Targeting Burdensomeness among Clinic Referred Youth: Development of a CBT Module

Research has established perceived burdensomeness toward others as a correlate and risk factor for suicide ideation in youth. Existing CBT protocols for internalizing disorders target thoughts and behaviors related to anxiety and/or depression, but do not explicitly target other identified risk factors for suicide ideation, including perceived burdensomeness toward others. The aims of the current study were to (1) develop a novel, brief selective prevention module (the “Give program”) targeting perceived burdensomeness toward others that can be embedded within existing CBT protocols for youth internalizing disorders, (2) evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of the module with an eye toward intervention refinement, and (3) examine reductions in perceived burdensomeness. Participants were 18 clinic-referred youths with anxiety or depressive disorders who endorsed burdensomeness. The study utilized a quasi-experimental interrupted time-series design to evaluate changes in burdensomeness scores following the administration of the module. The module was clinically feasible and well-accepted. Youth burdensomeness scores increased in the first half of the CBT protocol, and decreased immediately following the administration of the Give program module. The current study is the first to develop and evaluate a selective preventive module targeting burdensomeness in at-risk youth in an outpatient setting, demonstrating that burdensomeness can be efficiently and effectively targeted within existing evidence-based treatment protocols for internalizing disorders in youth

Alterations in Endogenous Opioid Neurotransmission Associated with Acute and Long-term Use of Drugs of Abuse.

The endogenous opioid neurotransmitter system (EOS) has been implicated in a wide array of behavioral processes, including reinforcement, pain modulation, mood disorders, social interactions, and the placebo effect. These intertwining factors make an understanding of the EOS’s role crucial for developing effective therapies for a range of disorders. We used positron emission tomography to investigate whether acute and long-term administration of two drugs of abuse, nicotine and opioid analgesics, are associated with alterations in endogenous mu-opioid neurotransmission. We found that compared to healthy controls, overnight-abstinent smokers showed significant decreases in mu-opioid receptor (MOR) availability in the thalamus and bilateral basal ganglia, regions previously implicated in drug reinforcement and addiction. Moreover, these alterations in neurotransmission were associated with measures of both nicotine dependence and craving. When overnight-abstinent smokers were subsequently given a denicotinized (DN) cigarette to smoke, they showed decreases in MOR availability in the right nucleus accumbens and thalamus, likely related to endogenous opioid release in response to the expectation of receiving nicotine. This placebo effect associated with the DN cigarette appeared to mask the effects of the regular nicotine cigarette smoked afterwards. We also examined how opioid analgesics affect MOR neurotransmission in patients with chronic back pain. Our results indicated that decreases in the integrity of the endogenous opioid system, as indicated by a reduced ability to release endogenous opioids in response to pain, were associated with both higher clinical back pain ratings and with greater hedonic responses to the administration of an exogenous opioid drug. Patients using opioid analgesics for at least one year showed decreased experimental pain-induced MOR activation and a lower number of available free MORs at baseline in regions of the brain implicated in pain modulation and drug abuse, such as the nucleus accumbens and amygdala. With the high prevalence of nicotine smoking, as well as the increasing use of opioid analgesics, it is crucial to understand how endogenous opioid mechanisms are implicated in the reinforcing and long-term effects of these drugs. This knowledge will help suggest avenues to explore while determining what treatments may be most successful in individual patients.PhDNeuroscienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120787/1/emilybn_1.pd

Radio Dispatch Cognitive Abilities and Working Memory

Public safety radio dispatchers incontrovertibly have to manage multiple tasks at any given time, from relaying lifesaving information to field units, to simultaneously overseeing several monitors and keeping up with the radio transmissions in a timely manner. Interestingly, however, the underlying cognitive abilities necessitated for performing such tasks have not been thoroughly investigated. To begin understanding the cognitive faculties that underlie dispatching tasks, we gauged cognitive ability measures relevant to dispatcher duties and introduced Working Memory Capacity (WMC) as underlying the differentiation on performance. The four general dispatcher cognitive factors identified by Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) literature, were Reasoning, Perceptual, Memory, and Verbal. This study substantiated the relationship that higher WMC had on increased performance of the four factors; WMC was a strong predictor of overall cognitive task accuracy. This study also measured dispatcher abilities detached from any dispatcher-like duties, to better explore the cognitive underpinnings without the confound of dispatcher-like tasks within the measures. High and low WMC group comparisons also revealed accuracy differences in cognitive abilities, task switching costs, and dual-task interference. Overall, this study provides support for WMC’s executive functioning as a key underlying mechanism determining dispatcher cognitive ability level

Singularity on the Margins: Autobiographical Writings among the Shuar of Ecuadorian Amazonia

