Colloquium Recording

Title: The Etiology and Treatment of Mood Pathology in Adolescents and Young Adults – Two Multimodal Investigations

Presenter: Amelia Moser & Rosi Kaiser, Institute of Cognitive Science and Psychology & Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder

Abstract: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric illness, with onset typically occurring in adolescence or young adulthood. Various neural, cognitive, and environmental risk factors for mood pathology have been identified, but it is still little understood how these may ultimately interact to produce symptoms. Additionally, existing treatments are too often ineffective or inaccessible for those experiencing depression. This talk will present on preliminary findings from two multimodal mood disorder studies seeking to address these gaps: the first investigates how neurocognitive factors interact with day-to-day stress and may contribute to the development of mood symptoms in adolescents. The second examines neural circuitry and symptom changes associated with a possible novel and scalable therapeutic (cannabidiol) in a sample of depressed young adults.

Bio: Amelia Moser, M.A. is a fifth-year doctoral student pursuing a dual PhD in Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder. She is advised by Dr. Rosi Kaiser in the Research on Affective Disorders and Development Lab, and her program of research broadly focuses on (1) the development of mood pathology in adolescence and emerging adulthood, (2) neurocognitive mediators and moderators of treatment response in depression, and (3) methodological rigor in clinical neuroscience.