Dr. Doug Mennin is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Teachers College. Dr. Mennin has developed an active program of research in clinical trials and basic research into the nature of chronic and recurring bouts of anxiety and mood disorders, particularly worry, stress, and depression. He has examined these problems from a perspective that highlights the importance of one's ability to efficiently process emotional situations when they arise as well as manage resultant moods in effective rather than maladaptive ways. He has conducted numerous studies of the basic psychological and physiological mechanisms of generalized anxiety and depression and has recently been examining the role of worry and rumination in maintaining and exacerbating gastric dysfunction and chronic inflammation. He also regularly conducts psychotherapy outcome and mechanism research. Specifically, he has developed Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT), which is an integrative mind-body psychotherapy that draws from contemporary approaches as well as affect science and neuroscience. Dr. Mennin's work on ERT has demonstrated considerable positive outcomes and identified a number of cognitive, physiological, and neural mechanisms that may help explain how the therapy is effective. Along with colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and in Denmark, he has also recently adapted this approach to treat distressed caregivers of patients with cancer.

Dr. Mennin began his career with a strong interest in understanding how people can be trained to improve their momentary response to difficult emotional moments and circumstances. The ability to regulate emotions is vital to our everyday lives, our relationships, our workplace, and how we interact. Emotional response is a primary factor when someone takes a substance, commits a violent act, receives a troubling diagnosis, or chooses how to relate to others who are different. Dr. Mennin has been particularly interested in advancing our ability to respond to difficult circumstances in a brief and cost-effective way, with honed behavioral interventions that change the brain in ways we would expect from normative studies on cognition and emotion. His current research looks at these brief interventions to demonstrate how the brain and body change and how these changes account for people's improvement. He has also begun to look at how mobile health-based interventions can help people get better at catching themselves when they first get "plugged in," so they can implement effective strategies sooner and more effectively.