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Tag: Psychology and Psychiatry

  • Racial discrimination contributes to increases in alcohol craving to cope with racial stress

    Racial discrimination contributes to increases in alcohol craving to cope with racial stress

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    Newswise — Alcohol craving is associated with relapse following alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment. A new study is the first to examine how distinct experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination contribute to elevated alcohol craving. Findings will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.

    “Cravings can be intense and challenging to not act on,” said Sarah L. Pedersen, associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. “Research has also shown that stress increases craving for alcohol and can precipitate a lapse or relapse following AUD treatment. My team is invested in identifying influences of inequities in alcohol-related problems and, given prior research showing associations between general stress and craving, we wanted to understand how specific experiences of discrimination may increase alcohol craving.”

    Pedersen will discuss her study’s findings at the RSA meeting on Sunday, 25 June 2023.

    Data for this study were drawn from a larger ongoing alcohol administration study: 140 young adults (44% self-identified as Black or African American, 56% self-identified as White or European American) who consume alcohol at least weekly completed a survey and a 17-day assessment of acute alcohol craving as well as experienced microaggressions.

    “The Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale is a 28-item self-report measure examining five domains of racial discrimination experiences during the previous six months,” explained Pedersen. “Examples include: ‘Someone told me that they don’t see color,’ ‘I was ignored at school or work because of my race,’ and ‘someone assumed I was poor because of my race.’”

    Black individuals reported higher average levels of alcohol craving across the 17-day assessment window compared to White individuals.

    Pedersen believes that experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination contribute to increases in craving alcohol to cope with racial stress. “These results have treatment implications related to promoting the development of emotion regulation skills and strategies after experiencing racial discrimination, and policy and training implications regarding the deleterious effects of exposure to interpersonal racial discrimination,” she said. Additional analyses by Pedersen’s team will integrate momentary experiences of discrimination and subsequent alcohol craving in a naturalistic environment.

    “My team uses a community-engaged approach and we have worked closely with community members to understand their needs, experiences, and ideas for research,” added Pedersen. “Our community partners are centered in our research and have been incredible contributors to this study; including the interpretation and presentation of these results.”

     

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    Pedersen will present these findings, “Examination of interpersonal racial discrimination in relation to naturalistic alcohol craving,” during the RSA 2023 meeting in Bellevue, Washington on Sunday, 25 June 2023. More information can be found at RSoA on Twitter @RSAposts.

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    Research Society on Alcoholism

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  • People Are Falsely Denying Firearm Ownership, and It’s Not Who You Might Think

    People Are Falsely Denying Firearm Ownership, and It’s Not Who You Might Think

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    Newswise — Some firearm owners may not want researchers to know they own firearms, according to a study by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers.

    In a study published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, researchers found that based on their answers to a variety of other questions, a group of individuals appeared as though they might be falsely denying firearm ownership when directly asked by researchers.

    While some of these individuals resemble what previous research indicated to be a typical American firearm owner (e.g., white, male), others looked quite different (racial or ethnic minority, female, living in urban environments), highlighting that the landscape of firearm ownership in the United States may be shifting.

    “Some individuals are falsely denying firearm ownership, resulting in research not accurately capturing the experiences of all firearm owners in the U.S.,” said Allison Bond, lead author of the study and a doctoral student with the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. “More concerningly, these individuals are not being reached with secure firearm storage messaging and firearm safety resources, which may result in them storing their firearms in an unsecure manner, which in turn increases the risk for firearm injury and death.”

    Rutgers researchers surveyed a group of 3,500 English-speaking adults who are U.S. residents. Each participant was asked if they own a firearm as well as demographic factors and questions assessing perceived threats.

    The study indicates a percentage of firearm owners may not feel comfortable disclosing their ownership status. Among those identified as potentially falsely denying firearm ownership, many were women living alone in urban environments.

    Recent research shows that since 2019, half of all new firearm owners in the U.S. identify as female and more individuals from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds have purchased firearms.

    Although researchers can’t say with certainty that individuals in the study were lying about firearm ownership, the study nonetheless highlights the importance of considering that our understanding of who owns firearms and our efforts to reach firearm owners on issues, such as secure firearm storage, may be overlooking parts of the intended audience.

     “There are several reasons some firearm owners might feel uncomfortable disclosing that they own firearms,” said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and senior author of the study. “These results serve as an important reminder that we should not assume we know everything about who owns firearms and that we should ensure that our efforts to reach firearm owners can resonate with broad audiences we might not realize would benefit from the message.”

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    Rutgers University-New Brunswick

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  • When Majority Men Respect Minority Women, Groups Communicate Better: A Neurological Exploration

    When Majority Men Respect Minority Women, Groups Communicate Better: A Neurological Exploration

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    Newswise — Kyle Emich, a professor of management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, along with Rachel Amey and Chad Forbes, then with UD’s Psychology and Brain Sciences Department, were searching for clues about why women’s knowledge often gets ignored in the workplace and how to improve the situation. 

