Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Clinical psychology|Physiological psychology'

Sharp waves are areas of transient electrophysiological activity on conventional electroencephalogram (EEG) and are controversial as to their role in psychopathology. While some previous research has approached sub-seizure sharp waves as benign phenomena, the position taken in this study is that such activity indicates focal brain abnormalities with demonstrable behavioral correlations. This study explored the hypotheses that prevalence, location, and pattern of distribution of sharp wave activities in psychiatric patients would be associated with significant pathology and would predict specific clinical features. In a sample of 250 outpatient psychiatric patients, seventy-one non-epileptic patients demonstrated focal epileptiform predominantly distributed to frontotemporal regions. Location and distribution patterns of sharp wave activity had significant implications for clinical presentation, including relationship between homologous pairs of electrodes and affective symptom endorsement. Results of this study provide support of the pathological nature of epileptiform activity and suggest location and distribution have significant impact on clinical features.

Background: Each year, nearly ½ million youth under 15 years old sustains a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Although racial disparities have not been found in pediatric TBI (Howard, Joseph, & Natale, 2005), the consequences of TBI still remain a serious public health concern. Moderate and severe TBI (msTBI) frequently result in diffuse axonal injury and other white matter damage. The corpus callosum (CC) is particularly vulnerable to injury, though the impact of this damage may not be apparent until several months-to-years following injury. Damage to the CC has been associated with impaired neurocognitive functioning in youth with TBI.

Method: The investigator for this dissertation study utilized event-related potentials, an electrophysiological measure of neural processing, to measure interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) as an indicator of CC integrity in 31 youth with msTBI at the chronic phase of recovery (i.e., 13-18 months post injury), compared with 20 healthy control youth. Neurocognitive performance was also examined among these groups.

Results: At the chronic phase of recovery, TBI group youth overall demonstrated slower IHTTs and worse neurocognitive functioning than youth in the control group. Only a subset of msTBI group children had IHTTs that were outside the range of the healthy controls; however, this impairment in interhemispheric communication was not significantly associated with neurocognitive performance. A pattern of differential impairments emerged between TBI group participants. Chronic-phase outcomes in IHTT were correlated with the presence of neurosurgery at the acute phase of injury.

Conclusion: Overall, this study demonstrated that msTBI results in longstanding differences in interhemispheric and neurocognitive functioning, but injured children are differentially impacted. Functional reorganization resulting from neuroplasticity may help explain these results among children with slow IHTT but intact neurocognitive functioning. However, interpretations regarding the course of recovery could not be made due to the cross-sectional methodology used in this study. Investigators conducting future studies might explore additional outcomes associated with interhemispheric and neurocognitive functioning following msTBI at the chronic phase of recovery, including corresponding structural and metabolic changes using advanced imaging techniques.

Efficient, integrative methods to foster greater emotion regulation that are applicable to diverse populations are needed. Mindfulness meditation and resonant frequency breath training are independently positively correlated with changes in emotion regulation. The acquisition of effective emotion regulation strategies may be amplified by the interaction of mindfulness meditation practice and resonant frequency breath training. A sample of 82 undergraduate novice meditators were randomized in a four group design utilizing a control, mindfulness only, resonance only, and combined mindfulness and resonance breath training conditions delivered in a three-week intervention. Self-report measures assessed the use of emotion regulation strategies (ERQ), changes in rates of positive and negative affectivity (PANAS), acquisition of mindfulness skills (FFMQ), and sub-clinical symptoms of distress (DASS-21). Changes to low frequency heart rate variability, breath rate, heart rate, and temperature were evaluated. Results support the effect of resonance breath training on decreasing low frequency and increasing high frequency heart rate variability. The mindfulness training did not yield any effects. The effect of brief resonant breath training on heart rate variability suggests that this may be a viable intervention for re-regulation of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system functioning.

Anxiety disorders are the most prominent mental disorder in the United States, and women are 60% more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder. One hypothesis for this sex difference is faster fear generalization rates in females. In previous studies using male subjects, context change disrupted a fear response at a short, but not long retention interval. An incidental observation suggested that females would show a different temporal pattern of fear generalization. In Experiment 1, male and intact female rats displayed disrupted fear responses in a novel context at 1 day. Males displayed context discrimination at all intervals, whereas females exhibited generalization by 5 days. In Experiment 2, ovariectomized females were given an empty capsule or a capsule containing 17β-estradiol to determine the role of estrogens in fear generalization. Female rats with no hormone replacement displayed context discrimination at 5 days, whereas those receiving estradiol generalized their fear response to a novel context. These results demonstrate that fear generalization for contextual cues occurs faster in female rats and that this effect is mediated, in part, by estrogens. Understanding the sex differences in fear generalization is likely to be critical to developing effective treatments for anxiety disorders.

