Christopher Thomas Sege

Christopher Thomas Sege, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Medicine. His research focuses on the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying anxiety disorders, particularly examining escape, avoidance, and approach behaviors in the anxiety disorder spectrum.

Dr. Sege's primary research interests include:

• Anxiety Disorders and Emotional Processing
• Defensive Behaviors and Coping Mechanisms
• Neurophysiological Correlates of Emotional Anticipation
• Startle Response and Autonomic Nervous System Functioning
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Applications

His work bridges clinical psychology with neuroscience to understand how individuals with anxiety disorders process and respond to emotional stimuli.

Dr. Sege leads the research study "Modeling and Modulating Mechanisms of Escape, Avoidance, and Approach in the Anxiety Disorder Spectrum" which investigates whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can alter how people with anxiety cope with emotional situations. This study involves measuring brain activation while participants view emotional pictures and undergo rTMS procedures.

His publication record demonstrates expertise across multiple domains:

• Neurophysiological mechanisms of defensive behaviors
• Emotional anticipation and perception
• Startle modulation in anxiety disorders
• Borderline personality disorder research
• Development of experimental paradigms for emotional processing studies

His research employs multiple methodologies including psychophysiology, event-related potentials, and neurostimulation techniques.

Dr. Sege collaborates with researchers including Lisa McTeague, Bernadette Cortese, Carla Danielson, Thomas Uhde, and Aicko Schumann. His work appears in journals such as Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Biological Psychology, and Psychophysiology.