    Drawing on both a problem-solving group exercise and measurements of brain activity, their findings, now published by the journal Small Group Research, illustrate ways stereotypes and attitudes can stifle the benefits of diversity efforts. At the same time, the study also offers hope for solutions. 

    While women are often urged to fight for status, a key takeaway Emich and his colleagues highlighted from their research was that the onus should actually be placed on high-status men to respect and accept women’s expertise. 

    At the root of their research is the concept of diversity. It’s often touted not just as basic fairness, but a way to benefit companies or other organizations. People with different backgrounds and experiences, the reasoning goes, can offer fresh perspectives and a more complete view of the world that makes a team stronger. 

    It only works, though, if they not only share those fresh perspectives with the team, but the team listens. 

    Previous research shows that this is often not the case — people in minority positions, like a woman on an all-male team, are reluctant to go against the group by sharing knowledge that contradicts the narrative. 

    Emich and his collaborators looked for evidence of differing levels of respect for men and women, how that affects the group, and how attitudes shape respect for women. 

    Attitudes, diversity and their effects on a group can be hard to measure. But the researchers developed a novel way to do it, by measuring team members’ brain activity as they collaborated on solving a problem with a clear answer: a murder mystery.  

    How the study worked

    The researchers divided student volunteers into teams of three, always with a gender minority. Some teams were made up of two men and one woman, and some had two women and one man. In each case, the minority group member had clues key to solving the case, so to be effective the group had to draw on all its members’ knowledge and work together. 

    In a twist, the experimenters also hooked up participants to an EEG monitor so they could see how their brains were functioning as they participated in the group activity. The researchers had a theory: that men who were approach-oriented (focused on a positive goal like solving the murder), would be more inclusive than men who were avoidance-oriented (focused on a negative goal like staying away from risk).   

    “We just thought it would be a good application, because most (EEG) studies are either at the individual level or with only two people,” Emich said. “They’re not in actual interacting teams.” 

    With this approach, they didn’t have to rely on asking subjects to imagine being in the minority — they could put them in that position directly. 

    What they found

    Even though all the groups were diverse, it turned out that the teams made up of two men and one woman were less effective. 

    These women faced a double burden. First, women often struggle to speak up when they are in the minority. Emich and his fellow researchers also found that the more the minority women on these teams shared their unique information, key to solving the case, the less respect they got from their team.  

    “They kind of liked her better if she just sat there and was quiet, as opposed to trying to get into the discussion,” Emich said. 

    On teams with majority women, the man’s input was more valued, so these teams were more effective as they shared information to solve the problem. 

    Assessing the EEG readings gave more insight into men’s mental states. The men who did better at including women’s input were, in fact, those whose brain activity indicated their mindset was more approach-oriented, set on solving the problem rather than avoiding risk. 

    On the flip side, whether the women in the majority on their teams were more approach- or avoidance-oriented, as measured by the EEG, “they were sort of accepting the man’s information into their team,” Emich said. “And then the team ended up doing better.” 

    What does this mean?

    The findings, Emich and his team said, confirm the idea that a lack of respect for minorities undermines the benefit of diversity. They also argue that while the burden is often put on women to make sure they have a voice, men in power should also bear this responsibility. 

    Women are told, “You need to lean in, or you need to break the glass ceiling,” Emich said. “… And what we’re saying here is the onus is really on the men, because they have the power, right? So it’s difficult for the women in these teams to come out and kind of take over the team conversation, because they don’t have the power or status to do that.” 

    He’s not arguing that women shouldn’t assert their rights or “lean in,” but that to make real change, men (or people in power, generally) also have a responsibility to make space for minority perspectives. 

    The “approach” or “avoidance” mindsets they studied, Emich said, can be altered. That is, they aren’t an unavoidable part of someone’s personality. It’s not a matter of finding all the avoidance-oriented men in your office and banning them from teams. Rather, these terms describe a person’s motivation in a given moment, and that motivation can change. 

    In an avoidance mindset, Emich explained, people are worried about protecting themselves and staying away from things that might be dangerous. In business oriented, decision-making groups, unique information is seen as being risky. Adding to that, women are generally seen as lower status, he said, so men see the unique information they offer as being extra risky. 

    This is an outlook that can be changed with training and experience, Emich said. Responsibility falls on the group leader to “make the environment feel a little bit safer for people.” That comes both through the words leaders say and the actions they model. 

    Overall, “I think what this [research] does is it helps to highlight why we see this broad effect that lots of people have observed about women’s information not being listened to,” Emich said.

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    University of Delaware

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  • Identification of neurons linked to chronic stress revealed

    Identification of neurons linked to chronic stress revealed

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    Newswise — Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a group of nerve cells in the mouse brain that are involved in creating negative emotional states and chronic stress. The neurons, which have been mapped with a combination of advanced techniques, also have receptors for oestrogen, which could explain why women as a group are more sensitive to stress than men. The study is published in Nature Neuroscience.

