Clinical Psychology

Tenure-track

Faculty

Education

• Ph.D.: University of Nevada, Reno, 2015

Research Interests

Everyone gets stuck in unhealthy patterns at some point, but often change their behaviors when the costs become too high. However, people can get stuck in a cycle of repeating harmful actions, even when there are significant negative consequences. In some cases, these actions involve striving for a goal that people initially have been told is positive (e.g., weight loss, work accomplishment, self-control). Dr. Ann Haynos' lab seeks to understand and treat the pathways that cause people to get stuck in repetitive and persistent cognitive and behavioral patterns that lead to negative health outcomes. Haynos' research has primarily focused on restrictive eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, where the pursuit of weight loss becomes all-consuming and life-threatening. Haynos is also interested in identifying and targeting the biobehavioral processes that contribute to other mental health problems defined by rigidity (e.g., obsessive compulsive disorder, obsessive compulsive personality disorder) or excessive goal pursuit (e.g., "work addiction").

Haynos' research marries neuroscience and clinical science, embracing a bench-to-bedside philosophy that allows mutual feedback between mechanistic and intervention questions. Haynos uses a multi-method approach (e.g., neuroimaging, neurocognitive tasks, ecological momentary assessment) and advanced analytical techniques (e.g., computational modeling) to identify decision-making mechanisms (e.g., emotion regulation, reward, cognitive control) that promote disorders of rigidity. In Haynos' intervention work, she develops and adapts neuroscience-informed treatments to target the processes that cause people to get stuck in rigid patterns that cause them harm.

Select Publications

• Haynos, A. F., Widge, A., Anderson, L. M., Redish, A. D. (2022). Beyond description and deficits: How computational psychiatry can enhance an understanding of decision-making in anorexia nervosa. Current Psychiatry Reports, 24, 77-87. doi: 10.1007/s11920-022-01320-9.
• Haynos, A. F., Anderson, L. M., Askew, A. J., Craske, M. G., & Peterson, C. B. (2021). Adapting a neuroscience-informed intervention to alter reward mechanisms of anorexia nervosa: A novel direction for future research. Journal of Eating Disorders, 9, doi: 10.1186/s40337-021-00417-5
• Haynos, A. F., Lavender, J. M., Nelson, J., Crow, S. J., & Peterson, C. B. (2020).Moving towards specificity: A systematic review of cue features associated with reward and punishment in anorexia nervosa. Clinical Psychology Review. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101872
• Haynos, A. F., *Wang, S. B. (co-first authors), Lipson, S., Peterson, C. B., Mitchell, J. E., Halmi, K., Agras, W. S., & Crow, S. J. (2020). Machine learning enhances prediction of illness course: A longitudinal study in eating disorders. Psychological Medicine. doi: 10.1017/S0033291720000227
• Haynos, A. F., Hall, L. M. J., Lavender, J. M., Peterson, C. B., Crow, S. J., Klimes-Dougan, B… Camchong, J. (2019). Resting state functional connectivity of networks associated with reward and habit in anorexia nervosa. Human Brain Mapping, 40, 652-662. doi: 10.1002/hbm.24402

Awards

• 2026 Rising Star in Advancing Societal Wellbeing, Annual Research Impact Awards, Virginia Commonwealth University
• 2025 National/International Recognition Award, Virginia Commonwealth University
• 2024  Faces of the Future Presenter, Society for Research in Psychopathology
• 2024  Outstanding Scholarship Award, Psychology Department, Virginia Commonwealth University
• 2023 Top Abstract Presenter, Eating Disorder Research Society
• 2018-2020 Fellow, Career Development Institute for Psychiatry, University of Pittsburg/Stanford University