Cassandra Vieten, Ph.D.
Email: VietenC@cpmcri.org
Introduction
I am a clinical psychologist and researcher specializing in the areas of addictions, emotion regulation, and mind-body approaches to physical and psychological well-being. My recent research has focused on developing of a measure of impairments in the ability to regulate negative emotions, and identifying which of those impairments is related to development of and recovery from alcoholism and other addictions. Preliminary results suggest that alcoholics have difficulty tolerating negative affect, tend to somaticize their negative emotion, and show impairments in cognitive processing of emotion when compared to non-alcoholics. Similarly, empirical evidence that acquisition of affect regulation skills is involved in successful cessation of addictive behaviors is accumulating. Our studies show that recovering alcoholics continue to show deficiencies in affect tolerance and cognitive processing of emotion, but over time the ability to improvement or acquisition of these capacities differentiates those who are able to recover from those who relapse. Based on this research, my current focus, along with my colleague John Astin, is on developing and testing complementary mindfulness-based approaches that address the impairments in affect regulation that my and others' research have identified as key factors in relapse.
Our group is also studying whether participating in mindfulness training during pregnancy can reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance mother-infant attachment both during pregnancy and postpartum. Stress and negative mood during pregnancy and postpartum has been associated with a wide variety of adverse outcomes including preterm birth, low birth weight, childbirth complications, and increased risk for postpartum mood disorder. Maternal stress, depression, and anxiety also may interfere with healthy fetal and child development, and secure mom-baby attachment. Training in mindfulness has shown promise for reducing stress, improving mood, and even enhancing immunity and brain activity associated with a positive outlook on life. Our pilot studies have shown that pregnant women attending the training had reduced stress and negative mood in comparison to women who did not attend the training.
In addition, I collaborate with other researchers at CPMCRI who are studying effects of complementary interventions and mind-body factors in health and healing from behavioral and medical disorders. I have a strong interest in how body, mind, and spirit interact to impact physiological and psychological wellbeing.
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Publications
Carmody, T, Vieten, C, and Astin, J. Negative Affect, Emotional Acceptance, and Smoking Cessation. J. of Psychoactive Drugs Vol39(4)
Vieten C, and Astin J. Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention during pregnancy on prenatal stress and mood: results of a pilot study. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2008 Feb;11(1):67-74. Epub 2008 Mar 3.
Carmody TP, Vieten C, Astin JA. Negative affect, emotional acceptance, and smoking cessation. J Psychoactive Drugs. 2007 Dec;39(4):499-508.
Vieten, C; Amorok, T; Schlitz, M (2006). I to we: The role of consciousness transformation in compassion and altruism. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 41:4, 917-933.
Vieten, C, Seaton KL, Feiler HS, Wilhelmsen KC. The University of California, San Francisco Family Alcoholism Study. I. Design,methods, and demographics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2004 Oct;28(10):1509-16.
Seaton KL, Cornell JL, Wilhelmsen KC, Vieten, CEffective strategies for recruiting families ascertained through alcoholic probands. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2004 Jan;28(1):78-84.
Vieten C, Wilhelmsen K. (2004). The UCSF Family Alcoholism Study: I. Design, methods, and demographics. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 28:10, 1509-1516.
Vieten C, (2004). The role of transformation and spirit on human brain activity and immunity. San Francisco Medicine: Journal of the San Francisco Medical Society 77:7, 28-31
O'Connor L, Esherick M, Vieten C. (2001). Drug and alcohol abusing women. In Straussner SLA & Brown, S (Eds.), The handbook of addiction treatment for women: theory and practice. Josey Bass: New York.
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