    Just which networks in the brain give rise to negative emotions (aversion) and chronic stress have long been unknown to science.

    By using a combination of advanced techniques, such as Patch-seq, large-scale electrophysiology (Neuropixels) and optogenetics (see factbox), KI researchers Konstantinos Meletis and Marie Carlén and their team have been able to map out a specific neuronal pathway in the mouse brain leading from the hypothalamus to the habenula that controls aversion.

    The researchers used optogenetics to activate the pathway when the mice entered a particular room, and found that the mice soon started to avoid the room even though there was nothing in it.

    Opens the way for novel treatments for depression

    “We discovered this connection between the hypothalamus and the habenula in a previous study but didn’t know what types of neurons the pathway was made up of,” says Konstantinos Meletis, professor at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet. “It’s incredibly exciting to now understand what type of neuron in the pathway controls aversion. If we can understand how negative signals in the brain are created, we can also find mechanisms behind affective diseases like depression, which will open the way for novel drug treatments.”

    The study was led by three postdocs at the same department, Daniela Calvigioni, Janos Fuzik and Pierre Le Merre, and as Professor Meletis explains, is an example of how scientists can use advanced techniques to identify neuronal pathways and neurons that control emotions and behaviour.

    Sensitive to oestrogen levels

    Another interesting discovery is that the neurons linked to aversion have a receptor for oestrogen, making them sensitive to oestrogen levels. When male and female mice were subjected to the same type of unpredictable mild aversive events, the female mouse developed a much more lasting stress response than the male.

    “It has long been known that anxiety and depression are more common in women than in men, but there hasn’t been any biological mechanism to explain it,” says Marie Carlén, professor at the Department of Neuroscience. “We’ve now found a mechanism that can at least explain these sex differences in mice.”

    The study was mainly financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Brain Foundation and the David and Astrid Hagelén Foundation. The researchers report no potential conflicts of interest.

    Factbox: Here are the techniques used

    Patch-seq: Patch-seq combines measurements of the electrical properties of individual cells with measurements of gene expression (RNA sequencing) and makes it possible to map the different types of neurons in the brain.

    Neuropixels: The Neuropixels probe is a new type of electrode for large-scale electrophysiological measurements that makes it possible record the activity of hundreds of individual neurons simultaneously.

    Optogenetics: Optogenetics is used to control how and when selected neurons are active. The method involves introducing light-sensitive proteins (such as channel proteins from the membranes of single-cell organisms) into the neurons to be studied. Light can then be used to control individual cell types in the mouse brain to ascertain their function.

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    Karolinska Institute

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  • Prompt testosterone treatment improves mental health of transgender, gender-diverse people

    Prompt testosterone treatment improves mental health of transgender, gender-diverse people

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    Newswise — Receiving rapid access to testosterone therapy reduced feelings of gender dysphoria and led to a clinically significant reduction in depression as well as a 50% reduction in suicidality among transgender and gender diverse adults, according to research being presented Sunday at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Chicago.

    “This is the world-first randomized clinical trial supporting the significant benefits of testosterone in reducing gender dysphoria, depression and suicidality in trans individuals desiring commencement of testosterone,” said Brendan Nolan, M.B.B.S., F.R.A.C.P., a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Melbourne (Austin Health) in Melbourne, Australia. 

    Gender dysphoria occurs when a person feels distressed that their gender identity does not align with the sex assigned at birth. When an individual’s gender identity is not respected and the individual cannot access medical care, it can result in higher psychological problem scores and can raise the person’s risk of committing suicide or other acts of self-harm.

    Nolan and colleagues sought to understand the impact of testosterone therapy compared with no treatment on gender dysphoria, depression, and suicidality in trans adults seeking masculinization.

    The three-month open-label randomized controlled trial included 64 transgender adults who were able to start testosterone therapy immediately (intervention group) compared with those who were on a standard waiting list of three months prior to beginning testosterone. The purpose of this segmentation was to ensure no person would have to prolong waiting to begin treatment beyond standard care practices.

    People who were able to begin treatment immediately showed decreased gender dysphoria and a clinically significant decrease in depression and suicidal ideation compared with study participants on the wait list.

    Suicidal ideation resolved in 11 (52%) people with immediate testosterone therapy, compared with 1 (5%) given standard care, according to results from the Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

    “Our findings illustrate the significant mental health benefits of early access to testosterone treatment and should provide an impetus for clinicians to ensure timely access to gender-affirming hormone therapy,” Nolan said. 

    # # #

    Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

    The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.

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    Endocrine Society

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  • Cutting back on social media reduces anxiety, depression, loneliness

    Cutting back on social media reduces anxiety, depression, loneliness

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    Newswise — AMES, IA — Last month, the American Psychological Association and the U.S. Surgeon General both issued health advisories. Their concerns and recommendations for teens, parents and policymakers addressed a mounting body of research that shows two trends are intertwined.

