Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Antecedents Of Borderline Personality Disorder And Antisocial Personality Disorder: An Examination Of Gene X Environment Interactions, Amy L. Medina

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Current thinking suggests that genotypes associated with impulse-control disorders and negative emotionality, such as monoamine oxidase-a (MAOA), interact with negative early environmental factors like childhood maltreatment and develop into the disorders know as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Using existing data from a prospective cohort design study of the consequences of child abuse and neglect, participants (N = 896 represent individuals with documented histories of child abuse and neglect and a matched comparison group that were followed up into adulthood and interviewed. A subsample of 631 participants gave permission for DNA extraction and analyses during …

Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms Of Adverse Trauma Outcomes In Emerging Adulthood, Olena Kleshchova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Exposure to traumatic stress and adversity during the formative years of development can have adverse effects on mental health, neuroendocrine stress system function, and the brain, that persist into adulthood. One candidate mechanism that might confer vulnerability to enduring adverse outcomes of early life trauma is disruption of normal brain maturation. As the brain matures, functional interactions among brain regions change until the functional brain architecture (i.e., the functional connectome) reaches a mature state in adulthood. Given that different neural circuits have distinct developmental trajectories and sensitive periods, traumatic stress at a given point in development might have …

The Development Of Face Morphing Task To Assess Self Other Differentiation, Esen Karan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Self-Other Differentiation (SOD) refers to a developmental process of acquiring a consolidated, integrated, and individuated sense of self. SOD develops at a) perceptual (e.g., facial perception) and b) representational (e.g., traits, mental states, and beliefs) levels. Impairments in representational SOD (R-SOD) are associated with many forms of psychopathology, particularly borderline personality disorder (BPD) and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Few studies to date have examined the perceptual aspects of SOD (P-SOD), which are hypothesized to develop from infancy onwards in tandem and in interaction with R-SOD. Given that the human face is one of the key characteristics that humans use to …

Does Ethnic Identity, In-Group Preference, And Acculturation Protect Latinas With A History Of Interpersonal Trauma From Developing Symptoms Of Ptsd?, Evelyn M. Ramirez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Previous research suggests ethnic identity, a sense of belonging to a particular cultural group, may be protective against symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the role of ethnic identity, in-group preference (i.e., an individual’s preference for interactions with members of their own ethnic group) and acculturation (i.e., the level of comfort with the mainstream culture) have not been investigated as protective factors for Latinas with a history of interpersonal and sexual trauma. In this study, ethnic identity, in-group preference and acculturation were assessed via self-report on the Scale of Ethnic Experience in two samples of undergraduate Latina and non-Latina …

The Social Cost Of Pain: Rejection Sensitivity, Social Rejection, And Cannabis Use In Young Adults, Naomi Dambreville

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cannabis has been implicated in relieving distress and social pain, an important area of research in young adult samples, given the saliency of peer and social networks to addiction. Cannabis, via opioid pathways, has been shown to reduce, or potentially buffer, the effects of social pain and rejection. Thus, cannabis may be protective against the painful feelings of social stress, particularly for heavier or more frequent users. However, findings are not wholly positive, as other research indicates cannabis may blunt affective responses and impair social processing. The effects of cannabis use in young adults are understudied, as well as its …

What’S Your Story? Assessing Childhood Maltreatment Using The Thematic Apperception Test In An Adult Inpatient Population., Thachell C. Tanis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a robust evidence that childhood maltreatment contributes to the development of adult psychopathology (Brown & Anderson, 1991; Johnson, Cohen, Brown, Smailes, & Bernstein 1999; Johnson, Smailes, Cohen, Brown, & Bernstein, 2000; Ruggiero et al., 1999). However, the identification of childhood maltreatment remains a methodological problem that results in inconsistencies in the reported incidence and psychological sequelae of maltreatment. A primary method for identifying histories of childhood maltreatment among adults is retrospective self-report measures which are susceptible to multiple biases (Briere, 1992; Cicchetti & Rizley, 1981; Shaffer, Huston, & Egeland, 2008). This present study suggests that childhood maltreatment can …

Cortical Thickness Abnormalities Within The Salience And Reward Networks In Older Depressed Adults With Apathy, Monique A. Pimontel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background and Significance: Apathy is a common comorbidity in late-life depression. Among older depressed adults, apathy is associated with a number of adverse outcomes, including increased disability, comorbid illness, and mortality. The etiological substrates of apathy in late-life depression nonetheless remain poorly understood, and little is known about its optimal treatment. To this end, the aim of the current study was to examine cortical abnormalities within the salience (SN) and reward networks (RN), two brain systems involved in the processing of incentive salience that may underlie the syndrome of apathy in older depressed adults.

Methods: We examined the association between …

Characterization Of Somatosensory Processing In Relation To Schizotypal Traits In A Sample Of Nonclinical Young Adults, Maureen Patricia Daly

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A core feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) is a basic sensory (e.g., visual, auditory) processing disruption, yet few studies have examined somatosensation. The current dissertation project examined somatosensory processes among individuals at varying degrees of psychometric risk for psychosis using tactile texture and spatial discrimination and letter recognition tasks. Differential patterns of associations of somatosensory abilities with schizotypal trait dimensions (positive, negative, disorganized), independent of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and the relative contributions of bottom-up (peripheral and morphologic features) versus top-down (error types) processing were examined. It was hypothesized that: 1) performance on somatosensory tasks would account for significant …