Department of Psychiatry Faculty

Rajita Sinha, Ph.D. Professor of Psychiatry and Child Study Center, Director, Yale Stress Center 2 Church St. South Suite 209 Phone: 203-737-5805/203-737-1272 fax: 203-737-5015 Email: rajita.sinha@yale.edu Research Program Homepages: http://www.yalescor.org; http://www.yalestress.org

Education:

1984, BA, Delhi University, India
1990, PhD, Biological Psychology, Oklahoma University Health Services Center
1992, Respecialization in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Yale University.

Academic and Research Interests:

Clinical neurobiology of stress and relaxation, emotion dysregulation, and their effects on desire and drug craving and addictive behaviors, such as, drinking, eating and drug use. Mechanisms underlying sex differences in stress neurobiology, and interaction with motivational processes and effects on health outcomes is integral to this research area. The neurobiology of relaxation and its effect on resilience and chronic stress and emotion dysregulation is also being studied. An additional interest is in developing treatments to target stress related relapse in addictive behaviors. We’ve developed and validated a laboratory model of stress-induced and hedonic cue-induced craving and lapse to addictive behaviors. The laboratory model characterizes the drug craving state and is being applied to test new pharmacological and psychological interventions to reduce craving and drug use behaviors. Individual difference variables such as gender, genetics, early trauma, chronic stress, prefrontal cognitive functioning that may modulate responses to stress and urges are also being studied.

Clinical Research Staff:

Chiang Shan Ray Li, MD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Tara Chaplin, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist
Zubaida Dabre, B.A., Research Assistant II
James Casey, B.S, Research Assistant I
Kenneth Rando, B.S., MRI Specialist
Gina Lombardi, B.A., Research Associate
Kristen Tsou, B.S., Research Assistant II
Rachel Hart, M.P.H., Clinical Research Coordinator
Scott Hyman, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist
Helen Fox, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist
Danielle Comegys, M.S., Research Coordinator
K. Adam Hong, B.S., Data Manager and Statistician
Cheryl Lacadie, B.S., Neuroimaging Data Manager
Anne Kimmerling, B.A., Research Assistant II
Kristen Siedlarz, B.A., Research Assistant I
Kaci Bayless, B.S., Senior Administrative Assistant
Kathy Kanarek, B.S. Laboratory Manager
Dongju Seo, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate
Eric Jackson, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Publications of Note:

Sinha, R (2008). Chronic stress, drug use and vulnerability to addiction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: Addiction Reviews, Vol 1141, 105-130

Sinha, R (2009). Modeling stress and drug craving in the laboratory: Implications for addiction treatment development. Addiction Biology, 14, 84-98

Sinha R, Fox HC, Hong KA, Bergquist K, Bhagwagar Z, Siedlarz K (2008). Enhanced negative emotion and alcohol craving and altered physiological responses to stress and cue exposure in alcohol dependent individuals. Neuropsychopharmacology (epub online)

Zhou Z, Zhu G, Hariri AR, Scott D, Sinha R, Virkkunen M, Mash DC, Lipsky R, Hu XZ, Hodgkinson C, Xu K, Buzas B, Enoch MA, Yuan Q, Shen P, Ferrell RE, Manuck SB, Hauger RL, Stohler CS, Zubieta JK, Goldman D (2008). Genetic variation in human NPY expression affects human emotion and stress response. Nature, 452(7190):997-1001

Li, C-SR, Sinha R (2008). Inhibitory control and emotional stress regulation: Neuroimaging evidence for frontal-limbic dysfunction in psycho-stimulant addiction. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 32(3):581-97

Sinha R (2007) The role of stress in addiction relapse. Current Psychiatry Reports, Vol 9(5),388-395

Fox HC, Hong KA, Siedlarz K, Sinha R (2008). Enhanced sensitivity to stress and drug/alcohol craving in abstinent cocaine dependent individuals compared to social drinkers. Neuropsychopharm, 33(4):796-805

Li, C-SR, Huang, C, Yan P, Bhagawar Z, Milivojevic, V, Sinha, R (2008). Neural correlates of impulse control during stop signal inhibition in cocaine dependent men. Neuropsychopharmacology

Sinha, R, Kimmerling A, Doebrick C, Kosten TR (2007). Lofexidine decreases stress-induced opioid craving and improves opioid abstinence rates in naltrexone treated opiate addicts: Preliminary findings. Psychopharmacology, 190(4):569-74.

Sinha R, Garcia M, Paliwal P, Kreek MJ, Rounsaville BJ (2006). Stress-induced cocaine craving and HPA responses predict cocaine relapse outcomes. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63, 324-331.

Sinha R, Lacadie C, Skudlarski P, Fulbright RK, Kosten TR, Rounsaville BJ, Wexler, BE (2005). Neural activity associated with stress-induced cocaine craving: An fMRI study. Psychopharmacology, 183: 171-180.

Li, C.-S. R., Huang, C., Constable, R.T., Sinha, R (2006). Imaging response inhibition in a stop-signal task: Neural correlates independent of post-response processing. Journal of Neuroscience, 26(1), 186-192.

Brady K, Sinha R (2005). Co-occurring mental and substance use disorders: The neurobiological effects of chronic stress. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162: 1483-1493.

Li C-S, Kosten TR, Sinha, R (2005) Sex differences in brain response to stress imagery in abstinent cocaine dependent individuals – an fMRI study. Biological Psychiatry, 57: 487-494.

Dodge R, Sindelar J, Sinha R (2005). Role of depressive symptoms in predicting drug abstinence in outpatient substance abuse treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 28, 189-196.

Sinha, R. (2005). Stress and Drug Abuse. In N. H. K. T. Steckler, J.M.H.M. Reul (Ed.), Handbook of Stress and the Brain. Part 2 Stress: Integrative and Clinical Aspects (Vol. 15, pp. 333-356). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Sinha R, Lacadie C, Skudlarski P, Wexler BE (2004). Neural circuits underlying emotional distress in humans. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 1032, 254-257.

Sinha R, Talih M, Malison, R, Anderson GA, Cooney N, Kreek MJ (2003). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympatho-adreno-medullary responses during stress-induced and drug cue-induced cocaine craving states. Psychopharmacology, 170, 62-72.

Sinha R (2001). How does stress increase risk of drug abuse and relapse? Psychopharmacology, 158, 343-359.

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