This study examined the effects of Neurofeedback on individuals diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). Neurofeedback is a non-invase form of brainwave biofeedback in which participants receive real-time visual and auditory feedback of their brainwave activity. Upon receiving this feedback, participants were reinforced via visual and auditory means for producing particular brainwave patterns which have been associated with mental concentration and bodily relaxation. The existing literature on Neurofeedback for Fibromyalgia Syndrome suggests that individuals experience lasting benefit in symptom reduction post-treatment. It was expected that participants would experience substantial improvements in their symptoms over the course of this study.

Therapeutic improvement was measured with a variety of self-report measures and neurophysiological metrics. Particpants were randomly placed into either an active treatment group or a wait-list control. The wait-list control group received active treatment after a speficied control period during which self-report and EEG data were collected. Active treatment involved approximately 30 minute Neurofeedback sessions once or twice per week depending on participant availability. Brief pre and post session measuress were obtained to track within-session improvements. In addition, a psychometric battery was administered at baseline, and weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8 to track therapeutic improvement and outcome. Participants received 8 to 16 sessions of Neurofeedback.

All participants showed improvements in subjective ratings of pain and fatigue throughout the course of treatment, decreased their FIQR scores, exhibited changes on EEG indices, and reported being satisfied with the treatment. The majority of participants experienced improvements on symptom frequency and intensity on the MFTQ, had significant pre-post session decreases in fatigue (assessed via a paired samples t-test), and had pre-post session changes on one or more EEG indices (also assessed with a paired samples t-test). VAS pain and fatigue scores and EEG indices appeared to change when participants completed their wait-list control condition and entered active treatment, which offers evidence that Neurofeedback had an additional therapeutic impact when compared to other concurrent treatments. These positive findings are consistent with the results of existing studies of Neurofeedback for Fibromyalgia, which offers additional support for utilizing neurofeedback in the treatment of individuals with Fibromyalgia. This warrants further studies of Neurofeedback as a treatment for Fibromyalgia.

Listening to music is an activity that provides a range of physical and psychological benefits (e.g., tension relief, decreased depression) for people across cultures and age groups. Adolescents, specifically, are among the most active consumers of music, and music appears to be a natural coping strategy for this age group. Research suggests that both music and the family context play important roles during the developmental phase of adolescence. Family transitions such as divorce have become increasingly common experiences for adolescents and may have long-lasting negative effects on an adolescent’s emotional well-being. However, research regarding music-based interventions for use with adolescents experiencing family conflicts or transitions is limited. Thus, this project involved the creation of a resource manual designed to help mental health professionals implement music-based interventions in their work with adolescents coping with family conflict or parental divorce. The development of the manual was informed by a review of the literature about music therapy, adolescents, and families, as well as by questionnaires completed by three certified music therapists, and this author’s own clinical experiences. The data was then integrated and synthesized into a comprehensive resource manual, which was evaluated by three clinicians who are not trained music therapists for its efficacy, relevance, and user-friendliness. Feedback for the manual was collected via an evaluation form. Results indicated that the manual may be a useful supplemental tool for mental health professionals. Strengths, weaknesses, and suggestions for improvement are also discussed.

Psychological trauma can literally disrupt life’s flow by damaging brain and bodily systems. When a flashback to a traumatic event is triggered in a person suffering from traumatic stress, or PTSD, key functions in the brain malfunction and are deactivated, potentially causing massive disassociation. In addition, trauma can cause chronic hyperarousal, resulting from the body’s malfunctioning autonomic nervous system’s defensive response of fight, flight, or freeze. To cope with these damaged bodily and brain systems and processes detrimental acts of hyperfocus and numbing are often employed by sufferers of trauma. However these obstructions can be cleared though movement practices: top-down and bottom-up regulation methods, innately embedded in certain movement and dance disciplines such as yoga and creative dance, have shown to aide in trauma recovery. This opens the possibility that a dance/movement instructor, using trauma-conscious curriculum and facilitation techniques, can use their highly structured movement practices to engage with top-down and bottom up regulation practices to not only instruct students suffering from trauma, but offer opportunities to engage in treatment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of acculturative stress on body image dissatisfaction in Hispanic patients post – bariatric surgery. The conceptual foundation of this study was primarily derived from the social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), which postulates that most people tend to engage in upward comparison to models seen as superior to them. Acculturative stress was conceptualized as a psychological reaction a person experiences after encountering stressors associated with the process of acculturation. Participants in this study included 160 patients of Hispanic origin from Doctors Hospital at Renaissance who were identified as post-operative between 12 to 24 months. Acculturative stress was assessed with the Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Inventory (MASI), which consists of four factors. Social comparison was assessed with the Comparison to Models Survey. The outcome variable was measured with Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). As predicted, a positive correlation was found between acculturative stress and body image dissatisfaction for the overall sample. The strength of the relationship differed for each acculturative stress factor. The correlations between the different types of acculturative stress were generally stronger for the female participants than for the male participants, with the strongest factor being the pressure to acculturate. Although there was a strong relationship between social comparison tendency and body image dissatisfaction, there were no statistically significant gender differences between these two factors.

