Psychiatry Commons^™

Acceptance And Commitment Therapy With Huntington's Disease: A Narrative Review And Case Report Of A Caregiver-Assisted Intervention, Simone H. Schriger, Chelsi N. Nurse, C. Virginia O'Hayer

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an experiential, action-oriented talk therapy that emphasizes acceptance of painful inner experience through increased psychological flexibility. In this narrative review and case report, we first review the extant literature on applications of ACT to patients with a variety of mental and physical health challenges, including neurodegenerative disorders, and their caregivers. We then discuss applications of ACT to Huntington's disease (HD). We provide a case report of a 52-year-old man living with HD who, accompanied by his caregiver, received a virtually-delivered 6-session ACT intervention. We measured the patient's self-reported symptoms of depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety …

Nitrous Oxide Induced Psychosis: A Case Report, Brianne Kimmet, Barbara Gracious

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

Case Series Of Psychiatric Patients With Hypothermia: A Clinical Review, Amy Mackenzie, Brianne Kimmet, James Free, Ubaid Khokhar, Barbara Gracious

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

Neurosyphilis Mortality Trends In The United States (1999–2023): A Cdc Wonder Database Analysis, Amy Mackenzie, Barbara Gracious

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

The Hatchet Man Of Baghdad: A Serial Killer Under The Ba’Ath Regime, Amy Mackenzie, Muniza Shah

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

Resilience And Reality: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of People Living With Hiv In Texas During The Covid-19 Pandemic – A Qualitative Study., Ahmed F. Alanazi

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

This study investigated the lived experiences of individuals living with HIV (PLWH) in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area of Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) framework. The research examined the intersection of health, social dynamics, and psychological resilience among PLWH, who faced compounded vulnerabilities due to systemic inequities and the dual public health crises of HIV and COVID-19. Through semi-structured interviews with ten participants from diverse backgrounds, the study captured the profound impacts of disrupted healthcare systems, heightened stigma, and social isolation on this marginalized population. The findings reveal that the pandemic exacerbated existing inequities …

Comparing Efficacy Of Psychotropic Classes To Control Aggression Among Pediatric Patients Hospitalized With Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Orestes Hadjistamoulou, Sindhura Kompella, Melissa Ricardo, Samuel Neuhut

East Florida Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

Video Games In The Management Of Adhd: A Novel Approach To Adjunct Traditional Treatment, Lekhya Kintada, France Leandre

North Florida Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

Emerging Role Of Liafensine In The Treatment Of Treatment Resistant Depression: Insights From The Enlighten Trial, Karla Narvaez, Saad Masud, Richard Callahan

East Florida Division GME Research Day 2025

Background: Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) remains a significant unmet need, affecting about one third of patients with major depressive disorder who fail to respond to two or more antidepressant trials. There is a need for new pharmacological approaches. Liafensine (also known as DB104) is a first-in-class triple reuptake inhibitor targeting serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine transporters, whose development has recently incorporated a precision medicine approach. Mechanism of Action: Liafensine inhibits reuptake of all three major monoamines (serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) distinguishing it from existing SSRIs, SNRIs, or other agents which typically target one or two systems. A genetic biomarker, ANK3 (also called …

The Chemical Straightjacket: Institutional Over-Use Of Psychotropic Drugs On Children In Lieu Of Therapeutic Community Mental Health Services, Marisa Leib-Neri

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

This Article argues that the abysmal state of children’s mental health in America is in part due to an overreliance on and over prescription of psychotropic drugs inside psychiatric residential institutions in lieu of community based mental health services. This overreliance on residential institutions and psychotropic drugs has allowed a new form of chemical restraint to flourish—the chemical straitjacket. This Article uses the medication lists of twelve children in seven different North Carolina psychiatric residential treatment facilities to demonstrate how the chemical straitjacket operates: the prescription of drugs not approved for pediatric populations, counter to evidence-based practices for particular diagnoses, …

Wearable-Derived Heart Rate Variability Reveals Autonomic Dysfunction In Schizophrenia (Preprint), Alec J. Pupo, Stephanie H. Felgoise

Internal Medicine Resident Research

Autonomic dysfunction has long been implicated in schizophrenia, yet objective physiological markers remain underutilized in psychiatric research. Heart rate variability (HRV), a noninvasive measure of autonomic regulation, is conventionally derived from short electrocardiographic recordings. In this study, we tested whether continuous, wearable-derived HRV can identify physiologic alterations in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Using the NIH All of Us database, we analyzed second-level Fitbit heart rate data from 26 individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses and 26 matched controls. Frequency-domain analyses focused on ultra-low frequency (ULF), very low frequency (VLF), and truncated low frequency (tLF) bands, given sampling constraints. Schizophrenia participants showed significantly reduced power …

“University Stress” Exploring The Potential Impact Of An Immersive Art Experience On A College Campus, Lyn Godley, C. Virginia O'Hayer, Raegan Davis, Emily Wakschal, Chelsi N. Nurse, Wendy J. Ross, Abigail Spraker, Nate Godshall, Rosemary Frasso

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

There is growing interest in the effects of immersive art on wellbeing, which engages multiple senses and facilitates deeper engagement. University settings, particularly during high-stress periods like exams, are increasingly emphasizing mental health interventions to combat rising rates of anxiety, depression, stress, and suicidal ideation. This study investigates the potential of a fully immersive art experience to positively impact mood and reduce stress in a university setting. Pre- and post-visit questionnaires, including the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) survey, were administered to assess emotional changes. Additional open-ended questions provided qualitative feedback. Results showed statistically significant decreases in 12 negative …

Pregnancy-Related Delusional Beliefs In Midlife And Late-Life Women: A Case Series, Dyuksha Arora, Ashita Adarsh, Kishor M. Manohar Rao, Anand R, Soumya Rajshekar Patil, Akshatha Cj

Digital Journal of Clinical Medicine

Pseudocyesis and delusional pregnancy represent rare but clinically significant presentations across psychiatric practice. While pseudocyesis involves a false belief of pregnancy accompanied by physical manifestations, delusion of pregnancy refers to a fixed belief of being pregnant despite clear contrary evidence. Both conditions pose considerable challenges as they involve close consultation and liaison between Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Psychiatry. There are a few studies from tertiary care general hospitals in India. Here we report two case series.

