A Psychophysiological Approach Towards Understanding Emotions

Abstract

Physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other medical professionals need to understand patients’ psychological issues, such as anxiety and depression, in order to most effectively care for their patients. Particularly, those involved in the treatment of certain psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and mood disorders, in which the chief symptoms are abnormal emotional states, should understand the psychological and behavioral issues related to the patient’s state of maladjustment. In addition, an understanding of brain dysfunction and other physiological mechanisms, which cause these psychological maladies, is important for appropriately assessing the patient’s emotional well-being in order to regulate the patient’s emotional state and implement the most effective treatment strategy. This chapter introduces the concept of Psychophysiology, a research approach that strives to understand human emotion, cognition, and other psychological and behavioral phenomena from a physiological perspective. The advent of functional neuroimaging technologies beginning with positron emission tomography (PET) in the 1980s and the subsequent development of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the 1990s brought new methods to this field of psychological research. When coupled with advancements in neuroscience, the psychophysiological approach exhibits even greater potential. This book strives to further the understanding of the mechanisms underlying emotion and presents potential strategies for the development of better methods to regulate emotion. In doing so, this chapter will discuss how the psychophysiological approach is valuable for elucidating the pathology of mental disorders, therapeutic mechanisms, and other key concepts in psychiatry. This discussion will further emphasize the important association of psychophysiology with neuroscientific approaches.