Psychology Commons^™

A Manualized Occupational Therapy Communication Skills Intervention For Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Kiara Ainsworth, Steven M. Gerardi

Spring 2024 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects many individual's participation in daily activities. There is a lack of research in the area of occupational therapy (OT) treatment for veterans with PTSD. However, there has been an expressed need in the literature for a developed intervention for veterans with PTSD that includes communication skills as a component. To date, a manualized communication skills OT intervention for veterans with PTSD has not been created. The purpose of this paper was to develop a resource tool for occupational therapists to utilize as an intervention when treating veterans with PTSD using the framework of the Model …

Investigating The Potential Double-Edged Score Of Immigration-Related Stress, Discrimination, And Mental Health Access, Arthur R. Andrews, Kevin Escobar, Sandra Mariely Estrada Gonzalez, Sara Reyes, Laura M. Acosta

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prior work has suggested that discrimination and immigration-related stress may impede mental health care seeking and utilization among Latinx populations. These effects may be more nuanced as both discrimination and immigration-related stress may increase symptomology, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Both symptoms may, in turn, prompt attempts to seek care. The current study examined the direct effects of discrimination and immigration-related stress on care access, as well as potentially indirect effects with PTSD and depression symptoms as mediators. Interviews and online surveys were completed with 234 Latinx residents of the Midwest, assessing everyday discrimination, discrimination in healthcare, PTSD …

Negative Effects Of Combat Deployments On Military Partners, Brittany M. Harris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Several military families experience trauma due to combat deployments and the methods they use to cope with those events can vary widely. Most research about military families is quantitative and focuses on the mental health of the service member who is directly affected by combat exposure. This study explored how military families describe the negative effects of deployment on them and how biblical faith helped them cope with those negative effects. This qualitative case study used a sample size of 14 military partners, with or without children who have experienced at least one combat deployment during the partner's time in …

Barriers To Mental Health Seeking Among Army Aviation Personnel: A Preliminary Report, Aric J. Raus

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

This research explores barriers to mental health seeking, self-reported symptoms, and perspectives on self-help mental-wellness options among U.S. Army Aviation Personnel. Safe aviation operations require constant focus and mental clarity. These requirements expand when considering the implications and added stress of military operations, especially in combat scenarios. Yet, recent studies demonstrate that aviation personnel avoid seeking healthcare due to fears of losing their medical certification. This report provides preliminary results from the first known study on barriers to mental health seeking among U.S. Army aviation personnel. Utilizing an anonymous survey instrument, facilitated primarily through Social Media recruiting of current and …

Pathways From Childhood Sexual Abuse To Sexual Risk Behaviour In Msm: A Mixed Methods Study, Daniel Provenzano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately affected by childhood sexual abuse (CSA) compared to heterosexual men. CSA has been associated with a wide range of adverse outcomes later in life, including engagement in sexual risk behaviours (e.g., condomless anal intercourse), that place MSM at greater risk for HIV acquisition and transmission. Although the links between CSA and sexual risk are well-established among MSM, little research has investigated psychosocial factors that may mediate this relationship. Using a mixed-method approach, this study (a) explored psychosocial factors as pathways linking a composite of complex CSA experiences (i.e., CSA complexities) with …

An Ewas Of Dementia Biomarkers And Their Associations With Age, African Ancestry, And Ptsd, Mark W. Miller, Erika J. Wolf, Xiang Zhao, Mark W. Logue, Sage E. Hawn

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background

Large-scale cohort and epidemiological studies suggest that PTSD confers risk for dementia in later life but the biological mechanisms underlying this association remain unknown. This study examined this question by assessing the influences of PTSD, APOE ε4 genotypes, DNA methylation, and other variables on the age- and dementia-associated biomarkers Aβ40, Aβ42, GFAP, NfL, and pTau-181 measured in plasma. Our primary hypothesis was that PTSD would be associated with elevated levels of these markers.

Methods

Analyses were based on data from a PTSD-enriched cohort of 849 individuals. We began by performing factor analyses of the biomarkers, the results of which …

Confronting Ptsd In The Aftermath Of Abuse, Ayla A. Bilyeu

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This narrative follows a young woman through seven clinical sessions with a psychiatrist as she confronts her diagnosis of PTSD following abuse sustained in a romantic relationship.

