Targeting Fear and Avoidance of Exercise in Cardiac Rehabilitation - SOBC

In this video, created and posted on the Science of Behavior Change's (SOBC) YouTube channel, Dr. Samantha Farris, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Director of The Rutgers Emotion, Health and Behavior (REHAB) Laboratory, discusses fear and exercise in the context of cardiac rehabilitation.

Dr. Farris completed fellowships in cancer prevention at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and in cardiovascular behavioral medicine at The Miriam Hospital/Alpert Medical School at Brown University. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has received continuous funding for her research from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Farris’ research focuses on understanding how and why stress and anxiety (i.e., worry, fear, panic) commonly co-occur with and contribute to problematic health behaviors and chronic disease. She utilizes an experimental medicine approach to (a) identify cognitive-affective mechanisms that contribute to health behaviors and physical disease, (b) isolate how these mechanisms influence health behaviors “in real time” through use of laboratory methodologies, and in turn (c) develop tailored interventions that target these mechanisms to promote health behavior change and prevent the onset or progression of chronic disease. Dr. Farris is also a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island, and specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of anxiety and related disorders.

Visit here to learn more about SOBC: https://scienceofbehaviorchange.org/