Inspired by Stephen Hugh-Jones’s suggestion of a fit between Tukanoan writing genres and their sociocultural systems, in this article we explore Shuar autobiographical writings in light of Chicham (Jivaroan) individualism. By exploring first-person—nonpatrimonial—texts that have received much less attention in the regional literature, the article contributes to theorizing a different way of transmitting tradition:one focused on individual praxis rather than on collective patrimony. Through the analysis of three autobiographical texts, we show how their authors appropriate writing to construct singularity, or distinct “paths of individuation”: the personal story of resistance of a school teacher, the exemplary life course of a visionary leader, and the claim to sainthood of an exceptional shaman

Missouri in Cyprus : The Kourion Expedition

Includes bibliographical reference

Cognitive science

Anthropologists and cognitive scientists interested in ethics and morality have much to gain from a two-way dialogue that does not shy away from constructive criticism. This chapter seeks to initiate such a conversation through an overview of three lines of recent research in cognitive science: the evolution of human morality from the standpoint of evolutionary psychology; theories that look to social institutions rather than only evolved psychological dispositions for insight into the variability of human moral dispositions; and studies of how responsibility and intentionality are ascribed in cases of wrongdoing. The final section offers some personal reflections on the methodological challenges of inter-disciplinary engagement, drawing on some of the authors’ recent research on morality and change in western Amazonia. It concludes that anthropologists can use experimental methods creatively, as a way of generating new ethnographic insights; although if genuine conversation on an equal footing is to take place, then ethnography must not only inform experimental design but also be employed to redefine concepts and generate theory

Singularity on the margins: autobiographical decolonial writings among the shuar of Ecuadorian Amazonia

Inspired by Stephen Hugh-Jones’s suggestion of a fit between Tukanoan writing genres and their sociocultural systems, in this article we explore Shuar autobiographical writings in light of Chicham (Jivaroan) individualism. By exploring first-person—nonpatrimonial—texts that have received much less attention in the regional literature, the article contributes to theorizing a different way of transmitting tradition: one focused on individual praxis rather than on collective patrimony. Through the analysis of three autobiographical texts, we show how their authors appropriate writing to construct singularity, or distinct “paths of individuation”: the personal story of resistance of a schoolteacher, the exemplary life course of a visionary leader, and the claim to sainthood of an exceptional shaman

The Shuar writing boom: cultural experts and the creation of a "scholarly tradition"

In dialogue with Stephen Hugh-Jones’s work on Tukanoan writing, this article analyzes the boom in patrimonial writing among Chicham (Jivaroan)-speaking Shuar people. Patrimonial writing foregrounds collective identity and understandings of culture as group property common to the Tukanoan speakers of the Upper Rio Negro but foreign to the pre-missionized Shuar. We argue that the Shuar interest in patrimonial writing can be explained through the history of missionization and the recent shift to intercultural exchange within the plurinational project of state-building spearheaded by the indigenous movement. By analyzing the wider context of knowledge production and the forms of knowledge Shuar scholars mobilize to represent culture in the collective mode, we demonstrate how, for the first time in Shuar society, a group of specialists can make a profession out of reproducing heterogeneous forms of knowledge as unitary, uniformly shared collective patrimony. The comparison between the Shuar and Tukanoan appropriation of writing reveals important differences in the way Lowland Amerindians understand patrimony and the centrality of schooling in shaping a new “scholarly tradition.

Using health mind maps to capture patient's explanatory models of illness

BACKGROUND: Management of chronic diseases has become one of the major challenges for the health care community. Most of disease management relies on patient’s self-management, influenced in part by their illness perspectives or explanatory models of illness (EMI). Unfortunately, assessing patient’s EMI and using this information to engage patients in chronic illness self-management continues to be a challenge. This is due to time constraints, ambiguity in the design of EMI assessments, lack of motivation, and low health literacy. This study used ‘mind mapping’, a graphic representation of ideas, to develop a process that captures EMI. We will refer to this process as “Health Mind Mapping” (HMM). We explored patient’s experiences using HMM and potential uses of this tool during their care. METHODS: 20 adult (>18 years old) English and Spanish patients with uncontrolled (HbA1c >7%) type 2 diabetes were recruited from a primary care clinic. Participants developed their health mind maps with the guide of a facilitator. Each participant also completed a semi-structured interview in which patients were asked about their experience with HMM. The HMM process and qualitative interviews were video and audio recorded. Transcriptions were analyzed using grounded thematic analysis to identify how patients perceived and were impacted by the process. RESULTS: Two domains regarding the HMM process were identified: patient’s perceptions of the process itself and patient’s reports of potential uses of HMM. Three main themes related to the process itself emerged: 1) Helps to develop insight about self and illness; 2) Catalyst for taking actions to improve their illness; 3) Opportunity to actively share illness. Four main themes related to potential uses of HMM were identified: 1) Communicating their illness to others in their social network; 2) Communicating with their providers; 3) Share to help others with diabetes; 4) Use to encourage ongoing engagement in diabetes self-care. CONCLUSIONS: HMM helped patients to develop new insight about their illness and represented a catalyst for taking control of their illness. Additional research is needed to determine how to use HMM to facilitate patient communication and better engage patients in collaborative goal setting to improve self-care in chronic illness.2017-05-05T00:00:00