Ptsd, Chaos, And Subjective Executive Dysfunction, And Its Impact On Qol, Emmy Y. Velazquez Santiago

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Research with veterans suggests executive dysfunction associated with PTSD often results in problems with quality of life. Objective impairments in executive functions do not significantly correlate with subjective reports; despite this discrepancy, the perception of dysfunction impacts quality of life. Research indicates that perception of chaos/unpredictability can undermine the ability to perform executive functions. This study explored how the perception of chaos impacts the relationship between PTSD and subjective executive dysfunction and quality of life among veterans. A Pearson product-moment correlation was used to determine whether a relationship exists between PTSD symptomatology and subjective executive dysfunction and between subjective executive …

Survivor Experiences Of Male Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Literature Review, Elizabeth Burch B.S., Joseph T. Kenneally Psy.D., Stephanie Zepeda Phd

Psychology from the Margins

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes childhood sexual abuse (CSA) as a global health issue. CSA is a human violation that affects both female and male children and has a stronger detrimental impact on mental health than other traumatic childhood experiences. Despite a growing awareness of male survivors of CSA, male survivors are a marginalized group as most CSA research focuses on females. In addition, masculine norms can keep male adults from disclosing further, which can delay support and increase mental health issues. This meta- analysis reviews the current literature on this group of marginalized people and concludes with a …

God, Can You Help Me? Effects Of Religious Coping On Patients With Anxiety And Trauma, Camron Angell

Student Works

Historically, religion has been overlooked in psychology as a method of coping due to stigma and an apprehension to bring up religious beliefs. Recent literature suggests positive religious coping can help patients with anxiety and PTSD (Anastasi & Newberg, 2008; Areba et al., 2018; Plante et al., 2000; Starnino et al., 2019; Yazici et al., 2020). Religious coping, both positive and negative, appears to affect patients with anxiety and PTSD. Positive religious coping is thought to have a positive effect on both anxiety and PTSD and can lead to greater mental health outcomes (Areba et al., 2018; Harris et al., …

Understanding The Experiences And Associated Symptomology Of Disclosers And Non-Disclosers Of Sexual Victimization, Kaitlin Carson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

ABSTRACT

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as many as 43% of women report experiencing some form of sexual victimization, with the highest rates occurring in emerging adulthood. It is estimated that 75% of survivors disclose this experience to someone else; the remainder of survivors keep the experience to themselves. While disclosure can be therapeutic, there are multiple factors that can complicate the disclosure process for sexual victimization survivors. There is limited research investigating why some women choose to disclose sexual victimization experiences and how their reasons may relate to psychopathology. Additionally, extant research primarily focuses on …

Trauma Mediating The Severity Of Depressive Symptoms In Veterans With Ptsd, Meghan Curtin

Dissertations

Trauma serves as a risk factor for developing both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. The purpose of this study was to examine trauma type as a mediator in the relationship between gender and severity of depressive symptoms among veterans with PTSD. The literature shows trauma type plays a role in developing PTSD and depressive symptoms. The first hypothesis was that female veterans who met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD would report higher levels of depressive symptoms than their male counterparts. The second hypothesis was that this gender difference would be partly mediated by levels of interpersonal trauma experience. Self-report …

Investigating The Differences Between Neuropsychological And Physiological Markers In A Ptsd-Only Group Among Vietnam Veterans, Ashtan Madsen

Dissertations

Individuals diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have demonstrated extinction-resistant symptoms and long-lasting impacts on the brain’s functional activity (Krystal et al., 2017; Stark et al., 2015). PTSD illustrates a strong relationship with cognitive functioning, and research has found lower parietal and hippocampal volume and deterioration in brain function and structure, resulting in executive dysfunction, attentional deficits, mood dysregulation, and memory difficulties (Krystal et al., 2017; Stark et al., 2015; Weiner et al. 2017). Sleep has been investigated to better understand its contribution to AD pathologies as well as its impact on PTSD treatment and prognosis. Although sleep’s functions are …

Peer Victimization And Post-Traumatic Stress Problems Among Latinx Youth: The Role Of Emotional Reactivity And Gender, Ashley N. Harris

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Peer victimization is widespread and well-established as a risk factor for youth; however, few studies have examined the relation between peer victimization and post-traumatic stress symptoms among ethnic minority children and adolescents. Additionally, existing studies rarely investigate potential moderators of the relation and often utilize retrospective reports of peer victimization from adults. This study expands on the Regulatory Theory of Temperament (Strelau, 2008) by examining the role of emotional reactivity on the association between peer victimization and post-traumatic stress problems. The sample includes 275 predominantly low-income, Latinx (86.5%), and Mixed-Latinx (13.4%) Chicago Public School students ages 10-14 (M = …

Sexual Violence And Psychological Distress: The Roles Of Coping Self-Efficacy, Self-Blame, Shame, Activism, And Feminism, Charlotte Strauss Swanson

