Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Persistent Stress-Induced Neuroplastic Changes In The Locus Coeruleus/Norepinephrine System, Olga Borodovitsyna, Neal Joshi, Daniel Chandler

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

Neural plasticity plays a critical role in mediating short- and long-term brain responses to environmental stimuli. A major effector of plasticity throughout many regions of the brain is stress. Activation of the locus coeruleus (LC) is a critical step in mediating the neuroendocrine and behavioral limbs of the stress response. During stressor exposure, activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis promotes release of corticotropin-releasing factor in LC, where its signaling promotes a number of physiological and cellular changes. While the acute effects of stress on LC physiology have been described, its long-term effects are less clear. This review will describe how stress …

Measuring Sexual Minority Stressors In Lesbians Women's Daily Lives: Initial Scale Development, Kristin Heron, Abby L. Braitman, Robin J. Lewis, Alexander T. Shappie, Phoebe T. Hitson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Lesbian women face unique sexual minority stressors (SMS) because of their stigmatized and marginalized status in society. Existing studies of SMS are primarily cross-sectional and use global measures of SMS. The goal of the present study was to develop a brief daily measure of SMS for use in daily diary or ecological momentary assessment studies. Existing retrospective measures of SMS were reviewed, resulting in an initial pool of 29 items. Thirty-eight lesbian women (Mage = 24.3 years, range: 19–30 years) completed a daily web-based survey including the SMS items for 12 days. Two response scales were tested; participants were randomized …

The Dynamics Of Stress And Fatigue Across Menopause: Attractors, Coupling, And Resilience, Lisa Taylor-Swanson, Alexander E. Wong, David Pincus, Jonathan E. Butner, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, Mary Koithan, Kathryn Wann, Nancy F. Woods

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective:

The objective of this study was to evaluate the regulatory dynamics between stress and fatigue experienced by women during the menopausal transition (MT) and early postmenopause (EPM). Fatigue and perceived stress are commonly experienced by women during the MT and EPM. We sought to discover relationships between these symptoms and to employ these symptoms as possible markers for resilience.

Methods:

Participants were drawn from the longitudinal Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study. Eligible women completed questionnaires on 60+ occasions (annual health reports and monthly health diaries) (n = 56 women). The total number of observations across the sample was 4,224. …

Social Status Modulates Restraint- Induced Neural Activity In Brain Regions Controlling Stress Vulnerability , Sahba Seddighi, Matthew A. Cooper

Haslam Scholars Projects

Understanding the cellular mechanisms that control resistance and vulnerability to stress is an important step toward identifying novel targets for the prevention and treatment of stress-related mental illness. Dominant and subordinate animals have been shown to exhibit different behavioral and physiological responses to stress, with dominants often showing stress resistance and subordinates often showing stress vulnerability. We have previously found that dominant hamsters exhibit reduced social avoidance following social defeat stress compared to subordinate hamsters, although the extent to which stress resistance in dominants generalizes to non-social stressors is unknown. In this study, dominant, subordinate, and control male Syrian hamsters …

Sources Of Medical Student Stress, Krishna Subhash Vyas, Terry D. Stratton, Neelkamal S. Soares

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Background: Key elements in the clinical practice of prevention, health and wellness are best cultivated in medical professionals during undergraduate medical training. This study explores students' self-assessed stress relative to gender, academic expectations, and level of medical training to guide development of targeted wellness interventions. Methods: In early 2012, undergraduate (M1-M4) students in four Southeastern U.S. allopathic medical schools were surveyed about health-related attitudes and behaviors. Results: A total of 575 students returned completed questionnaires. Students in the preclinical years (M1-M2), especially females, reported significantly higher stress levels. Academic expectations and satisfaction were also significantly implicated. Discussion: These findings highlight …

Age Differences In Stress And Coping: Problem-Focused Strategies Mediate The Relationship Between Age And Positive Affect, Yiwei Chen, Yisheng Peng, Huanzhen Xu, William H. O'Brien

