Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

The Influence Of Exercise Environment And Gender On Mood And Exertion, Thomas G. Plante, Marily A. Opezzo, L. Aislinn Diaz, Selena Pistoresi, Michael Santos, Jacqueline E. Fahey, Elizabeth Kay, Briana Britton, Suheel Khan

Psychology

This study examined the influence of exercise environment and gender on post-exercise mood and exertion. College student participants (55 females, 49 males) were instructed to pedal a stationary bike at a moderate pace for 20 minutes. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three laboratory conditions: (1) exercising in front of a mirror and posters showing ideal fit body types (i.e., celebrity male and female personal trainers), (2) exercising in front of a mirror only, or (3) a control condition in which participants exercised without a mirror or posters. The Activation- Deactivation Adjective Check List (AD-ACL), measuring exercise-induced mood states, …

Association Between Parental Psychopathology And Suicidal Behavior Among Adult Offspring: Results From The Cross-Sectional South African Stress And Health Survey, Lukoye Atwoli, Matthew K. Nock, David R. Williams, Dan J. Stein

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background: Prior studies have demonstrated a link between parental psychopathology and offspring suicidal behavior. However, it remains unclear what aspects of suicidal behavior among adult offspring are predicted by specific parental mental disorders, especially in Africa. This study set out to investigate the association between parental psychopathology and suicidal behavior among their adult offspring in a South African general population sample.

Method: Parental psychopathology and suicidal behavior in offspring were assessed using structured interviews among 4,315 respondents from across South Africa. The WHO CIDI was used to collect data on suicidal behavior, while the Family History Research Diagnostic Criteria Interview …

Stress Management For Cancer Survivors Using A Technologically Adapted Psychosocial Intervention: A Randomized Trial Determining The Effect Of Expressive Writing On Psychoneuroimmunology Based Outcomes, Utkarsh B. Subnis

Theses and Dissertations

Patients with cancer transitioning from completing their final cancer treatments to survivorship are particularly at risk for experiencing psychosocial stress, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has referred to these cancer patients as “lost in transition.” In this study, patients with cancer in their transition phase after completing their final radiation treatment were defined as cancer survivors (CS). CS must deal with chronic stressors such as the fear of cancer recurrence as well as the resumption of their roles in their family and work lives. Chronic stress impacts the nervous system and increases secretion of stress hormones (e.g. cortisol) from …

Follow-Up Evaluation Of Treatment For Anxiety And Depression Provided In A University-Based Primary Care Clinic, Renée M. Grinnell

Theses and Dissertations

Although integrated primary care psychology services are becoming increasingly common, the literature lacks adequate research support for the longitudinal durability of treatment effects following the conclusion of brief primary care interventions. This study served as a follow-up program evaluation of psychological services for depression and anxiety provided at the Medical College of Virginia’s Ambulatory Care Center in Richmond, Virginia. Data were collected on 47 adult primary care patients who received treatment for depression and/or anxiety between six and 18 months prior to the follow-up telephone call. Data were collected on the trajectory of depression scores throughout and following treatment, treatment …

Trajectories Of Symptom Dimensions In Short-Term Response To Antipsychotic Treatment In Patients With A First Episode Of Non-Affective Psychosis, J. M. Pelayo-Terán, Francisco J. Diaz, R. Pérez-Iglesias, P. Suárez-Pinilla, R. Tabarés-Seisdedos, Jose De Leon, B. Crespo-Facorro

Psychiatry Faculty Publications

Background Trajectory patterns of positive, disorganized and negative dimension symptoms during antipsychotic treatment in drug-naive patients with first-episode psychosis have yet to be examined by using naturalistic data.

Method This pragmatic clinical trial randomized 161 drug-naive patients with a first episode of psychosis to olanzapine, risperidone or haloperidol. Patients were assessed with the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and Positive Symptoms (SAPS) at baseline and at the end of weeks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 of antipsychotic treatment. Censored normal models of response trajectories were developed with three dimensions of the SAPS-SANS scores (positive, disorganized and …

Examining Sexual Satisfaction And Pretending Orgasm, Chelsea Twiss

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

An article in popular women’s magazine, Cosmopolitan, recently revealed a startling admission from its readers: 86% of respondents reported pretending orgasm during intercourse with a partner (Kylstra, 2011). Despite its apparent frequency, there is yet to be a study conducted investigating the relationship between pretending orgasm and overall sexual satisfaction (Ippolito, 2012). Sexual satisfaction is linked with important facets of life such as overall relationship satisfaction and general wellbeing. The present study examines the relationship between experiencing orgasm, pretending orgasm and overall sexual satisfaction. Participants were Eastern Washington University college students recruited via an online survey website (Qualtrics), and who …

