MA, M.Litt (St And), MA(Cantab)PhD Student, Suicide and Mental Health Research GroupContact details
Email davst397@student.otago.ac.nz
Background
I began work at the University of Otago Wellington in 2015 as an Assistant Research Fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine and with the Suicide and Mental Health Research Group from 2016. I have been working on a range of projects, including a qualitative study of social exclusion and mental distress, an evaluation of stigma/discrimination in the police force (ongoing), and a policy paper on death review mechanisms for suicide. I began PhD study in March 2017.
Prior to this, I worked in several research and university roles in mainland China and the UK, including 4 years of social research for the UK Government. My academic training is in psychology, and previously in analytical philosophy.
Current project
Where is an emotion – and can finding it help to prevent suicide?
This is an investigation of whether emotion manifests in the body as a localised feeling (i.e. with a more or less clear boundary, as with physical pain). It will focus on interoception (i.e. sensing the physiological condition of the body) and its relationship with localisation, in addition to inhibitory processes that could (if they exist) maintain emotional feeling as an otherwise vague and physically diffuse experience. Based on recent research indicating links between emotion, interoceptive ability and suicidality, this study seeks to provide a basis for novel suicide prevention interventions with emotional localisation as an additional key element. In addition to the potential for practical benefits, this project would also be relevant to emotion theory and the philosophy of emotion.
Research interests and activities
- Embodied emotion and affective science
- Interoception
- Suicide prevention
- Philosophy of emotion
- Social theory and mental ill health