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Research Interests
I am interested in how anxiety disorders develop and why they persist. I have been especially curious about what happens when people with anxiety problems try to suppress unwanted thoughts. How do attempts to control thoughts actually affect their frequency? What happens when control efforts fail? This research has particular implications for understanding why obsessions develop and persist.
More recently, I have become interested in why compulsions persist. My students and I are looking at the impact of repeated actions on doubt and certainty about whether an action has been performed correctly.
I am also interested in changes in attentional focus that happen when people become anxious. My students and I are looking at whether people overly-attend to threat-relevant stimuli when they are anxious, and/or whether they have trouble disengaging their attention from threat. We are also interested in differences in attentional biases between people with and without anxiety problems. This work is done in close collaboration with Dr. Dan Smilek who is a leading expert on attention.
Christine Purdon Interests and Publications
Anxiety Studies Division of the Centre for Mental Health Research
The Centre for Mental Health Research is a clinic housed in the PAS
building, providng psychological services to children, adolescents and
adults on
campus and in the community. It also serves as the primary venue
for clinical training for students in UW's PhD program
in clinical psychology. An essential mandate of the CMHR is to conduct
research on the
development, persistence and treatment of mental health problems
through the Centre. The Anxiety Studies Division (ASD) of the CMHR
consists of
faculty and graduate students who have an especial interest in
anxiety disorders. The primary function of the ASD is to maintain and
develop a pool of vauled members with and without anxiety problems who
are willing to
volunteer for research on anxiety.
Teaching Interests
I teach courses in clinical psychology. At the undergraduate level, I
currently teach a course in Clinical Intervention, and in the
past I have taught an Honours Seminar in Anxiety Disorders and courses
in Abnormal Psychology and Personality. At the graduate level, I teach
a skills course
in cognitive-behaviour therapy. I am a scientist-practitioner; my
research informs my clinical practice and clinical practice informs my
research. This orientation influences my teaching in that I expect
students in my class to approach problems in clinical psychology within
the context of empirically validated theories, which themselves are
informed by clinical experience. I also expect my students to be
intelligent consumers of psychological research, taking a critical
approach to existing research and using strong empirical work to
support their position. I am also the Executive Director of the Centre
for Mental Health Research. In that capacity, I oversee the daily
operation of the CMHR and am closely involved in strategic planning.
Our goal is to fully integrate research training with clinical
practice.
All clinical faculty also supervise the psychological services that are
provided in the CMHR. I thus supervise 2-3 PhD students who are
treating adults with mood and anxiety problems.
Clinical Interests
I am Registered Psychologist with the College of Psychologists of
Ontario.
Publications
Books
- Purdon, C., & Clark, D. A. (2005). Overcoming obsessional thoughts. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
- Antony, M. M., Purdon, C., & Summerfeldt, L. J.
(2006). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder: Beyond the Basics. American Psychological Association Press.
- Purdon, C. (2009). Psychological approaches to
understanding obsessive-compulsive
disorder. In M. Stein and M. M. Antony (Eds.), Handbook of Anxiety and
the Anxiety Disorders (pp. 238-249). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Purdon, C. (2008). Unacceptable obsessions and covert
compulsions. In S. Taylor, J. Abramowitz and D. McKay (Eds.),
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Subtypes and Spectrum Conditions (pp.
61-75). Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Purdon, C., & Harrington, J. (2006). Worry in psychological disorders. Invited chapter
for G. C. L. Davey and A. Wells (Eds), Worry and Psychological Disorders: Theory, Assessment and Treatment UK: Wiley.
Selected Publications
- Purdon,
C., Gifford, S., McCabe, R., & Antony, M. M. (2011). Thought
dismissability in obsessive-compulsive disorder versus panic disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 1-8.
- Watson, C., Burley, M., & Purdon, C. (2010). Verbal repetition in the reappraisal of
contamination-related thoughts. Behavioural
and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38, 337-353.
- Clark, D. A., & Purdon, C.
(2009). Mental control of unwanted intrusive thoughts: A phenomenological study
of nonclinical individuals. International
Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 2, 267-281.
- Markowitz, L. J., & Purdon, C. (2008). Predictors and consequences of suppressing
obsessions. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 36, 179-192.
- Purdon, C., Cripps, E., Faull, M., Joseph, S., & Rowa, K. (2007). Development of a measure of
ego-dystonicity. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 21, 198-216.
- Purdon, C., Rowa, K., & Antony, M. M. (2007). Diary records of thought suppression by
individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 35, 47-59.
- Rowa, K., Purdon, C., Summerfeldt, L., & Antony, M. M. (2005). Why are some obsessions
more upsetting than others? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 1453-1465.
- Purdon, C., Rowa, K., & Antony, M. M. (2005). Thought
suppression and its effects on thought frequency, appraisal and mood
state in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour
Research and Therapy, 43, 93-108.
- Purdon, C. (2004). Empirical
investigations of thought suppression in OCD. Behaviour Therapy and
Experimental Psychiatry, 35, 121-136.
Professional Memberships
College of Psychologists of Ontario, Registered Psychologist
Certified Member, Academy of Cognitive Therapy
Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapy
- Anxiety Disorders Special Interest Group
British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies
Canadian Psychological Association
Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation
Recent Awards/Honours
- University of Waterloo Outstanding Performance award (2006, 2009)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Am I taking a student next year?
- yes, I plan to take at least one student in the Fall of 2012
- What do I look for in a student?
- I am looking for a student who has intellectual curiosity and
a
passion for research and discovery, as well as a willingness to accept
intellectual
challenges. I am also looking for students who share my interest in
understanding the persistence of unwanted thoughts and in attentional
factors in the
development and persistence of anxiety in adults
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