Psychology Faculty Publications

The present study examined the different types of stressors experienced by adults of different ages, their coping strategies, and positive/negative affect. A mediation hypothesis of coping strategies was tested on the relationships between age and positive/negative affect. One-hundred and ninety-six community-dwelling adults (age range 18-89 years old) reported the most stressful situation they experienced in the past month and coping strategies. Levels of positive and negative affect in the past month were also measured. Content analysis revealed age differences in different types of stressors adults reported. Three types of coping strategies were found: problem-focused, positive emotion-focused, and negative emotion-focused coping. …

The Whole Is Not The Sum Of Its Parts: Specific Types Of Positive Affect Influence Sleep Differentially, Sarah D. Pressman, Brooke N. Jenkins, Tara L. Kraft, Heather Rasmussen, Michael F. Scheier

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Given the known detrimental effects of poor sleep on an array of psychological and physical health processes, it is critical to understand the factors that protect sleep, especially during times of stress when sleep particularly suffers. Positive affect (PA) arises as a variable of interest given its known associations with health and health behaviors and its ability to buffer stress. In two studies, we examined which types of PA (distinguished by arousal level and trait/state measurement) were most beneficial for sleep and whether these associations varied depending on the stress context. In Study 1, college students (N = 99) reported …

Sibrava Studies, Teaches About Stress And Anxiety, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“There’s a cliché answer that you get from a lot of folks who say, ‘Well, I’ve always been interested in people,’ and that is true, but for me I always fan- tasized about being a lawyer when I grew up.” This is how Dr. Nicholas Sibrava explains his choice of career. In fact, he envisioned himself in a courtroom, just like in the movies.

It also explains why this native of Cleveland, Ohio obtained a bachelor’s degree in both criminology and psychology. The psychology part crept up on him while taking some psych courses. “Somewhere along the way I flip-flopped …

Towards A Not Obtrusive Low Cost Biosystem To Assess Risk Perception In Workplace Through Stress Detection, Emanuele Bellini, Serena Benevenuti, Chiara Batistini

H-Workload 2017: Models and Applications (Works in Progress)

The main aim of the article is to build a method to assess risk perception in real time in order to early detect and prevent risk behaviors and possible human errors. To this end, the relation between mental workload and stress as critical factors affecting risk perception has been investigated. In particular the mental-physical activation generated by an increment of the workload has the effect of reducing the resources needed to perceive risk increasing the worker vulnerability. The complexity of the stress phenomenon suggested the adoption of an integrated view. The Functional Model has been adopted to for its holistic …

Male Psychological Adaptation To Unsuccessful Medically Assisted Reproduction Treatments: A Systematic Review, Mariana Veloso Martins, Miguel Basto-Pereira, Juliana Pedro, Brennan Peterson, Vasco Almeida, Lone Schmidt, Maria Emília Costa

Marriage and Family Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND Similarly to women, men suffer from engaging in fertility treatments, both physically and psychologically. Although there is a vast body of evidence on the emotional adjustment of women to infertility, there are no systematic reviews focusing on men's psychological adaptation to infertility and related treatments.

OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE The main research questions addressed in this review were ‘Does male psychological adaptation to unsuccessful medically assisted reproduction (MAR) treatment vary over time?’ and ‘Which psychosocial variables act as protective or risk factors for psychological maladaptation?’

SEARCH METHODS A literature search was conducted from inception to September 2015 on five databases …

Burnout And Depression: Label-Related Stigma, Help-Seeking, And Syndrome Overlap, Renzo Bianchi, Jay Verkuilen, Romain Brisson, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Laurent

Publications and Research

We investigated whether burnout and depression differed in terms of public stigma and help-seeking attitudes and behaviors. Secondarily, we examined the overlap of burnout and depressive symptoms. A total of 1046 French schoolteachers responded to an Internet survey in November–December 2015. The survey included measures of public stigma, help-seeking attitudes and behaviors, burnout and depressive symptoms, self-rated health, neuroticism, extraversion, history of anxiety or depressive disorder, social desirability, and socio-demographic variables. The burnout label appeared to be less stigmatizing than the depression label. In either case, however, fewer than 1% of the participants exhibited …

How Clinicians Feel About Working With Spouses Of The Chronically Ill, Douglas Ingram

NYMC Faculty Publications

Clinicians who provide psychotherapy to spouses or partners of the chronically ill were solicited through listserves of psychodynamic and other organizations. The current report excluded those therapists working with spouses of dementia patients. Interviews were conducted with clinicians who responded. The interviews highlight the challenges commonly encountered by psychotherapeutic work with this cohort of therapy patients. A comparison is drawn that shows both overlap and distinctions between the experiences of those therapists engaging with spouses of chronically ill patients without a dementing process and those working with spouses of chronically ill patients who do suffer from a dementing process.

