This study has concluded. We used voice data (vocal pitch) to measure emotional arousal during interviews conducted with suicidal adolescents participating in a psychotherapy trial comparing Attachment Based Family Therapy (ABFT) to an individual non-directive control therapy. According to the emotional processing theory, more emotional arousal (as indicated by higher and more varied vocal pitch) during a pre-treatment interview would correspond with a greater readiness to approach and connect with upsetting memories. We hypothesized that higher emotional arousal prior to treatment would negatively correlate with pre-treatment levels of suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms and predict better treatment response (i.e., greater reduction in symptoms from pre- to post- therapy). We also hypothesized that adolescents would experience changes in emotional arousal over the course of therapy, but that these changes would depend on the treatment condition (i.e., changes in emotional arousal would be greater for adolescents participating in the family therapy compared to those in the individual therapy condition). Finally, we hypothesized that greater treatment-related changes in emotional arousal would correspond with greater improvements in symptoms.

Related Publications

Herres, J. (In Preparation). Emotional Arousal via Vocal Pitch as indicator of Treatment Readiness for Adolescent Suicidality.

Herres, J., James, K., Bounoua, N., Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S., Kobak, R., & Diamond, G. S. (2021). Anxiety-related difficulties in goal-directed behavior predict worse treatment outcome among adolescents treated for suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms. Psychotherapy.

Abbott, C. H., Zisk, A., Herres, J., Diamond, G. S., Krauthamer-Ewing, S., & Kobak, R. (in press). Exploring the Relations Between Interpersonal Risk and Adolescent Suicidality During Treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Chang, C., Ohannessian, C., Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S., Kobak, R., Diamond, G. S., & Herres, J. (2020). Attachment and parent-adolescent discrepancies in reports of family functioning among suicidal adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29, 227-236.

Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S., Herres, J., Dilks, K., Rahim, F., & Trentacosta, C. (2019). Understanding of emotions and empathy: Predictors of positive parenting with preschoolers in economically stressed families. Journal of Child and Family Studies.

Herres, J., Shearer, A., Kodish, T., Kim, B., Wang, S. B., & Diamond, G. S. (2019). Differences in suicide risk severity among suicidal youth with anxiety disorders. Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention.

Bounoua, N., Abbott, C., Zisk, A., Herres, J., Diamond, G., & Kobak, R. (2018). Emotion regulation and spillover of interpersonal stressors to postsession insight among depressed and suicidal adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(7), 593-603.

Diamond, G. S., Kobak, R. R., Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S., Levy, S. A., Herres, J. L., Russon, J. M., & Gallop, R. J. (2018). A Randomized-Controlled Trial: Attachment-Based Family and Nondirective Supportive Treatments for Suicidal Youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Herres, J., Caporino, N. E., Cummings, C. M., & Kendall, P. C. (2018). Emotional Reactivity to Daily Events in Youth with Anxiety Disorders. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 31(4), 387-401.