mechanisms underlying dual diagnosis and substance use treatment outcomes. I am particularly interested in how these mechanisms work in severely mentally ill, under-served, and court-referred populations.
My Master’s thesis research examined biobehavioral mechanisms underlying emotionality in Antisocial Personality Disorder and the role of psychopathic traits among inner-city treatment-seeking substance users.
For my dissertation, I will investigate processes involved in substance use treatment engagement and outcome in individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI), with a particular focus on schizophrenia. To this end, I will use psycholinguistic coding based on the framework provided by Motivational Interviewing (MI) research to code client language when discussing reducing/stopping substance use. Language components, such as change language, during MI has been predictive of treatment outcome in previous research. However, given the motivational deficits seen in those with schizophrenia, it is not clear whether language indicators of motivation will have the same predictive power in this sample. Therefore, this research will serve as a foundational exploratory study which seeks to characterize change language in patients with SPMI and substance use disorders and to examine the extent to which change talk can be measured reliably in this sample. Furthermore, I will examine symptom correlates of change language. This research will be useful in future studies examining the predictive utility of change language in this population. Such studies will be informative for clinicians working with substance use problems among individuals with SPMI.
Throughout my research career, I would like to continue work examining processes underlying dual diagnosis and substance use treatment outcomes, as such work can inform treatment development. In the long term, I would like to conduct research that directly impacts public policy on substance use treatment.
Contact Information
http://www.addiction.umd.edu/pastcaper/sargeant.htm
University of Maryland
Laboratory of Emotion and Psychopathology Research
Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, MD 20742
