Skip to main content
ABCT 2025 59th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Evaluation ViewAttendees 3

Cognitive Science/ Cognitive Processes
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 68 - How adaptive mental time travel can reduce anxiety and improve well-being: Novel CBT approaches to revisiting the past and reimagining the future

Sunday, November 23, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CST
Location: Celestin D&E, Level 3
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Anxiety, Cognitive Processes, Translational Research
Level of Familiarity: All
Recommended Readings: Moscovitch, D. A., Moscovitch, M., & Sheldon, S. (2023). Neurocognitive Model of Schema-Congruent and -Incongruent Learning in Clinical Disorders: Application to Social Anxiety and Beyond. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(6), 1412-1435. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221141351,   Craske, M. G., Dunn, B. D., Meuret, A. E., Rizvi, S. J., & Taylor, C. T. (2024). Positive affect and reward processing in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and trauma. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3(10), 665–685. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00355-4,   Benito, K., Pittig, A., Abramowitz, J., Arch, J. J., Chavira, D., de Kleine, R., De Nadai, A. S., Hermans, D., Hofmann, S. G., Hoyer, J., Huppert, J. D., Kircanski, K., McEvoy, P. M., Meyer, H., Monfils, M.-H., Papini, S., Rief, W., Rosenfield, D., Storch, E. A., … Smits, J. A. J. (2024). Mechanisms of Change in Exposure Therapy for Anxiety and Related Disorders: A Research Agenda. Clinical Psychological Science, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026241240727,   ,  

Answering the call of this year’s convention theme to “bridge the divide” by promoting rigorous scientific approaches that expand the impact of CBT, this symposium explores the use of mental time travel in therapy to improve outcomes in diverse samples. Mental time travel involves using mental simulation to revisit the past and imagine the future, enabling us to draw lessons from personal experiences to support adaptive functioning. However, for people who struggle with anxiety, mental time travel can reinforce negative mental representations of self, others, and world that distort and contaminate the meaning drawn from recollected and imagined experiences. Adopting a mechanistic approach to intervention science, this symposium will showcase new data from top experts in the field. A series of four talks will examine how scientist-practitioners can leverage the use of mental time travel during CBT to optimize patients’ engagement in new learning that both reduces distress and enhances well-being.
First, Prof. Joanna Arch from the University of Colorado Boulder will present her research on the mechanisms of a novel adaptation of written exposure that targets future imagined feared scenarios in adults diagnosed with advanced cancer who report elevated anxiety and trauma symptoms. Then, Prof. David Moscovitch from the University of Waterloo will present data from a new study on the effects of imagery rescripting (IR) vs. positive memory self-processing (PMSP) in a diverse sample of community participants with social anxiety symptoms. Whereas IR was designed to weaken negative self-schemas and reduce feelings of distress and social disconnection associated with aversive social experiences, PMSP was designed to strengthen positive self-schemas and enhance feelings of interpersonal warmth and connection associated with positive social experiences. Next, Prof. Jonathan Huppert from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem will present results of an innovative RCT examining the effects and mechanisms associated with written exposure therapy for confronting negative memories vs. imagined future threat in a diverse sample of Prolific participants with pathological anxiety. Finally, Prof. Fallon Goodman from George Washington University will present a novel 7-day EMA study examining the effects of expectancy violation on state anxiety, avoidance, and worry about past and future social outcomes in community adults with elevated social anxiety and depression who were prompted multiple times a day to reflect on their social interactions.
Our esteemed discussant will be Prof. Bethany Teachman from University of Virginia, a renowned scholar in intervention science and evidence-based practice for anxiety and related disorders, with specific expertise in cognitive processes.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Attendees will learn about the nature of mental time travel and its clinical relevance for CBT and exposure therapy.
  2. Attendees will become familiar with new studies on the effects and mechanisms of CBT interventions for anxiety that facilitate mental time travel.
  3. Attendees will learn how to promote both distress reduction and positivity/well-being enhancement through the use of mental time travel in CBT.

Presentations:

  • 2:06 PM - 2:27 PM CST
    (SYM 68) Reimagining the Past in Social Anxiety: Acute Effects of Imagery Rescripting versus Positive Memory Self-processing

    Speaker: David A. Moscovitch, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of Waterloo

    Co-author: Terry Cho, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of Waterloo

    Co-author: Robert Mackey, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of Waterloo

    Co-author: Sophie M. Kudryk, M.A. (she/her/hers) – University of Waterloo

    Co-author: Jolie Ho, M.A., M.S. – University of Waterloo

  • 2:27 PM - 2:48 PM CST
    (SYM 68) Writing Content Predicts Outcomes in Written Exposure to Worst-case Future Scenarios in Advanced Cancer

    Speaker: Joanna Arch, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Lauren Finkelstein, MA (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Elizabeth Slivjak, M.A. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado

    Co-author: Christopher Wojdak, M.A. (he/him/his) – University of Colorado

  • 2:48 PM - 3:09 PM CST
    (SYM 68) Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Emotional Habituation as a Mechanism in Written Exposure for Anxiety

    Speaker: Jonathan D. Huppert, Ph.D. – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

    Co-author: Elad Zlotnick, M.A. – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

    Co-author: Snir Barzilay, MA (he/him/his) – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

    Co-author: Hila Sorka, MA (she/her/hers) – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

  • 3:09 PM - 3:30 PM CST
    (SYM 68) Real-time Intervention for Social Anxiety: Reprocessing Social Interactions Through Expectancy Violations

    Speaker: Fallon Goodman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – George Washington University

    Co-author: Saskia L. Jorgensen, B.A. – The George Washington University

    Co-author: Shirin Podury, B.S. – The George Washington University

    Co-author: Carsyn Parmelee, B.A. (she/her/hers) – George Washington University