Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Benzodiazepines I: Upping The Care On Downers: The Evidence Of Risks, Benefits And Alternatives, Jeffrey Guina, Brian Merrill

Psychiatry Faculty Publications

Benzodiazepines are some of the most commonly prescribed medications in the world. These sedative-hypnotics can provide rapid relief for symptoms like anxiety and insomnia, but are also linked to a variety of adverse effects (whether used long-term, short-term, or as needed). Many patients take benzodiazepines long-term without ever receiving evidence-based first-line treatments (e.g., psychotherapy, relaxation techniques, sleep hygiene education, serotonergic agents). This review discusses the risks and benefits of, and alternatives to benzodiazepines. We discuss evidence-based indications and contraindications, and the theoretical biopsychosocial bases for effectiveness, ineffectiveness and harm. Potential adverse effects and drug-drug interactions are summarized. Finally, both fast-acting/acute …

Decreasing Stigma Against Depression In Chinese International Students, Elizabeth Trader

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Higher levels of stress and a shift in support systems during the transition to another culture can put international students at risk for mood disorders like depression. Previous research supports there is also a higher level of depression stigma within Eastern cultures in comparison to Western cultures (Rao, Feinglass, & Corrigan, 2007). This may account for the strikingly low numbers from the Chinese population that seek and maintain professional counseling services while studying in the U.S. (Yakushko, Davidson, & Sandford-Martens, 2008). The present study sought to determine whether two self-produced Chinese videos regarding information about stigma, symptoms, and treatment of …

Mesotocin Influences Pinyon Jay Prosociality, J. F. Duque, W. Leichner, H. Ahmann, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Many species exhibit prosocial behavior , in which one individual’s actions benefit another individual, often without an immediate benefit to itself. The neuropeptide oxytocin is an important hormonal mechanism influencing prosociality in mammals, but it is unclear whether the avian homologue mesotocin plays a similar functional role in birds. Here, we experimentally tested prosociality in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), a highly social corvid species that spontaneously shares food with others. First, we measured prosocial preferences in a prosocial choice task with two different pay-off distributions: Prosocial trials delivered food to both the subject and either an empty cage …

The Mediation Of Perfectionism And Rumination On Mindfulness And Burnout In Collegiate Athletes, Nicholas S. Mcmillen

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Several positive and negative sport-related experiences can occur throughout an athlete’s career, which can affect the continuation or termination of said career. Although research has associated sport participation with positive outcomes (e.g., increases in motivation, autonomy), there are also negative sport-related outcomes such as burnout (Akhrem & Gazdowska, 2016; Garcia, 2015). Specifically, burnout has been identified as a multidimensional construct that includes three dimensions. Furthermore, mindfulness has been studied to minimize the risk of experiencing burnout (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). While several studies have examined mediators between mindfulness and burnout, there has been a dearth of research on perfectionism and rumination as …

Resilience Concepts In Psychiatry Demonstrated With Bipolar Disorder, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Maj-Liz Persson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Background: The term resilience describes stress–response patterns of subjects across scientific disciplines. In ecology, advances have been made to clearly distinguish resilience definitions based on underlying mechanistic assumptions. Engineering resilience (rebound) is used for describing the ability of subjects to recover from adverse conditions (disturbances), and is the rate of recovery. In contrast, the ecological resilience definition considers a systemic change: when complex systems (including humans) respond to disturbances by reorganizing into a new regime (stable state) where structural and functional aspects have fundamentally changed relative to the prior regime. In this context, resilience is an emergent property of complex …

Benzodiazepines Ii: Waking Up On Sedatives: Providing Optimal Care When Inheriting Benzodiazepine Prescriptions In Transfer Patients, Jeffrey Guina, Brian Merrill

Psychiatry Faculty Publications

This review discusses risks, benefits, and alternatives in patients already taking benzodiazepines when care transfers to a new clinician. Prescribers have the decision—sometimes mutually agreed-upon and sometimes unilateral—to continue, discontinue, or change treatment. This decision should be made based on evidence-based indications (conditions and timeframes), comorbidities, potential drug-drug interactions, and evidence of adverse effects, misuse, abuse, dependence, or diversion. We discuss management tools involved in continuation (e.g., monitoring symptoms, laboratory testing, prescribing contracts, state prescription databases, stages of change) and discontinuation (e.g., tapering, psychotherapeutic interventions, education, handouts, reassurance, medications to assist with discontinuation, and alternative treatments).