Case 1: A 43-year-old married woman from a rural background with an 8-year history of recurrent depressive disorder and dysthymia, presented with 3 months …

Ketamine Infusion Treatment For Depression, Isabella Schwing

Capstone Showcase

Depression remains a significant public health challenge in the U.S., affecting millions of adults and contributing to both psychological and financial burdens. Major depressive disorder impacts approximately 14.5 million U.S. adults, with about 30% of cases classified as treatment-resistant depression. Traditional antidepressant therapies, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, often have delayed onset and limited efficacy, leaving a substantial portion of patients without adequate relief. Given these limitations, there is an urgent need for alternative treatment options.

Recent research has highlighted ketamine as a promising intervention for Major Depressive Disorder and Treatment Resistant Depression. Initially identified as …

Weighted Family History Density Of Substance Use: Influence On Participant Substance Use Onset, Escalation, And Duration, Carleigh A. Litteral

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Substance use disorders impose a staggering toll on the United States (U.S.), straining healthcare systems, destabilizing communities, and profoundly impacting both individuals and families. Approximately one in six Americans aged 12 and older had a past-year substance use disorder in 2022 (Key Substance Use, 2022), and nearly one-third of adults experience a substance use disorder in their lifetime (Wu, 2010), contributing to an economic burden exceeding $400 billion annually (National Drug Threat Assessment, 2011). Family history of substance use disorders is a key predictor of vulnerability, with individuals who have affected relatives being 2–8 times more …

Suicide Phenotyping From Clinical Notes In Safety-Net Psychiatric Hospital Using Multi-Label Classification With Pre-Trained Language Models, Zehan Li, Yan Hu, Scott Lane, Salih Selek, Lokesh Shahani, Rodrigo Machado-Vieira, Jair Soares, Hua Xu, Hongfang Liu, Ming Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Accurate identification and categorization of suicidal events can yield better suicide precautions, reducing operational burden, and improving care quality in high-acuity psychiatric settings. Pre-trained language models offer promise for identifying suicidality from unstructured clinical narratives. We evaluated the performance of four BERT-based models using two fine-tuning strategies (multiple single-label and single multi-label) for detecting coexisting suicidal events from 500 annotated psychiatric evaluation notes. The notes were labeled for suicidal ideation (SI), suicide attempts (SA), exposure to suicide (ES), and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). RoBERTa outperformed other models using binary relevance (acc=0.86, F1=0.78). MentalBERT (F1=0.74) also exceeded BioClinicalBERT (F1=0.72). RoBERTa fine-tuned with …

Exploring The Correlation Between Medical Book Authors And Their Dedication, Simlum N A, Kishor M

Digital Journal of Clinical Medicine

Training in medical sciences is considered one of the most challenging disciplines in higher education. India has one of the largest number of medical institutions in the world. Many initiatives are being taken to engage budding doctors. There has been phenomenal growth in medical literature to enrich students understanding and application of the knowledge in health care services. The authors of books on medical literature, are probably passionate experts keen to present the information in the best possible way for the readers. However, there is hardly any literature on what are the factors which inspires these works or who were …

Rare Variant Analysis Of Electronic Health Record-Defined Major Depressive Disorder In The All Of Us Research Program, Stephen Emil Vieno

Theses and Dissertations

The underlying pathogenesis of MDD remains poorly understood, with multiple competing hypotheses regarding its exact etiology. As a heterogeneous disorder with relatively low heritability, large-scale genome-wide association studies of MDD have relied on increasingly large sample sizes to identify common genetic variants associated with the disorder. However, the rare variant genetic architecture of MDD is still largely unknown. The aim of the present analysis was to use the AoU—a United States-based biobank that integrates healthcare records from over 50 healthcare systems and possesses whole genome sequencing data for participants—to perform a gene set–based analysis of MDD. This analysis presented several …

Evaluating The Emotional Accuracy Of Ai-Generated Facial Expressions In Neurotypical Individuals, Antonio Pagán, Katherine A Loveland, Ronald Acierno

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study examines the ability of generative artificial intelligence to produce facial expressions representing basic emotions in a neutral context using black-and-white cartoon imagery. Mentalization, the capacity to recognize and interpret one’s own and others’ mental states, is critical for social interaction and emotional regulation. We explored the emotional validation of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images by assessing the agreement between human interpretations of emotions and those generated by an AI model. Thirty-four participants evaluated images depicting six basic emotions: sadness, anger, happiness, surprise, fear, and disgust. Our findings revealed significant variability in human agreement, with higher concordance for sadness, anger, …

Primary Polydipsia In A Case Of Genetic Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia, Yesenia Cantu, Taryn White, Gabriela Austgen, Christine Rizk, Olaoluwa O Okusaga, Melissa B Jones

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.