Storytelling to Promote Mental Health: A Conceptual Analysis and Application with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression

Mental health treatments can be delivered in many ways. One approach is to use storytelling to communicate healthy practices. While societies across the world have engaged in storytelling for thousands of years, these practices have been used less in the mental health field. The aim of this project was to study the overlap between the areas of mental health and storytelling. We also tested how a storytelling-based mental health treatment could help solve a particular clinical problem. In this case, the problem of people who receive inadequate help for managing depression through medication alone. We examined one particular mental health intervention, called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and its overlap with basic principles of storytelling. The central goal of ACT is to live more fully according to one’s personal values even in the presence of emotional suffering. We explain technically how reading, hearing, or seeing engaging stories could support this goal. We also describe ways that therapists who use ACT with their patients can draw from these storytelling-based principles. The second part of this project was a specific test of what happens when ACT and storytelling are combined in a mental health treatment. LifeStories is an online mental health program that teaches ACT-based skills for managing depression through the use of personal narrative videos of other patients who have developed effective ways of coping. We tested LifeStories with a group of primary care patients who were prescribed vi antidepressant medication but were not receiving other mental health support. Half of these patients used the LifeStories program for four weeks in addition to taking their medication, while the other half only took medication. We found that patients who used LifeStories had greater increases in quality of life compared to those only taking medication. These patients also became more interested in continuing mental health treatment after the program ended. In both groups of patients, depression severity decreased at the same rate, as did psychological inflexibility. Overall, our study showed that a brief storytelling intervention can improve quality of life and promote interest in seeking further mental health support for primary care patients

Bibliotherapy for Depression: Evaluating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Approaches and Examining the Role of Client Choice

An alarming number of college students suffer from depression, which is often accompanied by struggles with anxiety and feeling inadequate compared to others (i.e., stigma). Seeing a counselor in person is challenging for many students due to wait times or feeling embarrassed or shameful. Using self-help books may be a helpful alternative for depressed students, but these books are not often tested in formal studies, and getting students to use self-help books over time is also difficult. Therefore, this study examined whether self-help books accessed online could help students with depression. We tested two books which use different approaches to treating depression: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). While some students were randomly given one of these two books, we also allowed some students to choose themselves which book they wanted to use, since we believed this may help students feel more invested in the treatment and use the book more consistently over time. We enrolled 142 students in our study, who all read a self-help book over 10 weeks, while completing online surveys that asked about depression, anxiety, and depression-related stigma. We also asked students questions about how they look at their thoughts and feelings, since changes in these perspectives are often related to positive outcomes. Overall, students were satisfied with the book they used, however over half of them dropped out of the study by the 10-week mark. Over the course of the study, rates of depression, anxiety, and depression-related stigma lowered. There were only small differences in outcomes based on which book a student used. However, we found that students who were randomized to a book improved more than students who chose a book, and also read more of their book, which contradicted our predictions. Our results suggest that distributing online self-help books to college students can help them in managing their depression. The finding that allowing students a choice of book did not lead to them using it more, and in fact led to worse outcomes compared to the students who randomly received a book, suggests that simply providing students with a viable self-help book may be more important than incorporating their individual preferences. Given that we struggled to keep students engaged in our study over time, future research should look into other ways of promoting adherence to self-help treatments for depression

Dynamical Stability of Witten Rings

The dynamical stability of cosmic rings, or vortons, is investigated for the particular equation of state given by the Witten bosonic model. It is found that there exists a finite range of the state parameter for which the vorton states are actually stable against dynamical perturbations. Inclusion of the electromagnetic self action into the equation of state slightly shrinks the stability region but otherwise yields no qualitative difference. If the Witten bosonic model represents a good approximation for more realistic string models, then the cosmological vorton excess problem can only be solved by assuming either that strings are formed at low energy scales or that some quantum instability may develop at a sufficient rate.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX-ReVTeX (v.3), 2 figures available upon request, DAMTP R-94/1

Thermal stabilization of superconducting sigma strings and their drum vortons

We discuss various issues related to stabilized embedded strings in a thermal background. In particular, we demonstrate that such strings will generically become superconducting at moderately low temperatures, thus enhancing their stability. We then present a new class of defects - drum vortons - which arise when a small symmetry breaking term is added to the potential. We display these points within the context of the O(4) sigma model, relevant for hadrodynamics below the QCD scale. This model admits `embedded defects' (topological defect configurations of a simpler - in this case O(2) symmetric - model obtained by imposing an embedding constraint) that are unstable in the full model at zero temperature, but that can be stabilised (by electromagnetic coupling to photons) in a thermal gas at moderately high termperatures. It is shown here that below the embedded defect stabilisation threshold, there will still be stabilized cosmic string defects. However, they will not be of the symmetric embedded vortex type, but of an `asymmetric' vortex type, and are automatically superconducting. In the presence of weak symmetry breaking terms, such as arise naturally when using the O(4) model for hadrodynamics, the strings become the boundary of a new kind of cosmic sigma membrane, with tension given by the pion mass. The string current would then make it possible for a loop to attain a (classically) stable equilibrium state that differs from an ``ordinary'' vorton state by the presence of a sigma membrane stretched across it in a drum like configuration. Such defects will however be entirely destabilised if the symmetry breaking is too strong, as is found to be the case -- due to the rather large value of the pion mass -- in the hadronic application of the O(4) sigma model

