Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Building Tools For Improved Modulation Of The Human Gabaa Receptor, A Central Nervous System Target For The Treatment Of Anxiety, Garrett Edward Zinck

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

In the U.S., anxiety is recognized as an increasing range of mentally and physically debilitating psychiatric health disorders with significant economic repercussions. Over the last 20 years, several novel anti-anxiety therapies have entered the drug development pipeline, but none have made it to market.

The work in this dissertation focused on structurally modifying valerenic acid (VA), a structurally unique carboxylated sesquiterpene acid found in Valeriana officinalis. VA is putatively reported to have allosteric modulatory activity of the human GABA_A receptor, a ligand-gated ion channel responsible for attenuating neurotransmissions. Structural modeling of VA’s GABA_A receptor interaction suggests that …

Depression And Anxiety Amongst College D1 Athletes, Jessica Radford

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

College student-athletes are having an increasingly amount of mental health concerns recently at an alarming rate. Therefore, researchers should attempt to better understand how student-athletes can cope with their mental health problems to improve their mental and physical well-being. The researcher administered a questionnaire to 300 college students, 150 student-athletes and 150 non-athletes from the University of the Pacific using various modified scales examining emotional intelligence, depression, anxiety, coping strategies, intentions to seek help, self-stigma, public stigma, social network stigma, alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, and communication competence. The data were analyzed to determine the severity of student-athletes’ mental health and …

Mental Health And Online Learning - Systematic Review Dataset, Stephanie L. Moore Phd, George Veletsianos, Michael Barbour

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

While there has been a lot of debate over the impact of online and remote learning on mental health and well-being, there has been no systematic syntheses or reviews of the research on this particular issue. In this paper, we review the research on the relationship between mental health / well-being and online or remote learning. Our review shows that little scholarship existed prior to 2020 with most studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report four findings: (a) pandemic effects are not well-controlled for in most studies; (b) studies present a very mixed picture, with variability around how mental …

The Effects Of Anxiety On Vision Related Performance Among Collegiate Athletes, Aviana R. Fedele

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Anxiety is an intense feeling of worry or fear and can often be overwhelming, taking over someone’s everyday activities. Oftentimes, individuals who have feelings of anxiety or are in stressful situations that are anxiety inducing, they can get physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, sweating, fatigue and rapid breathing. Anxiety can also affect an individual’s quality of vision. In circumstances that are highly stressful, individual’s vision can start to diminish temporarily, affecting the peripheral vision as well as making central vision blurry. This study examines the effects of anxiety and vision quality on athletic performance among collegiate athletes. It …

Social Media Use And Mental Health: An Educational Intervention To Reduce Depression And Anxiety In Adolescents, Natalie Catlett

DNP Projects

Background: Most adolescents spend a great deal of their time using various social media platforms. However, excessive and maladaptive social media use is correlated with worsening symptoms of depression and anxiety among adolescents.

Objective: This project aimed to determine whether an educational intervention could help decrease overall time spent using social media and improve mood and mental health outcomes among adolescents with depression or anxiety disorders.

Methods: This was a quasi-experiment with a pretest and posttest design. An educational intervention about the relationship between social media use and symptoms of depression and anxiety among adolescents and strategies to minimize risk …

Health Educator Experience: Recommendations For Physical Activity For Mental Health In Women, Patricia Schneider

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental health issues, specifically anxiety and depression, continue to be a public health crisis in the United States. Despite the established therapies of pharmacology and cognitive behavioral therapy, not all patients seek or find relief using these methods. Therefore, other treatment strategies need to be studied. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand the experiences of health educators who use physical activity as a strategy for anxiety and depression management among middle-aged women as well as their own attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral controls. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was leveraged as the theoretical foundation for …

A Comparison Of The Magnitude Of The Mental Health Benefits Of Exercising Outdoors Vs Exercising Indoors: A Review, Greta M. Rueschmann

MSU Graduate Theses

Many people in the United States suffer from poor mental health which can lead to suicide, self-harm, or negative effects on job performance and relationships. Not everyone can afford traditional therapy nor feels comfortable with it. With a greater emphasis placed on taking care of one’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, there should also be a greater emphasis placed on finding alternative types of therapy that can be matched to individuals based on their personalities and preferences. One such alternative is outdoor exercise. This review was conducted to examine whether exercising or performing physical activity outdoors results in greater …

Mental Health, Bullying, And Victimization Among Chinese Adolescents, Yang Wen, Xihe Zhu, Justin A. Haegele, Fangliang Yu

Human Movement Sciences & Special Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine if adolescents who experience anxiety or depression have higher levels of reported bullying victimization or perpetration than those who do not. Based on the existing research, we hypothesized that those who experienced moderate or severe depression and anxiety would have higher rates of bullying victimization and perpetration when compared to those who experienced mild or no depression. This study used an observational design, and data were collected from a convenience sample of adolescents in a large regional high school in an Eastern province of China. The final sample included 1481 adolescents aged …

The Relationship Between Social Media Use And Depression And Anxiety Symptoms During Covid-19, Tene'sha L. Crews, Christina Sheerin

