Next, Dr. Julian Thayer should be noted as Bruce Friedman's mentor at Penn State, where the former was a faculty member and the latter did his graduate work. Dr. Thayer supervised Dr. Friedman's training in psychophysiology and his influence on The Mind-Body Lab's research agenda is incalculable. Areas of particular influence include: autonomic nervous system activity, especially as revealed by the analysis of heart rate variability; systems theory and nonlinear dynamics; emotion theory and methodology; and multivariate statistics. Dr. Thayer's influence was clearly evident in Dr. Friedman's first publication (Friedman & Thayer, 1991). Thayer and Friedman have remained close friends, colleagues and frequent collaborators; their work since leaving Penn State reflects both shared and divergent influences. Julian Thayer is currently an Investigator and Unit Head at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, MD.

 

Two other key influences on Dr. Friedman's graduate work should be mentioned. Professor Thomas Borkovec, renowned clinical investigator, nurtured Friedman's interest in the psychophysiology of anxiety. Numerous publications on anxiety have been produced from the fruitful alliance of Borkovec, Thayer, and Friedman (Friedman & Thayer, 1998a, b; Friedman, Thayer, & Borkovec, 2000; Friedman et al., 1993; Thayer & Friedman, 1993, 1997; Thayer, Friedman, & Borkovec, 1996; Thayer, Friedman, Borkovec, Molina, & Johnsen, 2000). Dr. Borkovec's keen insights on anxiety and his methodical approach to experimental psychopathology left an indelible mark on Dr. Friedman's work. Borkovec is currently Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Penn State.

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Also of significant impact was the work of John Nesselroade. Previously a Professor of Human Development at Penn State, Dr. Nesselroade was a proponent of the systems perspective and idiographic research in the study of developmental trajectories (see Nesselroade, 1991, for representative views). Nesselroade, who was mentored by Raymond Cattell, highlighted the utility of p-technique factor analysis, a systematic technique for studying patterns of individual variability. Dr. Nesselroade is currently Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia.

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Dr. Friedman did postdoctoral training in behavioral medicine at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical School) under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Allen. His work there focused on methods of quantifying cardiovascular reactivity. Dr. Allen shared his considerable expertise on autonomic regulation of CV activity, which had a substantial effect on Friedman's early development of a model for individual studies of reactivity. This model was the progenitor of the idiodynamic framework for cardiovascular research, which is an active component of the Mind-Body Lab research program. Friedman and Allen are currently collaborating on a heart rate variability manuscript which originated during their association at the University of Pittsburgh (Allen & Friedman, 1995; Friedman, Allen, Christie, & Santucci, 2001). Dr. Allen is now an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi-Gulfport.

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Probing the literature on single-subject designs brought the work of Saul Rosenzweig to Dr. Friedman's attention. This eventuated in another Postdoctoral Fellowship for Friedman, under the supervision of Professor Rosenzweig, which afforded Friedman the opportunity to acquire first hand knowledge of idiodynamics, a systematic and empirically rigorous approach to individual research (see Rosenzweig, 1986, for a summary paper). The idiodynamic framework provided coherence and unity to the numerous inchoate elements in Friedman's embryonic model of CV reactivity. Consequently, substantial progress has been made toward actualizing this model in the laboratory (Friedman & Santucci, 2001). Indeed, the idiodynamic approach to psychological research is now a keystone in our study of the mind-body relationship. Dr. Rosenzweig is currently Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, and also is the founder and director of the Foundation for Idiodynamics and the Creative Process, St. Louis, MO.

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Several additional historical influences should be noted. First is that of William James, whose seminal model of emotion formed the basis of Dr. Friedman's early graduate work (James, 1890). Subsequent research on anxiety and autonomic nervous system activity have flowed from this model.

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Another notable influence is the work of Wilhelm Reich. Reich was a highly controversial researcher whose work was shrouded in contention, and was the subject of slanderous attacks throughout his career. However, he has also been acknowledged by many as a pioneer in the holistic concepts of the mind-body relationship. In particular, Reich's characterization of autonomic nervous system activity in anxiety, which was advanced in the 1930's, resonates powerfully with the contemporary findings of Friedman and colleagues on anxiety and cardiac vagal control (Reich, 1939/1982). Moreover, Reich's concept of functional unity of psyche and soma is highly congruent with our own systems view of the mind-body relationship (Reich, 1942/1973).

 

Note: Further details on the above can be found in Idiodynamics vis-a-vis psychophysiology: An idiodynamic portrayal of cardiovascular activity (Friedman, in press).