Microwave Background Constraints on Decaying Defects

Embedded defects are predicted in a host of particle physics theories, in particular in the standard electroweak theory. They can be stabilized by interactions with the cosmological plasma, but will decay once the plasma falls out of equilibrium, emitting a substantial fraction of non-thermal photons. If the decay happens after a redshift of about $10^6$, these photons will give rise to spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which leads to strong constraints on the underlying particle physics theory. Such constraints apply to any model with decaying defects, and in particular to theories predicting decaying vortons, thereby leading to constraints stronger than the dark matter limit.Embedded defects are predicted in a host of particle physics theories, in particular in the standard electroweak theory. They can be stabilized by interactions with the cosmological plasma, but will decay once the plasma falls out of equilibrium, emitting a substantial fraction of non-thermal photons. If the decay happens after a redshift of about $10^6$, these photons will give rise to spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which leads to strong constraints on the underlying particle physics theory. Such constraints apply to any model with decaying defects, and in particular to theories predicting decaying vortons, thereby leading to constraints stronger than the dark matter limit.Embedded defects are predicted in a host of particle physics theories, in particular, in the standard electroweak theory. They can be stabilized by interactions with the cosmological plasma, but will decay once the plasma falls out of equilibrium, emitting a substantial fraction of non-thermal photons. If the decay happens after a redshift of about 10 6 , these photons will give rise to spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which leads to strong constraints on the underlying particle physics theory. Such constraints apply to any model with decaying defects, and in particular to theories predicting decaying vortons, thereby leading to constraints stronger than the dark matter limit

Utilizing ACT Daily as a Self-Guided App for Clients Waiting for Services at a College Counseling Center: A Pilot Study

Objective: Considering increasing demands for mental health services at college counseling centers (CCCs), there is a need for cost-effective solutions that avoid depleting stressed CCC resources. This study examined if ACT Daily, a mobile application based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), could serve as an effective self-guided intervention. Participants: 11 individuals on a CCC waitlist suffering from anxiety/depression participated in the study over 2 weeks. Methods: This study implemented a pre-post, open trial design of ACT Daily. Assessments were completed at baseline and 2-week post assessment. Results: Results indicated that ACT Daily was acceptable and that participants improved on depression and anxiety symptoms as well as psychological inflexibility processes over the 2 weeks. App data further indicated significant in-the-moment improvements on depression, anxiety and psychological inflexibility immediately following skill coaching, with these effects becoming larger over time. Conclusions: Mobile apps like ACT Daily could serve as an effective, pre-therapy tool for depressed/anxious students

A Killing tensor for higher dimensional Kerr-AdS black holes with NUT charge

In this paper, we study the recently discovered family of higher dimensional Kerr-AdS black holes with an extra NUT-like parameter. We show that the inverse metric is additively separable after multiplication by a simple function. This allows us to separate the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, showing that geodesic motion is integrable on this background. The separation of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation is intimately linked to the existence of an irreducible Killing tensor, which provides an extra constant of motion. We also demonstrate that the Klein-Gordon equation for this background is separable.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages. v2: Typo corrected and equation added. v3: Reference added, introduction expanded, published versio

Black Faculty in Predominantly White Schools of Social Work: A Qualitative Assessment

The researchers conducted a national survey of Black faculty members at predominantly white schools of social work. Two basic questions guided the search effort: (1) What are the principal roles and responsibilities of Black faculty? and (2) To what extent do Black faculty members perceive themselves as receiving sufficient professional satisfaction, respect, and support? Analysis of questionnaire responses indicated significant differences in the responses among Black faculty based on factors such as sex, academic rank, and tenure

Examining Processes of Change for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Self-Help Books With Depressed College Students

Given the prevalence of depression, it is worthwhile to consider a variety of treatment approaches to reach as many sufferers as possible, including highly accessible formats such as self-help books. Books based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) propose to treat depression through distinct processes of change, though the degree to which these treatments are distinguishable in this format is unclear. Furthermore, it is possible that some individuals may respond better to therapeutic processes from one approach over the other based on personal preferences. We tested the effects of ACT and CBT self-help books on processes of change in a sample of 139 depressed college students in which some participants were given a choice of treatment and others were randomized. Cognitive fusion, which improved better in the ACT group, was the only process of change that distinguished the two treatments. Additionally, early improvements in cognitive fusion were associated with less depression-related stigma at posttreatment. Lastly, randomization, instead of choosing a treatment, led to greater improvements in almost all processes of change. We discuss how these findings inform personalized care, tangible differences between ACT and CBT, and effective practices for treating depression at large scale

A Qualitative Look at Black Female Social Work Educators

This article reports the finding of a research effort which attempted to assess the qualitative experience of black female faculty in schools of social work. The data reported is part of a larger data set collected on social work faculty as a whole. The authors report some basic demographics on black females, but focus mainly on the roles that these women perform in schools of social work and how satisfied they are in these positions. It appears that significant numbers of black female faculty members are on soft money with fewer teaching Social Policy and Administration courses than might be expected. As a group these females are less satisfied with their academic positions than are their black male counterparts. However, when degree held is controlled for, it is black females without the doctorate who are significantly less satisfied than men. No such relationship was found to exist for males. Finally, the authors attempted, via a regression model, to assess which group of relevant others, faculty, administrators or students, as a function of their interactions, contributed most significantly to the satisfaction levels of black female faculty. Results from these analyses suggest that with respect to intespersonal interactions, white faculty have the greatest affect on the reported job satisfaction levels of black females