Mental Health In Commercial Aviation - Depression & Anxiety Of Pilots, Maurice C. Dehoff, Stephen K. Cusick

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Two landmark accidents invigorated the discussion regarding pilot mental health. Other incidents may also have a mental health component that is related to, but not the direct cause of, the event. It is suspected that these “other incidents” are much more commonplace and while not catastrophic, erode safety. Depression and anxiety are two commonly occurring mental health concerns. Research indicates that a considerable portion of the U. S. population suffers from some form of mental health issue. Most go undiagnosed and untreated. A similar rate of occurrence appears to be found within the airline pilot population. The stigma of mental …

Home Is Where The Morphine Is, Morgan Sierra

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The thesis exhibition I create will be an installation that is centered around a fictional narrative starring a vivacious mental patient, and containing the people, places, and things in which she interacts with in her life at the hospital. As the audience moves through the gallery, they are immersed into the main character's world, seeing and analyzing the rooms and objects through the eyes and mind of the protagonist. The confidence in which the patient speaks of her environment could lead spectators to believe that her experiences in the hospital are an irrefutable truth. It is only after closely looking …

Into The Wild: Factors Mediating The Positive Outcomes Of Wilderness Based Therapy, Layla Moehring

Scripps Senior Theses

Wildnerness therapy is becoming increasingly popular as a treatment for adolescents. It has been established as an efficacious treatment in previous literature, but the mechanisms as to why have thus far remained a mystery. This research is looking at the connection between wilderness therapy and DBT, another evidence-based treatment. This study will examine 156 adolescents, comparing the efficacy of wilderness therapy to traditional inpatient and intensive outpatient. Pre-treatment assessments of suicidal ideation, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance will be taken. It is expected that there will be main effects for each of the treatments, but that wilderness therapy will be …

Building Competencies And Skills Among Service Providers Working With Young People Who Experience Serious Mental Health Conditions: State Of The Science, Janet S. Walker, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen M. Brennan, Leigh Grover

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper explores what is currently known about the most promising strategies for increasing providers’ capacity to deliver effective behavioral health services and supports. The paper also describes how this information has been—or could be—applied to the design of cutting-edge approaches for building skills and competencies among providers that work with young people who experience serious mental health conditions.

Computational Model For Behavior Shaping As An Adaptive Health Intervention Strategy, Vincent Berardi, Ricardo Carretero-González, Neil E. Klepeis, Sahar Ghanipoor Machiani, Arash Jahangiri, John Bellettiere, Melbourne Hovell

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Adaptive behavioral interventions that automatically adjust in real-time to participants’ changing behavior, environmental contexts, and individual history are becoming more feasible as the use of real-time sensing technology expands. This development is expected to improve shortcomings associated with traditional behavioral interventions, such as the reliance on imprecise intervention procedures and limited/short-lived effects. JITAI adaptation strategies often lack a theoretical foundation. Increasing the theoretical fidelity of a trial has been shown to increase effectiveness. This research explores the use of shaping, a well-known process from behavioral theory for engendering or maintaining a target behavior, as a JITAI adaptation strategy. A computational …

Six-Month Post-Release Outcomes For Inmates With Traumatic Brain Injury In Supported Community Programming, Elizabeth O. Ahlers

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health issue. The incidence of TBI is much higher in the incarcerated population than in the general population, making this a uniquely vulnerable population. Methods: This study looks at data from the Jail Based Behavioral Health Services (JBBS) to examine recidivism rates among inmates participating in supportive programming. It also uses data from a state brain injury program to examine the impact of case management on community engagement in the justice-involved population with a history of brain injury. Results: Statewide data for a population of inmates who elect to participate …

Neurofeedback With Fmri: A Critical Systematic Review, Robert T. Thibault, Amanda Macpherson, Michael Lifshitz, Raquel R. Roth, Amir Raz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Neurofeedback relying on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI-nf) heralds new prospects for self-regulating brain and behavior. Here we provide the first comprehensive review of the fMRI-nf literature and the first systematic database of fMRI-nf findings. We synthesize information from 99 fMRI-nf experiments—the bulk of currently available data. The vast majority of fMRI-nf findings suggest that self-regulation of specific brain signatures seems viable; however, replication of concomitant behavioral outcomes remains sparse. To disentangle placebo influences and establish the specific effects of neurofeedback, we highlight the need for double-blind placebo-controlled studies alongside rigorous and standardized statistical analyses. Before fMRI-nf can join the …