Undergraduate Research Posters

The rise of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global surge in exposure to disaster and crisis-related media. Increases in poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression, are associated with increased exposure to such media content (Abbas et al., 2021; Riehm et al., 2020; Zhao & Zhou, 2020). In recent years, social media has become one of the most widely used sources for news; approximately 48% of adult Americans receive their news from social media (Pew Research Center, 2021). During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in social media use due to social distancing and …

Systematic Review Regarding The Use Of Mindfulness-Based Mobile Applications To Reduce Psychological Symptoms And Enhance Well-Being Among General And Clinical Population Adults: Benefits, Limitations And Future Directions, Brian Clawson

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness is now utilized throughout Western Society and is part of the growing behavioral health, self-help, and wellness movements. Mobile applications have become increasingly popular for a wide variety of uses related to physical health, mental health, and self-improvement. Therefore, mindfulness-based mobile applications have promise both as stand-alone tools for end-users seeking self-help resources and as clinician-recommended adjunctive tools to enhance the process and outcomes of professional therapy. This systematic review identified, reviewed, and synthesized the findings from studies (n = 29) concerning the impact of mindfulness-based mobile applications on specific aspects of psychological functioning in both the general population …

Interactions Of International Pilots' Stress, Fatigue, Symptoms Of Depression, Anxiety, Common Mental Disorders And Wellbeing, Marion Venus, Martin Grosse Holtforth

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Objective

This study Investigates more dimensions than previous studies simultaneously: pilots’ duty rosters, stress, sleep difficulties, fatigue levels, wellbeing, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and common mental disorders (CMD), and how they are interrelated.

Background

Several scientific studies have confirmed that fatigue can pose a significant risk to flight safety. Other studies reported positive depression screening results for more pilots, compared with the general population.

Method

A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 406 international pilots, who reported their duty rosters of the last two months. Pilots also self-assessed their stress-levels, sleep problems, fatigue, wellbeing, and mental health.

Results

Although pilots …

Effects Of Mindfulness And Stress Management On Neurocardiovascular And Psychological Outcomes, Aditi P. Vyas

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

There has been a higher prevalence of developing anxiety due to frequent episodes of stress among adults in recent years. Chronic anxiety can contribute to the prevalence of elevated blood pressure and hypertension. High anxiety and stress also contribute to overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system which can be quantified by increased muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA). Sympathetic overactivation can lead to vasoconstriction and loss of arterial elasticity. Anxiety, MSNA, blood pressure, and arterial stiffness are all interconnected, thus studying these relationships is crucial to understand the underlying mechanisms for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Non-pharmacological and mind-body …

Love Outside Margins: Mental Health And Marginalization In Intercultural And Monocultural Couples, Tara Masseratagah

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As the number of intercultural couples increases in North America, the impact of perceived marginalization of these relationships on the mental health of individuals is an area that requires continued clinical understanding. This quantitative study sought to explore how anxiety and depression levels in intercultural and monocultural couples are associated with levels of perceived marginalization. Qualitative follow-up questions were used to understand the varying reasons for marginalization and support between couples. One hundred twenty-four individual participants in romantic relationships took part in this study; of this, 64 were in monocultural relationships and 60 were in intercultural relationships. This study found …

Chronic Adolescent Stress As A Predictive Factor For The Risk Of Developing Ptsd-Like Symptoms In Adulthood, Grace K. Young

Theses and Dissertations

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a stress and trauma based psychological disorder that is defined by the DSM-IV as an anxiety disorder that affects approximately 7.8% of people in the United States. PTSD is when those who suffer a traumatic event have intense and distressing feelings, emotions, and memories for a prolonged period of time after the event. A prominent feature of PTSD is the impaired ability to properly extinguish a fear response after a dangerous trigger or stressor is no longer present, also known as safety learning. Stressors are threats perceived within the environment that activate a response within the …

Covid Fears And Social Anxiety In College Students, Clayton Crozier

Masters Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with numerous negative mental health outcomes such as social anxiety, and lead to a great deal of uncertainty. Intolerance of Uncertainty is a relatively new concept in the psychology literature and has begun to be studied in the context of anxiety. Literature has found a positive correlation between Intolerance of Uncertainty and several types of social anxiety. With these findings, researchers have begun to examine the COVID-19 pandemic to see how Intolerance of Uncertainty affects people’s mental health during the pandemic. Intolerance of Uncertainty may be a mediator between social anxiety and the fears …

Anxiety And Depression Among Students Using Tobacco In A Selected College Of Sonitpur District, Assam: A Crosssectional Study, Monalisa Saikia, Nurnahar Ahmed, Arunjyoti Baruah

Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences

Introduction: Tobacco use is one of the major public health concerns around the world, accounting for many deaths and disabilities. The use of tobacco is linked to many physical and mental ailments. A large population of adolescents are enrolled in colleges and universities in India, making them a vulnerable population for the use and abuse of tobacco. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the level of anxiety and symptoms of depression among college-going students who consume tobacco. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional approach was selected for the study. The purposive sampling technique was used to select college students …