    Young people are using social media more, and their mental health is suffering.

    Researchers at Iowa State University found a simple intervention could help. During a two-week experiment with 230 college students, half were asked to limit their social media usage to 30 minutes a day and received automated, daily reminders. They scored significantly lower for anxiety, depression, loneliness and fear of missing out at the end of the experiment compared to the control group.

    They also scored higher for “positive affect,” which the researchers describe as “the tendency to experience positive emotions described with words such as ‘excited’ and ‘proud.’” Essentially, they had a brighter outlook on life.

    “It surprised me to find that participants’ well-being did not only improve in one dimension but in all of them. I was excited to learn that such a simple intervention of sending a daily reminder can motivate people to change their behavior and improve their social media habits.” says Ella Faulhaber, a Ph.D. student in human-computer interaction and lead author of the paper.

    The researchers found the psychological benefits from cutting back on social media extended to participants who sometimes exceeded the 30-minute time limit.

    “The lesson here is, it’s not about being perfect but putting in effort, which makes a difference. I think self-limiting and paying attention are the secret ingredients, more so than the 30-minute benchmark,” Faulhaber states.

    Douglas A. Gentile, co-author and distinguished professor of psychology, says their results fit with other research that’s grown out of kinesiology and health fields.

    “Knowing how much time we spend on activities each day and making something countable makes it easier for people to change their behaviors,” he says, giving Fitbits and daily steps as an example.

    Many of the participants in the ISU study commented that the first few days of cutting back were challenging. But after the initial push, one said they felt more productive and in tune with their lives. Others shared that they were getting better sleep or spending more time with people in person.

    Self-limiting may be more practical

    Gentile and Faulhaber point out other studies have investigated the effects of limiting or abstaining from social media. But many of the interventions require heavy supervision and deleting apps or using a special application to block or limit social media. Like rehab for someone who’s addicted to drugs, external accountability can help some users. But it also carries a higher risk of backfiring.

    “When a perceived freedom is taken away, we start resisting,” says Gentile. He adds that eliminating social media also means losing some of the benefits it can bring, like connecting with friends and family.

    Faulhaber says their study extends the current research on social media and provides a practical way for people to limit their use. For anyone looking to cut back, she recommends:

    1. Create awareness. Set a timer or use a built-in wellness app to see how much time you spend on social media.
    2. Give yourself grace. Recognize that it’s not easy to stick to a time limit. Social media apps are designed to keep you engaged. 
    3. Don’t give up. Limiting social media use over time has real benefits for your daily life.

    The researchers say it’s also important to be mindful of how and when we use these platforms. Future research could further explore this, along with the long-term effects from limiting social media and what people do with the time they gain.

    “We live in an age of anxiety. Lots of indicators show that anxiety, depression, loneliness are all getting worse, and that can make us feel helpless. But there are things we can do to manage our mental health and well-being,” says Gentile.

    Paying more attention to how much time we spend on social media and setting measurable goals can help.

    Jeong Eun Lee, assistant professor of human development and family studies, contributed to the paper.

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    Iowa State University

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  • Mental health counselors train to help communities, not just individuals

    Mental health counselors train to help communities, not just individuals

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    Newswise — Many people envision mental health counselors as professionals who sit in an office helping clients work through trauma and emotional difficulties. But many counseling students are pursuing civic engagement as part of their training. Newly published articles in Counseling Education and Supervision — a journal of the American Counseling Association — highlight pilot programs aimed at training counselors on how to get involved in antiracism and community support efforts.

    The articles appear as part of a special issue that offers ideas on how counseling educators and supervisors can add multicultural training, advocacy and social justice curriculum to counselor training programs.

    The pilot programs center on the notion of healing entire communities, rather than just individuals, and of breaking down racist systems. These approaches also look to identify and utilize the strengths and resilience of oppressed groups.

    Antiracism Internship: Applying the ecological social justice school counseling theory

    In one program, school counseling interns learned antiracist activism by addressing health risks in schools. This initiative relied on the ecological social justice school counseling (ESJSC) theory, which focuses on addressing systemic racism that affects students’ personal and academic lives. Kaprea F. Johnson, a professor at The Ohio State University, served as lead author on the article. 

    By applying ESJSC to their work, the interns — working at different elementary, middle and high schools — took such actions as developing assessment tools to better identify students facing food and housing insecurity, as well as physical and mental health problems. One intern and her supervisor reported they helped an emancipated student apply for government assistance so she could focus on graduating. Another intern developed a resource and information packet to give to families based on the students’ needs.

    The interns “reported that the use of the ESJSC theory helped them to see students holistically” and “as much more than just students, but as individuals with complex stories, backgrounds and experiences,” Johnson and colleagues wrote.

