Dr. LaFreniere is the lead investigator of the Technological Research on Enjoyment and Anxiety Treatment (TREAT) laboratory and an assistant professor at Skidmore College. He specializes in developing and researching efficient interventions for worry, anxiety, and comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders with smartphone technologies. His research aims to design treatments targeting understudied processes of psychopathology, test their efficacy, and examine their mechanisms. He has published in outlets such as the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and Depression and Anxiety. His basic research has revealed Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) deficits in learning the probabilities of future outcomes, reinforcement response under uncertainty, and extended engagement with positive emotions. In his applied research, he has developed and tested interventions for correcting these problems via smartphone with worry tracking and savoring. His Worry Outcome Journal (WOJ) intervention employed an enhanced form of worry outcome monitoring. The efficacious WOJ guided users with GAD to see the high costs, low benefits, and inaccuracies of their worries in daily life. His SkillJoy intervention has led clients to learn and practice the extended enjoyment of positive experiences, mindful appreciation of good aspects of the present moment, and exposure to being “off guard." He continues to study savoring as a transdiagnostic intervention for comorbid GAD and depression.