Virtual Reality As A Training Tool To Treat Physical Inactivity In Children, Adam W. Kiefer, David Pincus, Michael J. Richardson, Gregory D. Myer

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Lack of adequate physical activity in children is an epidemic that can result in obesity and other poor health outcomes across the lifespan. Physical activity interventions focused on motor skill competence continue to be developed, but some interventions, such as neuromuscular training (NMT), may be limited in how early they can be implemented due to dependence on the child’s level of cognitive and perceptual-motor development. Early implementation of motor-rich activities that support motor skill development in children is critical for the development of healthy levels of physical activity that carry through into adulthood. Virtual reality (VR) training may be beneficial …

The Climate Of Neurofeedback: Scientific Rigour And The Perils Of Ideology, Robert T. Thibault, Michael Lifshitz, Amir Raz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Over the last six decades, an in-group with ideological and financial stakes has been conducting sub-par research to develop an ostensibly effective clinical intervention: EEG-neurofeedback. More recently, however, a string of independent studies featuring increased scientific rigour and tighter experimental controls has challenged the foundation on which EEG-neurofeedback stands. Earlier this year, Brain published one of the most robust EEG-neurofeedback experiments to date (Schabus et al., 2017), which sparked a flurry of correspondence concerning the therapeutic value of neurofeedback (Fovet et al., 2017; Schabus, 2017); notably, a parallel discussion continues in Lancet Psychiatry …

The Therapeutic Relationship As A Context For Reformation, Kristine Lund

Consensus

No abstract provided.

The Dynamics Of Stress And Fatigue Across Menopause: Attractors, Coupling, And Resilience, Lisa Taylor-Swanson, Alexander E. Wong, David Pincus, Jonathan E. Butner, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, Mary Koithan, Kathryn Wann, Nancy F. Woods

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective:

The objective of this study was to evaluate the regulatory dynamics between stress and fatigue experienced by women during the menopausal transition (MT) and early postmenopause (EPM). Fatigue and perceived stress are commonly experienced by women during the MT and EPM. We sought to discover relationships between these symptoms and to employ these symptoms as possible markers for resilience.

Methods:

Participants were drawn from the longitudinal Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study. Eligible women completed questionnaires on 60+ occasions (annual health reports and monthly health diaries) (n = 56 women). The total number of observations across the sample was 4,224. …

Volition And Action In The Human Brain: Processes, Pathologies, And Reasons, Itzhak Fried, Patrick Haggard, Biyu J. He, Aaron Schurger

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Humans seem to decide for themselves what to do, and when to do it. This distinctive capacity may emerge from an ability, shared with other animals, to make decisions for action that are related to future goals, or at least free from the constraints of immediate environmental inputs. Studying such volitional acts proves a major challenge for neuroscience. This review highlights key mechanisms in the generation of voluntary, as opposed to stimulus-driven actions, and highlights three issues. The first part focuses on the apparent spontaneity of voluntary action. The second part focuses on one of the most distinctive, but elusive, …

When Is Affect Variability Bad For Health? The Association Between Affect Variability And Immune Response To The Influenza Vaccination, Brooke N. Jenkins, John F. Hunter, Marie P. Cross, Amanda M. Acevedo, Sarah D. Pressman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives—This study addresses methodological and theoretical questions about the association between affect and physical health. Specifically, we examine the role of affect variability and its interaction with mean levels of affect to predict antibody (Ab) levels in response to an influenza vaccination.

Methods—Participants (N = 83) received the vaccination and completed daily diary measures of affect four times a day for 13 days. At one and four months post-vaccination, blood was collected from the participants to assess Ab levels.

Results—Findings indicate that affect variability and its interaction with mean levels of affect predict an individual’s immune response. …

Entrainment Of Voluntary Movement To Undetected Auditory Regularities, Aaron Schurger, Nathan Faivre, Leila Cammoun, Bianca Trovó, Olaf Blanke

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In physics “entrainment” refers to the synchronization of two coupled oscillators with similar fundamental frequencies. In behavioral science, entrainment refers to the tendency of humans to synchronize their movements with rhythmic stimuli. Here, we asked whether human subjects performing a tapping task would entrain their tapping to an undetected auditory rhythm surreptitiously introduced in the guise of ambient background noise in the room. Subjects performed two different tasks, one in which they tapped their finger at a steady rate of their own choosing and one in which they performed a single abrupt finger tap on each trial after a delay …