Is It Time To Consider The “Burnout Syndrome” A Distinct Illness?, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Laurent

Publications and Research

The “burnout syndrome” has been defined as a combination of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment caused by chronic occupational stress. Although there has been increasing medical interest in burnout over the last decades, it is argued in this paper that the syndrome cannot be elevated to the status of diagnostic category, based on (1) an analysis of the genesis of the burnout construct, (2) a review of the latest literature on burnout-depression overlap, (3) a questioning of the three-dimensional structure of the burnout syndrome, and (4) a critical examination of the notion that burnout is singularized by its …

The Preparatory Set: A Novel Approach To Understanding Stress, Trauma, And The Bodymind Therapies, Peter Payne, Mardi A. Crane-Godreau

Dartmouth Scholarship

Basic to all motile life is a differential approach/avoid response to perceived features of environment. The stages of response are initial reflexive noticing and orienting to the stimulus, preparation, and execution of response. Preparation involves a coordination of many aspects of the organism: muscle tone, posture, breathing, autonomic functions, motivational/emotional state, attentional orientation, and expectations. The organism organizes itself in relation to the challenge. We propose to call this the "preparatory set" (PS). We suggest that the concept of the PS can offer a more nuanced and flexible perspective on the stress response than do current theories. We also hypothesize …

Somatic Experiencing: Using Interoception And Proprioception As Core Elements Of Trauma Therapy, Peter Payne, Peter A. A. Levine, Mardi A. Crane-Godreau

Dartmouth Scholarship

Here we present a theory of human trauma and chronic stress, based on the practice of Somatic Experiencing(®) (SE), a form of trauma therapy that emphasizes guiding the client's attention to interoceptive, kinesthetic, and proprioceptive experience. SE™ claims that this style of inner attention, in addition to the use of kinesthetic and interoceptive imagery, can lead to the resolution of symptoms resulting from chronic and traumatic stress. This is accomplished through the completion of thwarted, biologically based, self-protective and defensive responses, and the discharge and regulation of excess autonomic arousal. We present this theory through a composite case study of …

Burnout-Depression Overlap: A Review, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Laurent

Publications and Research

Whether burnout is a form of depression or a distinct phenomenon is an object of controversy. The aim of the present article was to provide an up-to-date review of the literature dedicated to the question of burnout–depression overlap. A systematic literature search was carried out in PubMed, PsycINFO, and IngentaConnect. A total of 92 studies were identified as informing the issue of burnout–depression overlap. The current state of the art suggests that the distinction between burnout and depression is conceptually fragile. It is notably unclear how the state of burnout (i.e., the end stage …

Controlled Attention And Sleep Deprivation: Adding A Self-Regulation Approach?, June J. Pilcher, Holly A. Geldhauser, J. Adam Beeco, Tracy A. Lindquist

Publications

The current study examined performance on an automated task battery under short-term sleep deprivation and non-sleep deprivation conditions. Twenty-six volunteers completed the sleep deprivation study. Twenty-three volunteers completed the non-sleep deprivation study. Performance was examined across five test sessions during 25 hours of acute sleep deprivation conditions and during two days of non-sleep deprivation conditions. ANOVAs examining changes in performance from baseline levels indicated that performance under sleep deprivation conditions resulted in a decrease in performance in some tasks and an increase in estimated blood alcohol concentration. Non-sleep deprivation resulted in stable or increasing performance and a decrease in estimated …

Human Milk Cortisol Is Associated With Infant Temperament, Katherine R. Grey, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The implications of the biologically active elements in milk for the mammalian infant are largely unknown. Animal models demonstrate that transmission of glucocorticoids through milk influences behavior and modifies brain development in offspring. The aim of this study was to determine the relation between human milk cortisol levels and temperament of the breastfed infant. Fifty-two mother and infant pairs participated when the infants were three-months old. Milk cortisol levels were assessed and each mother completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), a widely used parent-report measure of infant temperament. Analyses revealed a positive association between milk cortisol and the negative affectivity …