    Johnson’s co-authors included Dana L. Brookover of The University of Scranton, Alexandra Gannt-Howey of New Mexico State University, Krystal L. Clemons of Liberty University and Lauren B. Robins of Old Dominion University. The article, titled “Antiracism Internship: Applying the ecological social justice school counseling theory,” is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ceas.12253.

    The Social Justice Consultation Corps: An interdisciplinary training initiative

    An initiative called the Social Justice Consultation Corps (SJCC) at the University of Florida (UF) involved recruiting counselors-in-training to help racial-minority and LGBTQ+ student organizations working toward social justice. The trainees provided emotional support for the groups and helped them deal with intergroup conflicts that might have impeded their work.

    The trainees reported they made valuable connections and bolstered their clinical skills.   

    “Consultants were somewhat surprised to realize their role was not to restructure or solve a problem within a student organization, but more so to facilitate organizational and interpersonal healing,” the authors wrote.

    The SJCC program could serve as a model for training in social justice work, according to authors Hannah Bayne, who until recently was a faculty member at UF and is now at Virginia Tech; UF doctoral student Jeanette Mejia; and Della V. Mosely, a psychologist and activist in Durham, North Carolina. The article, “The Social Justice Consultation Corps: An interdisciplinary training initiative,” is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ceas.12256

    Read the entire special issue of Counseling Education and Supervision at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15566978/2023/62/2.

    NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: To schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact ACA at [email protected].

    Founded in 1952, the American Counseling Association (ACA) is a not-for-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession. ACA represents nearly 60,000 members and is the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional counselors in various practice settings. Driven by the belief that all people can benefit from the power of counseling, ACA’s mission is to promote the professional development of counselors, advocate for counselors, and ensure that ethical, culturally inclusive practices protect our members’ clients and all people who seek counseling services.

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    American Counseling Association

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  • For Father’s Day: Role of fathers in families and their effects on children

    For Father’s Day: Role of fathers in families and their effects on children

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    BYLINE: Lauren Quinn

    Experts in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently published an article showing children whose fathers engage in constructive conflict resolution with mothers have greater socioemotional skills in preschool than kids whose dads engage in destructive conflict. The paper, published in the Journal of Family Psychology [DOI: 10.1037/fam0001102], is part of a greater body of work by authors Karen Kramer, Qiujie Gong, and Kelly Tu, part of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) in ACES.   

    On their recent paper: 

    “Fathers who reported using more constructive conflict resolution – like open communication and reaching compromise, as opposed to hitting, criticizing, or throwing things – showed more involvement and warmth toward their kids, compared to their counterparts,” said lead author and HDFS doctoral student Qiujie Gong.

    Co-author and HDFS associate professor Karen Kramer, added, “Fathers using constructive conflict resolution led to more parental involvement, which led to more positive child development. Destructive conflict has the opposite effect on kids.”

    On fathers more generally:

    “Fathers are key to gender equality. If we are to truly achieve gender equality, fathers would have to step up and get involved in taking care of children, family members, and household chores as much as women. Equality should not only be a part of paid work – it should also be in unpaid work,” Kramer said.

    Kramer’s previous studies have touched on paternity leave, including paid parental leave, as well as at-home father families and other aspects of family life.   

    Gong added, “Fathers are just as important as mothers in shaping children’s life. Their unique role in child development should not be underestimated. At the same time, it is also essential to recognize the challenges fathers may face and provide them with the necessary support. By supporting both parents and promoting positive interparental relationship, children would be able to thrive and flourish in a healthy family environment.”

    Gong’s previous studies have touched on the effects of parenting programs, relationship quality among African American couples, and more. Kramer and Gong also collaborated on a study looking at parental involvement among first- and second-generation Latin Americans.

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    College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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  • Silent struggles: Barriers to reporting sexual harassment

    Silent struggles: Barriers to reporting sexual harassment

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    Newswise — The study by the University of Exeter, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and published in Psychology of Women Quarterly, discovered that seeking justice by coming forward is just one of the needs people who experience sexual harassment consider after the event, with other needs, including those for safety, instead rated as more important.

    The research may explain why people who are sexually harassed often don’t report their experience formally, with the 2017 Crime Survey England and Wales finding that five out of six people who are targeted by sexual offences do not report it to the police.

    Researchers compared answers from a confidential online survey from people who have experienced sexual harassment to those who have not but were asked to imagine how they would react. People who have experienced sexual harassment reported a range of needs and engaged in a variety of actions to meet these needs. Needs for safety, personal control and social support were prioritised over formal actions, such as reporting to police. Those who had not encountered sexual harassment anticipated having stronger needs and taking more actions—especially formal ones.  

    Senior author, Professor Manuela Barreto, from the University of Exeter said: “We found there is a widely held belief that quick and formal reporting is the correct response to sexual harassment. It’s what’s generally meant with the phrase ‘coming forward’. Yet most people who are sexually harassed do not report it formally and those who do, often report the offence a significant time after it happened. There’s a focus on procedural barriers with police and other authorities as to why this is, but less attention paid to the actual needs of the person who has experienced sexual harassment.