Emotional Inertia: A Key To Understanding Psychotherapy Process And Outcome, Xavier Bornas, Miquel Noguera, David Pincus, Gualberto Buela-Casal

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The processes underlying psychotherapeutic change have increasingly been emphasized in both research and clinical practice. Nonlinear dynamical systems theory (NDS) offers a transdisciplinary scientific approach to the study of these processes. This paper introduces the NDS concept of "emotional inertia", the property of human emotion by which it retains its course so long as it is not acted upon by an external force, as a key to understanding moment-by-moment and also longer-term change processes within psychotherapy. A testable mathematical model of emotional inertia is presented that represents specific impacts of psychotherapeutic processes on emotional dynamics over time. Emotional trajectories in …

Asymmetrical Interference Effects Between Two-Dimensional Geometric Shapes And Their Corresponding Shape Words, Bradley R. Sturz, Joshua E. Edwards, Ty W. Boyer

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Nativists have postulated fundamental geometric knowledge that predates linguistic and symbolic thought. Central to these claims is the proposal for an isolated cognitive system dedicated to processing geometric information. Testing such hypotheses presents challenges due to difficulties in eliminating the combination of geometric and non-geometric information through language. We present evidence using a modified matching interference paradigm that an incongruent shape word interferes with identifying a two-dimensional geometric shape, but an incongruent two-dimensional geometric shape does not interfere with identifying a shape word. This asymmetry in interference effects between two-dimensional geometric shapes and their corresponding shape words suggests that shape …

Childhood Sexual Behavior: An Integrated Developmental Ecological Assessment Approach, Kelley Simmons Jones

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative, theoretical review and analysis of extant literature explored the sociocultural influences effecting conceptualization of childhood sexual behavior problems. Themes emerged from analysis of peer-reviewed journals that illustrated the complex, multidimensional, and ecological factors influencing child sexual development and problematic sexual behavior. These included major themes of Child Sexuality: Ecological Context, Developmental Context, Complex Trauma, and Ecological Interventions. Specific factors associated with childhood sexual behavior problems included trauma, domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, psychological and emotional distress, impaired attachment, and the effects of diverse ecological systems such as the family, parents, and sociocultural influences of the greater community. …

The Effects Of Anxiety On Sensory Gating, Jonathon Meier

Honors Projects

Sensory gating is a proposed important physiological process of inhibiting neuronal responses of repetitious stimuli in the central nervous system to allocate more cognitive resources to additional salient information. Sensory gating is currently being studied to better understand psychiatric illnesses, especially those characterized by emotional changes and the inability to concentrate such as schizophrenia, ADHD, anxiety disorder, and Parkinson’s. Anxiety is a strong feeling of nervousness that occurs in all individuals at varying degrees and is associated with detrimental health effects as well as hindering concentration. Numerous brain regions are associated with anxiety levels such as the anterior limbic system, …

How Insomnia Reduces Declarative And Non-Declarative Memory Sonsolidation, Kseniya Chumachenko

A with Honors Projects

Insomnia has many negative effects on those who suffer from it, both physical and mental. Memory consolidation is also affected by insomnia, because it depends on reaching REM sleep and deep wave sleep, which are both impaired by insomnia.

Identifying Functional Variation In Schizophrenia Gwas Loci By Pooled Sequencing, Erik Loken

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia demonstrates high heritability in part accounted for by common simple nucleotide variants (SNV), rare copy number variants (CNV) and, most recently, rare SNVs Although heritability explained by rare SNVs and CNVs is small compared to that explained by common SNVs, rare SNVs in functional sequences may identify specific disease mechanisms. However, current exome methods do not capture a large proportion of potentially functional bases where rare variation may impact disease risk: as much as two-thirds of conserved sequences lie outside the exome in non-coding regions of cross-species evolutionary constraint. We reasoned that the candidate loci from the Psychiatric Genomics …

A Systems Biology Approach To Detect Eqtls Associated With Mirna And Mrna Co-Expression Networks In The Nucleus Accumbens Of Chronic Alcoholic Patients, Mohammed Mamdani

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol Dependence (AD) is a chronic substance use disorder with moderate heritability (60%). Linkage and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated a number of loci; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying AD are unclear. Advances in systems biology allow genome-wide expression data to be integrated with genetic data to detect expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), polymorphisms that regulate gene expression levels, influence phenotypes and are significantly enriched among validated genetic signals for many commonly studied traits including AD.

We integrated genome-wide mRNA and miRNA expression data with genotypic data from the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a major addiction-related brain region, of 36 …