Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Examining The Benefits Of Adding Mindfulness-Based Programs In The Curriculum Of Undergraduate And Graduate Social Work Programs: A Review Of Literature, Sarah M. Dickerson

Honors Thesis

Undergraduate and graduate students are often enveloped in an array of stress and anxiety, and it is no surprise that undergraduate and graduate social work students are faced with high amounts of stress due to vicarious trauma as a result of exposure to via coursework and experiential learning. It also comes as no surprise that social work professionals are exposed to numerous stressors causing the burnout rate for social workers to be high. Mindfulness techniques are used in various cultures and religions around the world with the purpose of synching mind and body. Using mindfulness techniques, individuals can be fully …

Effect Of The Establishment Of A 2-Week Brief Mindfulness Practice On Positive Nutritional Choices And Perceived Stress In College Undergraduates, Emily M. Larson

Honors Thesis

College students often experience weight gain, which appears to be associated with elevated levels of stress. This stress can be due to exposure to a new environment, increased responsibility, and newfound independence that comes with living away from home. As such, identification of interventions that increase healthy eating behaviors and reduce perceived stress may promote good physical and mental health for college students. Mindfulness meditation, which is associated with lowered blood pressure, heart rate, and subjective anxiety, may be one such strategy. However, no research has examined the effect of the establishment of a mindfulness meditation practice on nutritional choices. …

Social Aggression And Stress-Related Phenotype Formation In The Stress Alternatives Model, Tayler L. Modlin

Honors Thesis

Stress is a universal reaction. Short-term stress can be viewed as positive, as it can promote survival and encourage positive behaviors; whereas chronic stress that is unpredictable can lead to health defects and emotional pathologies. The Stress Alternatives Model (SAM) was created with the purpose of testing decision-making during socially stressful situations. Over the course of a four-day experiment, test mice are exposed to periods of social stress caused by bites inflicted onto them by a larger aggressive mouse. As a response to these attacks, test mice exhibit an array of behaviors and ultimately develop one of two adaptive phenotypes: …

A Novel Indirect Pathway Of Crf Innervation To Perifornical Orexin Neurons Is Relayed Through The Lateral Septum, Timothy D. Skog

Honors Thesis

A Novel Indirect Pathway of CRF Innervation to Perifornical Orexin Neurons is Relayed Through the Lateral Septum

Timothy D. Skog

Director: Patrick J. Ronan, PhD

Orexin (Orx) and corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) play integral, sometimes parallel, roles in a host of arousal/stress responses. These neuromodulators have been implicated in a variety of stress-induced psychiatric disorders including addiction and affective disorders. Previous work has indicated that these systems interact and regulate each other—perhaps providing a feed-forward mechanism for enhancing and fine-tuning stress responses. This is implied by the fact that orexinergic neurons in the hypothalamus receive innervation from many CRF-rich neuronal …