Close and plentiful social relationships are an important source of support and meaning in life; their absence is often felt acutely. Tragically, it is common for symptoms of mental disorders to be associated with shrinking social networks and limited intimacy in relationships, when such relationships might protect against mental health difficulties.Â
The Transdiagnostic Interpersonal Processes Lab (TIPL) focuses on this problem from a transdiagnostic perspective, which recognizes that many mental disorders overlap in consequential ways and it is necessary to understand the common factors that cut-across diagnoses. A further assumption of TIPL is that many if not most important aspects of mental disorders manifest within interpersonal contexts, such that symptoms may lead to negative relationship outcomes or, conversely, that social challenges contribute to symptom development. Implicit in such statements is the idea that the interpersonal context is dynamic, that one's thoughts about and behavior within interpersonal situations may change. Thus TIPL takes a process-oriented approach that considers how thoughts, behaviors, and feelings evolve over multiple timescales to alter social outcomes. For details on how TIPL pursues these aims, see the papers and projects pages on this website.