    “Our research suggests there’s a gap between what people expect from those who have been sexually harassed and how those who experience it actually respond. It’s important to consider that the feelings and actions of someone who has experienced sexual harassment might be very different from those who have not. Instead of asking; ‘why people don’t come forward more often?’, we should perhaps ask ourselves; ‘what is the best action for the individual?’”

    Across two studies researchers analysed answers from participants who have experienced sexual harassment about the actions they took, alongside those from participants who haven’t experienced sexual assault but were asked to imagine how they’d react if they did. In the first study 415 participants from mixed genders took part (259 experienced, 156 imaginers) and after finding no gender differences, the second study was conducted with women only (589 participants – 301 experienced, 288 imaginers), who are much more commonly sexually harassed.

    Lead author, Professor Thomas Morton, worked at the University of Exeter on the research and is now at the University of Copenhagen. He said: “There is an assumption that those who experience sexual harassment are primarily guided by their desire for justice. But this research shows that peoples’ needs are wider than what others might expect, and include needs for safety, personal control, and for life to just return to normal. Of all the needs that people expressed, the need for justice was not the highest priority. This might explain why people don’t take the kind of formal actions, like reporting to police, that others expect them to.

    “There are often accusations – including high profile recent examples – that if people who experience sexual harassment don’t come forward at the time, it’s because it wasn’t that serious or perhaps even true. But if you have not experienced sexual harassment, it is hard to accurately anticipate what you might need, and therefore what you would do to satisfy those needs. Our research suggests that the assumptions people make are often wrong, or at least don’t reflect what the people who have experienced sexual harassment say they need.”

    The paper is entitled “What Would a “Reasonable Person” Do? Exploring the Gap Between Experienced and Anticipated Responses to Sexual Harassment”, and is published in Psychology of Women Quarterly.

    ENDS

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    University of Exeter

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  • Women exhibit greater loss sensitivity in risky choices: study

    Women exhibit greater loss sensitivity in risky choices: study

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    Newswise — Women are less willing to take risks than men because they are more sensitive to the pain of any losses they might incur than any gains they might make, new research from the University of Bath School of Management shows.

    Published in the British Psychological Society’s British Journal of Psychology, the study – “Gender differences in optimism, loss aversion and attitudes toward risk” – also finds that men are ‘significantly’ more optimistic than women, making them more willing to take risks.

    Researcher Dr Chris Dawson, associate professor in business economics at the University of Bath School of Management, said the findings were significant and could help explain sex-specific outcomes in different employment sectors, and in financial markets.

    ‘It is widely acknowledged that men, across many domains, take more risks than women. These differences in how the sexes view risk can have significant effects,” Dr Dawson says.

    ‘For instance, differences between the sexes in risk taking can explain why women are less likely to be entrepreneurs, are underrepresented in high-paying jobs and upper management, and less likely to invest their wealth in equities markets than men. Despite these important implications, we still know very little about why women take fewer risks than men.

    “My research attempts to fill that gap. When thinking about risky choices, people tend to assess the probability of losing something alongside an evaluation of how painful that loss would be. I found that women take less risks than men as they focus more on the possibility of losing and anticipate experiencing more pain from potential losses,” he adds.

    Previous research suggests that women are more risk averse than men, and this study investigated the joint role of two psychological characteristics to explain the differences – loss aversion, the idea that losses loom larger than gains, and optimism.

    To measure loss aversion, Dr Dawson used data from 13,575 people from the UK British Household Panel Survey to assess how changes in household income from one year to the next predict changes in psychological wellbeing.

    He found that income losses are less painful for men than for women with no difference in the psychological responses to income gains between the sexes.

    When asked how they saw themselves financially a year from now with expectations about outcomes under the individual’s control, men were significantly more optimistic than women.

    The research indicates that this optimism may be linked to men’s overconfidence about their abilities compared to women which previous studies have highlighted.

    If women are both less optimistic about the probability of favourable outcomes occurring and less confident in their abilities than men, they will naturally evaluate a given gamble as being riskier, the research says.

    Overall, the study finds that women report a lower willingness to take risks than men with 53 percent of this gap accounted for by the higher levels of loss aversion amongst women and a further 3 per cent attributable to the lower levels of financial optimism amongst women.

    Loss aversion and optimism still have significant effects on risk attitudes even after controlling for the personality traits such as openness, neuroticism and extraversion.

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    University of Bath

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  • LGB adults at risk of suicide and self-harm

    LGB adults at risk of suicide and self-harm

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    Newswise — Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people are more than twice as likely than their straight peers to experience suicidal thoughts or self-harming behaviours, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

    The study, published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, is the first ever to analyse nationally representative data on sexual orientation and suicidality in England whilst being able to compare individual sexual minority groups. The researchers analysed data combined from two household surveys of 10,443 English adults (aged 16 and over), representative of the population, sampled in 2007 and 2014.