Stress, Coping And Suicide Ideation In Chinese College Students, Xiaoyun Zhang, Haiping Wang, Yan Ruth Xia, Xiaohong Liu, Eunju Jung

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The study was to examine 1) whether stress and coping styles could significantly predict the probability of suicide ideation; 2) and whether coping styles were mediators or moderators on the association between life stress and suicide ideation. The survey was conducted in a sample of 671 Chinese college students. Approximately twenty percent students reported having suicide ideation. Life stress, active coping styles, and passive coping styles all had independent effect on the probability of suicide ideation. Passive coping styles, especially fantasizing, mediated the relation between life stress and suicide ideation. Moderation hypotheses were not supported. Implications of the findings and …

The Effects Of Adolescent Binge Drinking On Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Cells In The Amygdala And Social Predictors Of Alcohol Intake In Male And Female Rats, Chrisanthi Karanikas

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Alcohol is one of the most common drugs of choice among adolescents. Normally, the method of consumption is drinking large quantities of alcohol in short periods of time, otherwise known as “binge drinking.” Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) stress peptide producing cells in central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) has been implicated in behavioral responses to stress and addiction. The goals of this thesis were to determine the effects of voluntary binge drinking in adolescence and vapor-induced alcohol dependence in adulthood on CRF cells in the CeA. These studies were done using an operant model of voluntary binge drinking in rodents …

Explaining The Longitudinal Association Between Puberty And Depression: Sex Differences In The Mediating Effects Of Peer Stress, Colleen S. Conley, Karen D. Rudolph, Fred B. Bryant

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This research investigated whether exposure to peer stress serves as one pathway through which pubertal development contributes to depression over time, differentially for girls and boys. Youth (N = 149; 9.6–14.8 years) and their caregivers provided information at two waves, 1 year apart, on puberty (Wave 1), peer stress (occurring between Waves 1 and 2), and depression (Waves 1 and 2). Structural equation modeling analyses examined sex differences in the extent to which peer stress mediated the impact of pubertal status and timing on subsequent depression (i.e., tests of moderated mediation). Significant sex-moderated mediation was found for both pubertal status …

The Impact Of A Naturalistic Stressor On Spontaneous Alternation Behavior: A New Animal Model Of Ocd, Christina Finch

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

Over the past few decades, various animal models of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) have been developed. Similarly, various stressors have been used throughout animal research. The Spontaneous Alternation Behavioral (SAB) model is a well-established model of OCD while 2,5-dihydro-2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline (TMT) has recently become a popular naturalistic stressor. This study linked the two together, thus modeling the effect of stress on OCD behaviors. After living in an enriched or standard environment for 3 weeks, male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to either TMT or no odor, and then were examined in the SAB task. Unlike what was hypothesized, the enriched environment proved …

A Qualitative Study Of Mothers Who Work Full-Time As Hospital Floor Nurses, Michael W. Firmin, Megan Bailey Pathammavong

Psychology Faculty Publications

We conducted qualitative interviews with a sample of 13 female floor nurses in a Midwest hospital. The women worked full-time and also had children at home for whom they provided care. The overall four results reported include particular challenges they faced in their dual-roles, including separating home from work, high stress, sleep deprivation, odd hours, and difficulty in advancing due to home life pressures. The nurses also related perceived assets and drawbacks of their profession for the given season of life. They described what they believed to be necessities for success in the dual-roles of professional nurse and care taker. …

Multiple “Hits” During Postnatal And Early Adulthood Periods Disrupt The Normal Development Of Sensorimotor Gating Ability In Rats, Jing Chen, Zucheng Wang, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

In the present study, we evaluated a multiple-hit animal model of schizophrenia in an attempt to capture the complex interactions among various adverse developmental factors in schizophrenia. Sprague–Dawley rats were assigned to receive either repeated daily 3-h maternal separation for eight days (first “hit”) on postnatal days (PND) 3 to 10, and/or avoidance conditioning for six days (second “hit”) on PND 49–56, and/or repeated phencyclidine treatment (third “hit”, 3.0 mg/kg, sc) immediately after each daily avoidance conditioning. Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of acoustic startle reflex was assessed at late adolescence (PND 41–43) and early adulthood (PND 62–63). The change in %PPI …

