The Latinx community faces several barriers that keep them from seeking mental health treatment. One of those barriers is the stigma experienced in the community. The purpose of this project is to create a culturally tailored animation to address the stigma associated with mental health in the Latinx community. The first part of the project, written about in this paper, focuses on gathering data from the community about their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding mental health, as well as the stigma they have witnessed and experienced. Information was gathered through a series of group and one-on-one interviews with Generation Z men and women that identified as Latinx. The preliminary results revealed that all participants agreed with the statement that mental health is stigmatized in their community and offered several reasons as to why this is the case. The majority of them also agreed that education is the best way to reduce the stigma, which is what we hope to achieve through an animation that will be created using the information provided by the community and the literature.

We attempted to apply a novel approach to stock market predictions. The Logistic Regression machine learning algorithm (Joseph Berkson) was applied to analyze news article headlines as represented by a bag-of-words (tri-gram and single-gram) representation in an attempt to predict the trends of stock prices based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The results showed that a tri-gram bag led to a 49% trend accuracy, a 1% increase when compared to the single-gram representation’s accuracy of 48%.

Indian-American young adults are often caught between the cultures of their parents and their environment, and these two cultures can impact their views based on the cultures' views. In this project, I created an overview of personal accounts of Indian-American young adults on their experiences with mental health struggles, and receiving counseling and treatment. This study analyzed a sample of accounts and testimonials previously collected through a qualitative review. I found that many of the Indian-American young adults were open to mental health counseling and treatment, but saw Indian cultural views as a barrier.

Psychedelics have sparked widespread interest as they offer a potential new form of therapeutic treatment. This thesis paper explores the current and upcoming psychedelics that are being researched for their use in a therapeutic setting. The main substances discussed are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy/molly/MDMA), and ketamine (esketamine). This paper also discusses the mechanism of action for each drug and the underlying research that has been found to support the ethical use of these substances alongside talk therapy

The field of veterinary medicine can be rewarding, but also very demanding. Research has shown that many practicing veterinarians struggle with mental illness, and the profession has one of the highest suicide rates in the United States. Research has also shown that many veterinary students struggle with mental illness. It is important to further research the mental health of veterinary students and how that can correlate with one's mental health as a practicing veterinarian. The purpose of this project is to summarize findings of the literature concerning the mental health of veterinary students and to present a new resource, the Wisdom Vet app, that can potentially support the well-being of veterinary students.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a psychiatric disorder that affects 2-3% of children. OCD causes anxiety, fear, upsetting thoughts, and obsessions/compulsions. These symptoms can manifest in different ways and kids can become stuck in a stressful cycle of anxiety and the need to act on compulsions. Currently on the children's book market, OCD is an underrepresented topic. I chose to design a children's book that tackles the stigma of OCD in a form that is easy for children to understand.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a psychiatric disorder that affects 2-3% of children. OCD causes anxiety, fear, upsetting thoughts, and obsessions/compulsions. These symptoms can manifest in different ways and kids can become stuck in a stressful cycle of anxiety and the need to act on compulsions. Currently on the children's book market, OCD is an underrepresented topic. I chose to design a children's book that tackles the stigma of OCD in a form that is easy for children to understand.

Social media has become a prominent part of people’s life worldwide. It allows for easy communication and connection between family, friends, and even complete strangers. It has provided for an increased global interconnectedness and allows people to form new relationships. Despite these positives, there are also negative effects of social media, including its danger to mental health. With increased social media use, it is possible to develop an addiction, similar to any substance addiction. People may also experience various mental health disorders, like depression and anxiety disorders. The purpose of this review was to identify a clear relationship between social media use and the development of anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders is a general term, encompassing the different types, but the main types focused on in this review are generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety. This review also incorporates information on age in order to clarify if certain age groups are more affected by social media use than others.