    As well as finding an increased probability of past-year suicidal thoughts among lesbian or gay adults when compared with heterosexuals, and of lifetime non-suicidal self-harm among bisexual, lesbian or gay people, they also found that depression, anxiety, and experiences of discrimination or bullying may contribute in part to these increased risks.

    Concerningly, the researchers found no improvement in these inequalities in suicidal thoughts and self-harm between the two time points.

    Lead author Dr Alexandra Pitman (UCL Psychiatry) said: “While national surveys of British attitudes towards same-sex relationships suggest that society has become more tolerant of people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual, there is clearly a long way to go, as the mental health outcomes we were studying did not improve across our study period.

    “People with sexual minority identities continue to face more discrimination and bullying than heterosexual people and are also more likely to experience common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Our study suggests that these experiences of discrimination and bullying may have some role to play in increasing the risk of suicidality and this requires further research.

    “Clinicians should be aware of these issues, so that we can best support the mental health of LGB patients, while society as a whole also has a role to play in helping to reduce discrimination. Government bodies, schools, workplaces and individuals should all consider their own cultures and attitudes towards people from sexual minority groups and challenge discriminatory behaviour.”

    The researchers had previously found, when analysing the same dataset (see note*), an increased probability of depression, anxiety, alcohol misuse and drug misuse among LGB adults compared with their heterosexual peers**. In the current study they found that half of lesbian or gay adults had experienced bullying and one in five had experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation within the past year. For bisexual adults, almost half had experienced bullying and one in ten had experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation within the past year.

    The researchers found that even after accounting for the increased risk of common mental health problems (depression and anxiety), lesbian and gay adults were still more than twice as likely as heterosexuals to report past-year suicidal thoughts, and lesbian, gay and bisexual adults were more than three times as likely to report lifetime non-suicidal self-harm than heterosexuals. The findings were similar for both men and women, and these inequalities had not changed between 2007 and 2014.

    When investigating the comparative likelihood of past-year suicide attempt, the researchers found an increased risk for bisexual adults when compared with heterosexuals, but this was no longer apparent when taking into account the increased risk of common mental health problems. The researchers caution that as the proportions with past-year suicide attempt were relatively low, their findings do not necessarily rule out an elevated suicide attempt risk among the sexual minority group as a whole.

    Further analysis suggested that experiences of bullying may contribute to the increased probability of suicidal thoughts among lesbian or gay adults, and that experiences of discrimination and bullying (both categorised as minority stress factors) may each contribute to the increased risk of self-harm among lesbian, gay and bisexual adults.

    First author Garrett Kidd, who worked on the study as his dissertation for a Clinical Mental Health Sciences MSc in UCL Psychiatry, said: “Our findings add to a concerning picture of health inequalities experienced by lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

    “Our health services need to be improved to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ people, as some people may not feel comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation, which can hamper an understanding of their health and social needs. We also need to offer more mental health services specifically catered to LGBTQ+ people, ideally alongside community-based support.”

    The researchers say that further research is needed to fully understand the reasons why sexual minority groups are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts or self-harm, such as how victimisation, family environment or stigma might be contributing factors, and in order to develop public health interventions that could reduce suicidality and potentially save lives.

    The lead researchers were supported by the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.

     

    * The dataset, the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) for England, included questions on sexual orientation but not gender identity. The next survey in the APMS series will include questions about gender identity, so that future analyses will be able to look at both gender and sexual identity, and therefore investigate mental health in LGB groups as well as transgender and gender diverse groups.

    ** UCL News, 2021: Mental health disorders and alcohol misuse more common in LGB people. See also evidence that LGB youth are more likely to experience depressive symptoms from as young as age 10 and these symptoms persist at least into their early 20s (UCL News, 2018: Depressive symptoms higher for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth from age 10); the UCL researchers also studied to how reduce LGBTQ+-targeted discrimination and bullying in schools (Video explanation, full study)

    Notes to Editors  

    Garrett Kidd, Louise Marston, Irwin Nazareth, David Osborn, Alexandra Pitman, ‘Suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt and non-suicidal self-harm amongst lesbian, gay and bisexual adults compared with heterosexual adults: analysis of data from two nationally representative English household surveys’ will be published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology on Friday 9 June 2023, 00:01 UK time and is under a strict embargo until this time.

    The DOI for this paper will be 10.1007/s00127-023-02490-4.

    Garrett Kidd has also written a blog about the study, which will be published at https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/mental-health/2023/06/07/examining-the-relationship-between-sexual-orientation-and-suicidality/ (embargoed copy available on request).

    About UCL – London’s Global University

    UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities.

    Since 1826, we have championed independent thought by attracting and nurturing the world’s best minds. Our community of more than 50,000 students from 150 countries and over 16,000 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.