Doctoral Dissertations

In the current study, we investigated potential direct, indirect, and moderated relations in the links between exposure to sexual violence and PTSD symptom severity and depression among a sample of 440 United States women who had experienced sexual assault in adulthood. We found that sexual violence exposure was both directly and indirectly related to PTSD symptom severity via less trauma coping self-efficacy, greater behavioral and characterological self-blame, and more shame. Sexual violence exposure was also indirectly related to depression via the same explanatory variables, except for behavioral self-blame. Contrary to our hypotheses, results indicated that involvement in anti-sexual activism and …

The Role Of Childhood Trauma History In Relation To Decent Work, Matthew Reiland

Theses and Dissertations

This study used structural equation modeling to examine the impact of childhood trauma on decent work. Childhood trauma was added as an exogenous variable in the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) model and hypothesized to have direct and indirect effects on decent work. An online sample of 643 working adults completed PWT measures and a measure on childhood trauma. Additionally, participants completed a single Likert-type item measure assessing negative impact of COVID-19 on work so that model invariance could examined among two high and low impact groups. Group invariance was satisfied at the configural, metric, and scalar levels, and the …

Treatment Outcome From Cognitive Processing Therapy Examined Three Ways, Sophie Haven

Dissertations

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), is an evidence-based treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective in treating PTSD. Nonetheless, CPT can have a high rate of treatment non-completion. Attrition from therapy has been operationally defined using multiple contrasting methods. Understanding attrition using a definition with the most clinical utility is essential to improving outcomes from efficacious treatments. Two clinically relevant definitions for attrition, session attendance and symptom improvement, are critical to understanding attrition. Combining information from both definitions, to create four separate groups, will provide more accurate information about …

Mind Over Matter: The Role Of Resilience, Crime Victimization, And Age At The Time Of Victimization On Psychological Health, Alana Compton

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between crime victimization, age at the time of victimization, psychological health, and resilience. Past research has shown that crime victimization has been linked to higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders, and that those who experience a traumatic event as a child are influenced more negatively than those who experience trauma as an adult. Additionally, resilience has been shown to mediate the influence that trauma has on an individual. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty and staff were surveyed to determine their …

Differences In Resilience And Mental Health Symptoms Among Us First Responders With Secure And Insecure Attachment, Donna Schuman, James Whitworth, Jeanine Galusha, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Kathryn Shahan, Katelyn Jetelina

Faculty Publications

Objective: This observational study aimed to determine whether attachment style predicted first responders' mental health and resilience. Method: Data were from a treatment-seeking sample of first responders (N = 237). Each participant completed six assessments measuring attachment, resilience, generalized anxiety, depression, suicidality, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Results: On the attachment assessment, 25.3%were categorized as secure, 19.0%as dismissive, 25.3% as preoccupied, and 30.4% as fearfully attached. As predicted, securely attached participants had the lowest scores for generalized anxiety, depression, suicidality, and posttraumatic stress disorder and the highest scores on the resiliency measure, followed by dismissive, preoccupied, and fearfully …

Mind Over Matter: The Role Of Resilience, Crime Victimization, And Age At The Time Of Victimization On Psychological Health, Alana Compton

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between crime victimization, age at the time of victimization, psychological health, and resilience. Past research has shown that crime victimization has been linked to higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders, and that those who experience a traumatic event as a child are influenced more negatively than those who experience trauma as an adult. Additionally, resilience has been shown to mediate the influence that trauma has on an individual. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty and staff were surveyed to determine their …

Mind Over Matter: The Role Of Resilience, Crime Victimization, And Age At The Time Of Victimization On Psychological Health, Alana Compton

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between crime victimization, age at the time of victimization, psychological health, and resilience. Past research has shown that crime victimization has been linked to higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders, and that those who experience a traumatic event as a child are influenced more negatively than those who experience trauma as an adult. Additionally, resilience has been shown to mediate the influence that trauma has on an individual. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty and staff were surveyed to determine their …

The Mediation Of Mental Health Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Risky Sexual Behavior, Kayla Marie Mandrigues, Julia Claire Dodd, Stacey Lynne Williams

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Risky sexual behaviors (RSB) have the potential to negatively impact individuals by increasing the risk of mental health issues, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unwanted pregnancies. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health disorders, such as anxiety, PTSD, and depression, have been known to increase RSB. The purpose of this study was to see if these mental health disorders mediate the relationship between ACEs and RSB. Participants (n = 342, mean age = 32) were recruited through social media to complete an online questionnaire. While history of ACEs significantly predicted engagement in RSB as well as all three of the …

Posttraumatic Stress, Depression, And Subjective Social Status: Potential Moderating Effects Of Optimism, Resilience, And Self-Efficacy, Caterina Obenauf