Lastly, the generational status did not yield any significant relationships with body image dissatisfaction. However, there were differences in the type of acculturative stress reported by the different generational status groups. An additional analysis also revealed that disordered eating tendencies played an important role in the body image dissatisfaction in this sample of bariatric patients, whereas depression did not seem to produce a significant change when added to the model.

Back problems continue to be a leading cause for disability in all of medicine and are the number one symptom disorder for consulting integrative medicine practitioners. Feldenkrais® practitioners aim to clarify new functional interrelationships towards an improved neuroplasticity-based change in the cognitive construct of one’s own background body schema. These phenomena have been found to clinically correlate to chronic pain through concurrent distortions in the reorganization of usual sensory-motor cortical representations in the brain – being further associated with altered body perception (Wand, et al. 2016). The Feldenkrais Method ® (FM) is a comprehensive approach being manifested through manual sensory contact (FI®) techniques and movement experiences (ATM®) and has been anecdotally purported to improve symptoms and functions in Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain (CNSLBP). However, there is little scientific evidence to support superior treatment efficacy.

A Randomized Controlled Trial compared a novel Virtual Reality Bones™ / Feldenkrais® Movement (VRB³/FM) intervention against more conventional protocols for Core Stabilization Biofeedback / Motor Control Exercises (CSB/MCE). The (VRB ³)™ treatment component consisted of full-scale skeletal models, kinematic avatars, skeletal density imagery, temporal bone-vestibular system relationships, and haptic self-touch techniques being aimed to re-conceptualize participant’s prior notions and beliefs regarding body schema and low back pain (LBP). N=30 participating patients with CNSLBP were assigned to either the experimental group (VRB³/FM @ N=15) or the control group (CSB/MCE @ N=15). Known confounding biopsychosocial variables were controlled via stratified-random assignment on the FABQ. Treatment Outcome measures included VAS-PAIN, RMDQ, PSFS, and Timed Position Endurances Tests – including Flexion / Extension Ratios at baseline, 2-weeks, 4-weeks and 8-weeks. Statistical Analysis was conducted using Wilcoxon Rank Sum and paired, two-tailed t-test. Results showed that the VRB³/FM group demonstrated greater improvement in all treatment outcome measures as compared to the matched CSB/MCE control group.

This is the first RCT study to demonstrate that a Feldenkrais Method® based approach being combined with Virtual Reality Bones™ can be more efficacious for the treatment of CNSLBP than the current and accepted physical medicine standard of isolated Core Stabilization Biofeedback / Training and Motor Control Exercises. Future multi-site RCT studies with larger sample sizes are therefore recommended.

The purpose of this study was to examine various social and ecological factors that affect adolescents' nervousness and/or depression. Secondary data from the 2011- 2012 California Health Institute Survey were used to examine these factors. Chi-Square analyses were utilized to test if relationships existed between the variables in the data. This study examined race, poverty level, immigration status, physical well-being, safety of environment, and the receipt of psychological/emotional counseling as factors for influencing feelings of nervousness and/or depression among adolescents. Results indicated that adolescents feeling nervous were affected by race, poverty level, environmental safety, and the receipt of psychological/emotional counseling. Feeling nervous did not have a significant association with physical well-being in this study. Furthermore, adolescent depression was affected by race, poverty level, physical well-being, environmental safety, and the receipt of psychological/emotional counseling. Immigration status was not found to be associated with affecting adolescent nervousness or depression. Further research is suggested.

The purpose of this study was to explore treatment options for aggression-related disorders. Two activities were examined to validate their use as frustration-reduction techniques --yoga and therapeutic drumming. Twenty-two college students were randomly assigned to participate in one of three groups--yoga, drumming, or silence (control)--following experimentally-induced frustration using a computerized Stroop color-word technique. Self-reported emotion levels and physiological responses were tracked at baseline, post-frustration, and post-treatment to measure responses to treatment. Results indicate that self-reported frustration levels were significantly reduced in all experimental groups, but physiologic responses showed no significant changes. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) indicated no significant difference in lowered frustration for any of the treatment groups, suggesting that they are equally effective. These results also suggest that the passage of time may be key to successful emotion regulation. Further study should examine control variables and methodology to identify other factors that may be involved in regulating aggressive emotions.