Exciting new paper by Gal Lazarus and Eshkol exploring schema modes

We're excited to share a preprint of a recently-accepted paper, co-authored by our former student (and honorary lifetime lab member) Gal Lazarus, and slated to be published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology in a special issue devoted to transdiagnostic models.

Here is the preprint: https://psyarxiv.com/9yqr6

In it, we discuss the utility of the concept of modes, defined as state-like manifestations of personality that function as cohesive organizational units. We describe modes as experientially distinct states, each one marked by a specific and distinct profile of affects, behaviors, cognitions, and desires that tend to be co-activated for limited periods of time. Sounds familiar?

Digging into philosophical, developmental, social, personality, and clinical literatures, we show that modes have a long and storied history, are relevant across many forms of psychopathology, and can be thought of both within and outside of schema therapy.

In the paper itself and in a lengthy online supplement, we tie together modes with both traditional and modern conceptualizations of dissociation and then provide examples of how a mode-based approach is explicitly or implicitly central to several classes of psychopathology.

The main innovation of the paper is a research blueprint for studying modes empirically, an effort that has lagged behind their rich theoretical background and clinical use. We argue that recent innovations in the analysis of intensive longitudinal data, including time-varying modeling (Laura Bringmann) and within-person finite mixture modeling (Aaron Fisher) can help in closing this gap.

We conclude by noting that the time seems ripe for modes to be (re-)introduced as an organizing construct for understanding psychopathology and personality.

The paper benefited immensely from ideas from several colleagues, and from the careful and thoughtful reviews of Kristian Markon (U. of Iowa) who served as the guest editor at JAP) as well as Chris Hopwood (UC Davis) and Aidan Wright (U. of Pittsburgh) whose reviewed helped us reshape the paper.