Mood Disorders Laboratory

The mission of the Mood Disorders Laboratory is to improve understanding and treatment of mood disorders, particularly unipolar depression. Our translational research examines the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of depression using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches. We are very interested in using experimental psychopathology methods to understand the etiology and maintenance of depression and translating these same methods into effective interventions. We are also particularly interested in using data science methods to refine our treatments and understand who is most likely to benefit from them. Projects utilize behavioral, eye tracking, and cognitive neuroscience methods to measure negative cognitive biases and ecological momentary assessments to measure affect and behavior in its natural environment. We also conduct clinical trials designed to examine novel cognitive bias manipulations and more traditional forms of treatment. The laboratory was established by Christopher Beevers at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. It is located within the Institute for Mental Health Research within the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.