Masters Theses

The present study investigated the potential moderating effects of optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy on the relationships between subjective social status and both posttraumatic stress and depression symptom severity in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 382, M = 19.4, SD = 1.6, 81.5% White, 60.9% cisgender women) who reported experiencing one or more traumatic events. Many participants reported the highest education level attained by at least one parent being beyond a college degree (69%). Participants completed measures assessing trauma history, subjective social status, PTSD and depression symptoms, and potential psychological resources of optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy. In the …

Cultural Conflict For Veterans Transitioning To Civilian Life, Adam Francis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

United States military veterans face many challenges while transitioning from the military to civilian life that require a new civilian perspective to navigate the differences between these experiences. Previous research is focused on psychosocial, behavioral, and psychological issues veterans face (Ainspan et al., 2018; Coulthard & Lee, 2022; Romaniuk et al., 2020). The military and the Veterans Administration (VA) have primarily focused on veterans achieving employment and education after leaving the military. Being in the military is highly stressful and requires working closely with others (Krishnakumar et al., 2019), and reflects a collectivist nature (Bongioanni, 2022; Verkamp, 2021). Civilian culture …

The Mind And Crime: Criminal Victimization, Age, And Psychological Wellbeing, Alana Compton

Student Scholar Showcase

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between crime victimization, age at the time of victimization, and psychological health. Past research has shown that crime victimization has been linked to higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders, and that those who experience a traumatic event as a child are influenced more negatively than those who experience trauma as an adult. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty and staff were surveyed to determine their experiences with crime, age, and levels of depression, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorder symptomology, and resilience. The …

Predictors Of Suicide And Differences In Attachment Styles And Resilience Among Treatment-Seeking First Responder Subtypes, Warren Ponder, Jose Carbajal, James Whitworth, Donna Schuman, Jeanine Galusha, R Andrew Yockey

Faculty Publications

Objective: To identify the predictors of suicide for firefighters (FFs), emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and law enforcement officers (LEOs). Methods: We used baseline data from FFs/EMTs (n = 69) and LEOs (n = 81) to investigate the unique predictors for both first-responder subtypes. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis on validated assessments of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.Measures of attachment, resilience, PTSD, depression, generalized anxiety, trauma history, and substance use were the independent variables in two backward stepwise regressions predicting suicide. Results: Substance use and somatic depression were significant predictors for LEOs, whereas affective depression, anhedonia, externalizing …

Moral Injury To Inform Analysis Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Amanda Julia Manea

Senior Theses

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that almost one out of ten veterans struggle with. Although the National Center for PTSD has made extensive progress in characterizing and developing new treatments for PTSD, most veterans still experience symptoms of PTSD following treatment. Novel avenues of investigation, such as developing algorithms to review electronic health record (EHR) data and better understanding moral injury, are being pursued to address the gap that still exists when it comes to treating veterans. Moral injury is the individual evaluation of exposure to a potentially morally injurious event (PMIE) and can lead to …

Affective Depression Mediates Ptsd To Suicide In A Sample Of Treatment-Seeking First Responders, James Whitworth, Jeanine Galusha, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Donna Schuman

Faculty Publications

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the associations of comorbid

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), affective or somatic depression, and

suicide among first responders (FRs). Method: We used baseline data from

FRs (N = 232) who sought services at a nonprofit mental health agency specializing

in treating trauma exposed FRs. We conducted two PROCESS simple

mediation models with PTSD as the predictor, affective depression and somatic

depression as the mediators, and suicidality as the dependent variable.

Results: Affective depression significantly mediated the relationship between

PTSD and suicidality, whereas somatic depression did not. The direct effect …

Breaking Point: The Ironic Evolution Of Psychiatry In World War Ii - Appendix A, Rebecca Schwartz Greene

History

This book informs the public for the first time about the impact of American psychiatry on soldiers during World War II.

Breaking Point is the first in-depth history of American psychiatry in World War II. Drawn from unpublished primary documents, oral histories, and the author’s personal interviews and correspondence over years with key psychiatric and military policymakers, it begins with Franklin Roosevelt’s endorsement of a universal Selective Service psychiatric examination followed by Army and Navy pre- and post-induction examinations. Ultimately, 2.5 million men and women were rejected or discharged from military service on neuropsychiatric grounds. Never before or since has …

Breaking Point: The Ironic Evolution Of Psychiatry In World War Ii - Appendix B, Rebecca Schwartz Greene

History

This book informs the public for the first time about the impact of American psychiatry on soldiers during World War II.

Breaking Point is the first in-depth history of American psychiatry in World War II. Drawn from unpublished primary documents, oral histories, and the author’s personal interviews and correspondence over years with key psychiatric and military policymakers, it begins with Franklin Roosevelt’s endorsement of a universal Selective Service psychiatric examination followed by Army and Navy pre- and post-induction examinations. Ultimately, 2.5 million men and women were rejected or discharged from military service on neuropsychiatric grounds. Never before or since has …