Summary: Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders and result in considerable impairment across many areas of functioning. Dr. Bruce N. Cuthbert will present a perspective on studying emotions, particularly anxiety, empirically. This view will be exemplified by recent findings comparing emotional responses in patients with differing primary diagnoses of anxiety. Patients with greater levels of chronicity consistently show diminished fear. This apparently counter-intuitive finding will be discussed in the context of the new NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project. Bruce N. Cuthbert, PhD is the director of The National Institute of Mental Healths Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) unit. This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on April 7, 2011.
