How Affective Science Can Inform Clinical Science: An Introduction to the Special Series on Emotions

The construct of emotion dysregulation has been used to describe and explain diverse psychopathologies. Although this is intuitively appealing and sensible, the application of emotion reactivity and regulation to the study of psychopathology has, to a large extent, proceeded independently from concepts and measures informed by affective science. Utilizing the innovative research approaches, measures, paradigms, and insights that have emerged in the burgeoning field of affective science holds substantial promise for emotion dysregulation theories of psychopathology. In this introduction to the special series on emotions and psychopathology, we review many of these advances, and highlight several broad methodological and conceptual issues that researchers seeking to continue this crosscutting work should bear in mind. We close with a brief review of the six articles that constitute the special series, noting how each exemplifies the pioneering methodological and substantive advances that are typical of the best work in this new interdisciplinary field.