Neuropsychological Effects Of The Traumatic Stress Response In Sexually Abused Adolescents Throughout Treatment, Kathryn R. Wilson

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Child maltreatment is a pervasive problem in our society that has long-term detrimental consequences to the development of the affected child such as future brain growth and functioning. The alteration of the biochemical stress response system in the brain that changes an individual’s ability to respond efficiently and efficaciously to future stressors is conceptualized as the traumatic stress response. The purpose of this research was to explore the effects of the traumatic stress response on sexually abused adolescents’ through a two-tiered study of neuropsychological functioning throughout treatment. It was determined that there are measurable differences in neuropsychological processing in sexually …

Identifying Psychosocial Factors Associated With Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders In Flight Attendants In A Taiwanese Commercial Airline, Kai-Hui Lee, Li-Hua Kao Ph.D.

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2009

Psychosocial factors have the potential for causing psychological or physical harm, perceived psychological demands, job stress, or work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). The purpose of the current study was to study the relationship between psychosocial factors including job demands, job control, managerial and colleague support, relationships at work, role conflict, and organizational change, and psychosocial factors, health and the well-being, and WMSDs among flight attendants. A survey, mainly based on the “HSE Indicator Tool” developed by Health and Safety Executive and the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), was distributed in 2009 to flight attendants in a Taiwanese commercial airline by convenience sampling. …

Small Individual Loans And Mental Health: A Randomized Controlled Trial Among South African Adults, Lia C. H. Fernald, Rita Hamad, Dean Karlan, Emily J. Ozer, Jonathan Zinman

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: In the developing world, access to small, individual loans has been variously hailed as a poverty-alleviation tool – in the context of "microcredit" – but has also been criticized as "usury" and harmful to vulnerable borrowers. Prior studies have assessed effects of access to credit on traditional economic outcomes for poor borrowers, but effects on mental health have been largely ignored.

Methods: Applicants who had previously been rejected (n = 257) for a loan (200% annual percentage rate – APR) from a lender in South Africa were randomly assigned to a "second-look" that encouraged loan officers to approve their …

The Impact Of College Student Immersion Service Learning Trips On Coping With Stress And Vocational Identity, Brad A. Mills, Richard B. Bersamina, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

This study examined the impact of service learning immersion trips on vocational identity and coping with stress among college students. Fifty-one students (15 males, 36 females) who participated in immersion trips and 76 students (25 males, 51 females) in a non-immersion control group completed a series of questionnaires directly before and immediately after both fall and spring break immersion trips, and during a four-month follow up. Results suggest that, after returning from an immersion trip, students report a greater ability to cope with stress and a somewhat stronger sense of vocational identity relative to students who do not participate in …

A Non-Pharmacological Intervention To Manage Behavioral And Psychological Symptoms Of Dementia And Reduce Caregiver Distress: Design And Methods Of Project Act3., Laura N Gitlin, Laraine Winter, Marie P Dennis, Walter W Hauck

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Project ACT is a randomized controlled trial designed to test the effectiveness of a non-pharmacological home-based intervention to reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and caregiver distress. The study targets 272 stressed racially diverse family caregivers providing in-home care to persons with moderate stage dementia with one or more behavioral disturbances. All participants are interviewed at baseline, 4-months (main trial endpoint), and 6-months (maintenance). The four-month intervention involves up to 13 visits from an occupational therapist who works with families to problem-solve potential triggers (communication style, environmental clutter) contributing to behaviors, and instruct in strategies to reduce caregiver …

Anger, Child Behavior, And Family Distress: Further Evaluation Of The Parental Anger Inventory, Georganna Sedlar, David J. Hansen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Presumably, anger is a common experience of parenting. Although practitioners and researchers recognize the role of anger in various parenting situations, objective and standardized measures of parental anger have been notably lacking in the field. This study examined the Parental Anger Inventory (PAI), a measure developed specifically to assess parental anger in response to child misbehavior. A diverse sample of 98 parents participated in the study, including (a) physically abusive or neglectful parents, or both, n = 44; (b) nonmaltreating clinic parents seeking assistance for child behavior problems, n = 24; and (c) nonmaltreating, non–help-seeking community parents, n = 30. …