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ABSTRACT Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and insomnia are prevalent among United States (US) military veterans. This study investigates whether Brain Boosters, a new cognitive enhancement group therapy, improves symptoms of PTSD, depression, and insomnia among veterans completing the groups. The study population includes 64 US military veterans treated in the setting of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System in Phoenix, AZ. Group members were US military veterans, age 22 to 87 (mean age=53.47), who had served in or after World War II (WWII), who sought mental health care at the Phoenix VA from 2007 through 2011. Participants were treated with Brain Boosters therapy. They completed measures of mental-health related symptoms before and after this therapy. Participants were assessed pre and post group with the PTSD Checklist for military personnel (PCL-M), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; a measure of depression symptoms), and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Statistical analyses were done with paired samples t-tests and McNemar's tests, using SPSS. The hypotheses were that symptoms of PTSD, depression, and insomnia would show statistically significant improvement with Brain Boosters therapy. Results supported the hypotheses that symptoms of PTSD and depression would improve significantly. Insomnia did not show significant improvement. The results showed the mean PCL-M score was 54.84 before Brain Boosters therapy and 51.35 after (p= 0.008). The mean PHQ-9 score was 15.21 before Brain Boosters therapy and 13.05 after (p= 0.002). The mean ISI score was 15.98 before Brain Boosters Therapy and 14.46 after (p= 0.056). Although this is a nonrandom, uncontrolled trial, findings nevertheless suggest that Brain Boosters may be an effective therapy to reduce PTSD symptom severity and depression symptom severity. This may be especially important for veterans seeking alternatives to pharmacological intervention or traditional therapeutic interventions.
ContributorsWalter, Christina M (Author) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary H. (Committee member) / Miller, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Research in the area of childhood trauma has shown a substantial amount of psychological maladjustment following the experience of traumatic events in childhood. Trauma survivors are at risk for developing a multitude of adverse psychological outcomes as well as unsafe behaviors following the event of trauma. One unifying theme within these psychological sequelae is the nature of impulsive behaviors. Delay-discounting refers to the subjective decrease in value of a reward when its presentation is delayed. Delay-discounting is often used as an index of impulsive behavior. This study poses two primary questions: 1) Can childhood trauma predict rates of delay-discounting? 2) Could delay-discounting predict psychological maladjustment for individuals who have experienced childhood trauma? This study will seek to answer these questions using an online version of the Kirby et al., 1999 hypothetical delay-discounting method, as well as the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), to measure trait impulsivity. Measures of depression (BDI-II), life events (LEC), post-traumatic stress (PCL-C), and drug and alcohol abuse (DAST-20) will also be included. Participants included a sample of university students ages 18-52 (n=521, females = 386, males = 135) with a mean age of 25.19 years. Results indicated that childhood trauma was not a significant predictor of delay-discounting rate, nor was delay-discounting rate a significant predictor of psychological maladjustment. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsForeman, Emily S (Author) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Thesis advisor) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah L. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Numerous psychosocial and health factors contribute to perceived stress, social support, and problem-solving coping relating to overall well-being and life satisfaction in older adults. The effect of social support and problem-solving coping, however, remains largely untested as potential moderators. The present study was conducted to test whether social support and problem- solving coping would moderate the relation between perceived stress and life satisfaction in older adults. First, I anticipated that stress will be negatively related to life satisfaction at low levels of social support, while at high social support; stress will be unrelated to life satisfaction. Second, I expected that with low problem- solving coping, stress will be negatively related to life satisfaction, whereas, at levels of high problem- solving coping, stress will be unrelated to life satisfaction. Using an experimental survey and interview design with hierarchical regression analyses, I found no support that social support would moderate the relation between stress and life satisfaction. I found support that problem-solving coping moderated the relation between stress and life satisfaction. For individuals who engage in higher levels of problem- solving coping, higher levels of stress predicted lower levels of life satisfaction. On the other hand, at lower levels of problem-solving coping, more stress predicted lower levels of life satisfaction.
ContributorsKaur, Gurjot (Author) / Miller, Paul A. (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah L. (Committee member) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Intimate relationship functioning and mental well-being are inherently linked; thus, for those with mental illness, such as social anxiety, intimate relationship functioning may be impaired. Research on the intimate relationships of those with social anxiety has often focused on emotion regulation, as emotions play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships and are a clear area of deficit among those with social anxiety. The current thesis had three primary aims: 1a) to examine individual emotion expressivity and 1b) interpersonal emotion regulation processes among individuals with varying levels of social anxiety; 2) to examine individual and interpersonal emotion regulation within romantic relationships; and, 3) to examine how individual emotion expressivity and interpersonal emotion regulation influence relationship health and intimacy among those with varying levels of social anxiety. For Aim 1, differences in individual emotion expressivity and interpersonal emotion regulation were analyzed using regression analyses with social anxiety as a continuous predictor. Analyses were also conducted using a dichotomous grouping (i.e., non-socially anxious and socially anxious) and conducting a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).
For Aim 2, the impact of individual and interpersonal emotion regulation processes on relationship health was examined using a series of regression analyses. Finally, Aim 3 was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results suggest those with social anxiety show specific, but not general, deficits in individual emotion expressivity and interpersonal emotion regulation, and both individual and interpersonal emotion regulation had positive effects on relationship health. Regarding the primary analyses, interpersonal emotion regulation fully mediated the association between individual emotion expressivity and relationship health. Further, although the strength of these paths varied between groups, the valence and general pattern of these findings were similar for both those with social anxiety and those without. The study provided novel insights into the role of interpersonal emotion regulation in relationship health, and extended previous findings on emotion regulation and relationship health among those with social anxiety.
For Aim 2, the impact of individual and interpersonal emotion regulation processes on relationship health was examined using a series of regression analyses. Finally, Aim 3 was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results suggest those with social anxiety show specific, but not general, deficits in individual emotion expressivity and interpersonal emotion regulation, and both individual and interpersonal emotion regulation had positive effects on relationship health. Regarding the primary analyses, interpersonal emotion regulation fully mediated the association between individual emotion expressivity and relationship health. Further, although the strength of these paths varied between groups, the valence and general pattern of these findings were similar for both those with social anxiety and those without. The study provided novel insights into the role of interpersonal emotion regulation in relationship health, and extended previous findings on emotion regulation and relationship health among those with social anxiety.
ContributorsSchodt, Kaitlyn Beatrice (Author) / Mickelson, Kristin D (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary H (Committee member) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019