Filtering by
- All Subjects: Anxiety
- Creators: Department of Psychology
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
Reasons to Stay Alive is a short story that follows the protagonist, Corinne Larson, and her experiences with depression and anxiety as well as self-harm and suicidal ideations. It is meant to act as an antithesis to media that romanticizes suicide, such as the television show 13 Reasons Why (2017), and instead glorify growth and healing. Specifically, it focuses on the importance of social support in the healing process. The story is separated into three different formats: narrative, letter, and free-verse poetry. It is prefaced by a poem titled ‘death by suicide’ that discusses the stigma around suicide and the reason why the phrase ‘commit suicide’ was changed to ‘death by suicide’. The story then starts with a letter written by Corinne to her future self during a time she was really struggling with depression and self-harm and suicidal ideations. It is a plea with her future self to tell her everything will be alright. The rest of the story is broken into four parts, each about a specific and important person in Corinne’s life. Each part starts off as a first person narrative from Corinne’s point of view and is a memorable experience she had with each person and ends with a short letter addressed directly to each person. The letters are a chance for Corinne to tell each person how important they are to her, how they made an impact in her life, and how they gave her a reason to stay alive. Between each part is a poem that deals with different themes relating to depression or anxiety. The story ends with a letter written by Corinne to her future self that goes back and addresses the first letter. It gives past Corinne some words of advice and tells her that her reasons to stay alive are the important people in life as well as herself and the person she will become.
Squeakie is a positive influence on the way the other characters perceive themselves. The shadow turns each character’s self-doubt and negative feelings into fuel, which he stores in a paintbrush. When he takes the fuel from the character, it fades their body color. Phan has anxiety and uses the 4-7-8 breathing technique to overcome her panic attacks. Her range of color is blue to light blue. Ovid feels guilty and exercises to take his mind off his guilty thoughts. Ovid is either red or light pink. Amelia is depressed and reframes her way of thinking to overcome her inability to fly. Visually she is green or light green. The shadow is later revealed as a misguided character who was just looking to escape the dream world and find friends.
The story is resolved by the stuffed animals joining forces with the perceived antagonist, the shadow, to operate a plane. They each use their strength of color to fuel the plane, which takes them back to the real world. When Sophia’s mom pulls the stuffed animals out of the washer, the shadow comes with them. The shadow, now a cat with rainbow patches, is instantly loved by Sophia. The story ends with the stuffed animals drying on the porch bench while Sophia plays with the shadow in the new backyard.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with a high rate of comorbidity with anxiety disorders (25-34%). Children with ADHD experience serious adverse outcomes secondary to impairment in executive function, particularly within the domain of working memory (WM), behavioral inhibition (BI), and sustained attention (SA). While executive function deficits in ADHD are well documented, whether and how comorbid anxiety affects cognitive performance are equivocal. One potential explanation is that most studies examine linear relations, yet evidence suggests that anxiety affects performance in a non-linear (quadratic) manner, consistent with the the Yerkes-Dodson Law. The aim of this study was to investigate whether 1) children with ADHD show deficits in WM, BI, and SA relative to typically developing children, 2) comorbid anxiety displays a linear or nonlinear relationship with WM, BI, and SA performance among children with ADHD and 3) between group differences in cognitive performance vary based on levels of anxiety. Linear and non-linear relations between anxiety and cognitive performance were assessed in a sample of 54 boys diagnosed with ADHD and 50 typically developing boys. Anxiety was assessed across dimensions and raters. Results indicate rater and domain-specific effects of comorbid anxiety on cognitive performance. Non-linear relations between children’s self-rated physiological anxiety and Phonological working memory (PHWM), Visuospatial working memory (VSWM), and the Central Executive (CE) were found. Non-linear relations between parent-rated anxiety and PHWM and the CE were also found. However, no significant linear or non-linear effects of anxiety on BI and SA were found. The results indicate that children with moderate self-rated and parent-rated anxiety performed better on WM measures relative to those with low and high levels of self-rated and parent-rated anxiety. The present study was the first to examine and document non-linear effects of anxiety on cognitive performance among children diagnosed with ADHD. Given the results, clinicians should continue to assess anxiety during diagnostic screening in ADHD samples. Treatments should focus on compensating for CE abilities and mitigating high levels of anxiety as it may further impair WM.
