Research Focus: Dr. Gupta is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology. Her research examines how emotional processes develop and become disrupted in adolescents at risk for severe mental illnesses (SMI), including schizophrenia. Her research focuses on risk, resilience, and symptom emergence within the broader context of adolescent development--a period marked by rapid change, identity formation, complex social relationships, and novelty. Dr. Gupta's research seeks to address her research questions within this developmental context, with a strong commitment to emphasizing the practical, real-world implications of her findings.
Research Goals and Methods: Dr. Gupta aims to identify risk markers for SMI that can inform early identification, prevention efforts, and intervention development. Her work also seeks to understand protective factors that promote resilience among adolescents at risk for SMI. Additionally, she investigates how early life experiences and structural influences shape emotional functioning during adolescence. Dr. Gupta uses a multi-method, multi-level research approach that integrates clinical interviews, behavioral tasks, facial expression analysis and coding tools, neuroimaging, eye-tracking, and advanced computational modeling and statistics.
Key Research Areas:
- Mechanisms of risk: Disruptions in emotional processes (e.g., internal experiences, facial expressions), reward-system function, and negative symptoms such as anhedonia in adolescents at risk for SMI.
- Protective factors and resilience: Identifying what helps some adolescents maintain healthy functioning and avoid progression toward SMI.
- Prevention and intervention development: Identifying effective early prevention approaches and interventions aimed at slowing or preventing the emergence of SMI in youth.
Dr. Gupta is interested in accepting a doctoral student for Fall 2026.
Selected Publications (see full listing at Google Scholar):
Gupta, T., Seah, T.H.S., Eckstrand, K.L., Rengasamy, M., Horter, C., Silk, J.S., Jones, N.P., Ryan, N.D., Phillips, M.L., Haas, G.L., Nance, M., Lindenmuth, M., Forbes, E.E (2024). Two-year trajectories of anhedonia in adolescents at transdiagnostic risk for severe mental illness: Association with clinical symptoms and brain-symptom links. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 133(8), 618.
Gupta, T., Eckstrand, K. L., Lenniger, C. J., Haas, G. L., Silk, J. S., Ryan, N. D., ... & Forbes, E. E. (2024). Anhedonia in adolescents at transdiagnostic familial risk for severe mental illness: Clustering by symptoms and mechanisms of association with behavior. Journal of Affective Disorders, 347, 249-261.
Gupta, T., Eckstrand, K. L., & Forbes, E. E. (2024). Annual Research Review: Puberty and the development of anhedonia–considering childhood adversity and inflammation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 65(4), 459-480.
Gupta, T., Antezana, L., Porter, C., Mayanil, T., Bylsma, L. M., Maslar, M., & Horton, L. E. (2023). Skills program for awareness, connectedness, and empowerment: A conceptual framework of a skills group for individuals with a psychosis-risk syndrome. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1083368.
Gupta, T., Osborne, K. J., Nadig, A., Haase, C. M., & Mittal, V. A. (2023). Alterations in facial expressions in individuals at risk for psychosis: a facial electromyography approach using emotionally evocative film clips. Psychological Medicine, 53(12), 5829-5838.
Gupta, T., Cowan, H. R., Strauss, G. P., Walker, E. F., & Mittal, V. A. (2021). Deconstructing negative symptoms in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis: evidence for volitional and diminished emotionality subgroups that predict clinical presentation and functional outcome. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 47(1), 54-63.
Gupta, T., Haase, C. M., Strauss, G. P., Cohen, A. S., & Mittal, V. A. (2019). Alterations in facial expressivity in youth at clinical high-risk for psychosis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128(4), 341.
Gupta, T., & Mittal, V. A. (2019). Advances in clinical staging, early intervention, and the prevention of psychosis. F1000Research, 8.
