cahern

Username: cahern

Participant details

	Network Member	Claire Ahern
	Organisation/Institution	Swinburne University of Technology
	Department/Centre	Life and social sciences
	Lab	SwinPsyCHE Research
	Website	http://www2.swinburne.edu.au/lss/swinpsyche/index.html
	Research area	Clinical Psychology
	Research keywords	Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Self-concept, cognitions, Obsessive beliefs,

Research Interests

My main research interest is to explore how self-perceptions influence attentional biases and may lead one vulnerable to developing a psychiatric disorder. I am particularly fascinated in the way that implicit (more automatic, less available to conscious control) and explicit (consciously accessed and greater ability to alter) self-perceptions have different effects on cognitive processing, automatic behaviour and emotion regulation. I am intrigued by how these facets may be related to specific disorders and how they can be a focus point for improved treatment effectiveness. My current doctoral research explores these processes within Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and examines how moral self-perceptions (a sense of self-worth based on the ability to be a moral person) are linked to the cognitive phenomena that underlie OCD.