HEALTH PROMOTION & RESEARCH LABORATORY
Bonnie Spring, Ph.D.

| HOME | CONTACT US | ABOUT US | PROJECTS | PUBLICATIONS | 
| POSITIONS | RESEARCH PARTICIPATION | LINKS | 

Background
Clinical Psychology Intern, Health Psychology Track, Chicago VA Health Care System, West Side Division
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate, Minor in Health Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago
Doctoral Dissertation Title:  The Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Dysphoric Mood among Ruminators and Nonruminators
Masters in Science, Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology Track, Finch University of Health Science/Chicago Medical School

Current Activities and Interests
For the 2001-2002 academic year, I will be the Health Psychology intern at the West Side VA in downtown Chicago.  My main area of clinical interest is health promotion and disease prevention and I have sought out several experiences in the area of women’s health.  A large portion of my clinical work has been in the area of promoting healthier lifestyles such as smoking cessation, weight management, stress management, and reduction of sedentary behaviors.  I have a special interest in understanding the interaction between mood disorders and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and using mood management treatments for depression and anxiety to promote health and prevent illness. 

My clinical interests have led to the development of my program of research which is to understand the relationship between cigarette smoking and depression.  My dissertation project is an analogue study of nicotine’s mood effects among individuals with and without a ruminative coping style.  Participants will be nicotine dependent smokers, half with a high level of ruminative coping and half with a low level of ruminative coping.  They will attend two laboratory sessions in which they are induced into a negative mood state and smoke a high nicotine-yield cigarette in one session and a low nicotine-yield cigarette in the other session. Level of dysphoric mood and attentional bias to dysphoric cognitions will be assessed throughout.  The main hypothesis predicts that smokers with low levels of ruminative coping will experience a reduction in dysphoric mood after smoking, whereas smokers with high levels of rumination will experience an increase in dysphoric mood after smoking.  The heightened attentional processing of ruminative cognitions is the process by which nicotine is predicted to heighten dysphoric mood among ruminative smokers. 

When I am not at school or at the hospital, I can usually be found running or cycling along the lakeshore path with my husband, especially in the summer.  We also like to get away once a month to Wisconsin or Michigan to go camping and hiking.  Traveling to exotic locales is a favorite, albeit rare, pastime.  

Publications

Doran, N., Spring, B., McChargue, D., Pergadia, M., & Richmond, M. (in press).  Impulsivity and relapse to cigarette smoking.  Nicotine & Tobacco Research.      

Richmond, M., Spring, B., Sommerfeld, B.K., & McChargue, D. (2001).  Rumination and cigarette smoking:  A bad combination for depressive outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 836-840.  [PDF].

Richmond, M., Spring, B., McChargue, D., & Pergadia, M. (2000).(Publication in Progress) Rumination predicts rapid relapse to smoking among depression-prone smokers.  Manuscript in preparation.