    We are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.

    We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.  

    For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge.

    We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.

    www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow @uclnews on Twitter | Read news at www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ | Listen to UCL podcasts on SoundCloud | Find out what’s on at UCL Minds

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    University College London

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  • Does evening recovery impact next-day work mood?

    Does evening recovery impact next-day work mood?

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    Newswise — The quality of recovery a person experiences on a given evening after work may impact their mood when they start their job again the next day, according to new research published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

    The study, which was based on diary entries by 124 employees on 887 days, found that people who had higher quality recovery during the evening than usual had higher levels of wakefulness, calmness, and pleasantness when they started work the next day. However, people’s wakefulness and calmness tended to decline more strongly during the workday after evenings with higher quality recovery.

    These findings imply that employees benefit from daily recovery, but these benefits subside during the workday. Therefore, it’s important to engage in recovery on a daily basis.

    “Our study shows that daily recovery from work during off-job time is indeed beneficial for employees’ mood; however, these benefits do not last the entire workday. Thus, our findings highlight that the benefits of evening recovery are relatively short-lived,” said corresponding author Maike Arnold, MSc, of the University of Mannheim, in Germany. “We further found that some but not all of these benefits can be explained by a better sleep quality following good evening recovery.”

    URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joop.12445

     

    Additional Information
    NOTE:     The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage.

    The Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology aims to increase understanding of people and organizations at work including: industrial, organizational, work, vocational and personnel psychology; behavioral and cognitive aspects of industrial relations; ergonomics and human factors; and industrial sociology. Innovative or interdisciplinary approaches with a psychological emphasis are particularly welcome. So are papers which develop the links between occupational/organizational psychology and other areas of the discipline, such as social and cognitive psychology.

    About Wiley
    Wiley is one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in scientific research and career-connected education. Founded in 1807, Wiley enables discovery, powers education, and shapes workforces. Through its industry-leading content, digital platforms, and knowledge networks, the company delivers on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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    Wiley

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  • Natto: A Stress-Busting Food

    Natto: A Stress-Busting Food

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    Newswise — Health is wealth as the saying goes and new research now shows that it is possible to have a healthy, less stressed society through familiar and inexpensive foods. One such food might be the Japanese natto which is made from softened soybeans that have been boiled or steamed and fermented with a bacteria called Bacillus subtilis var. natto. Bacillus subtilis var. natto is found in soil, plants, animals, and the human stomach and intestines. Most of the natto consumed in Japan is made from the Miyagino strain.

    A research group led by Professor Eriko Kage-Nakadai at the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology, Osaka Metropolitan University, examined the effects of Bacillus subtilis var. natto consumption on the lifespan of the host using Caenorhabditis elegans worms. The researchers found that Caenorhabditis elegans fed Bacillus subtilis var. natto had a significantly longer lifespan than those fed the standard diet, and further elucidated that the p38 MAPK pathway and insulin/IGF-1-like signaling pathway, which are known to be involved in innate immunity and lifespan, were involved in the lifespan-enhancing effects of Bacillus subtilis var. natto. They also examined stress tolerance, which has been shown to have a correlation with longevity, and found that resistance to UV light and oxidative stress is enhanced.

    Professor Nakadai concluded, “For the first time, we were able to demonstrate the possibility of lifespan-extending effects of Caenorhabditis elegans through the ingestion of Bacillus subtilis var. natto. We hope that future experiments on mammals and epidemiological studies will help to realize a healthy and longer-living society if we can apply this research to humans.”

    The research results were published online in the Journal of Applied Microbiology on April 20, 2023.

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    Osaka Metropolitan University

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  • Consistent link between the seaside and better health

    Consistent link between the seaside and better health

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    Newswise — Seaside residents and holidaymakers have felt it for centuries, but scientists have only recently started to investigate possible health benefits of the coast. Using data from 15 countries, new research led by Sandra Geiger from the Environmental Psychology Group at the University of Vienna confirms public intuition: Living near, but especially visiting, the seaside is associated with better health regardless of country or personal income.

    The idea that being near the ocean may boost health is not new. As early as 1660, doctors in England began promoting sea bathing and coastal walks for health benefits. By the mid-1800s, taking ‘the waters’ or ‘sea air’ were widely promoted as health treatment among wealthier European citizens. Technological advances in medicine in the early 20th century led to the decline in such practices, which are only recently gaining popularity again among the medical profession.

    As part of the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Seas, Oceans, and Public Health In Europe led by Professor Lora Fleming, Geiger and colleagues from the Universities of Vienna, Exeter, and Birmingham, as well as Seascape Belgium and the European Marine Board, surveyed over 15,000 participants across 14 European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom) and Australia about their opinions on various marine-related activities and their own health.

    The findings, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, surprised the team. Lead author Geiger said: “It is striking to see such consistent and clear patterns across all 15 countries. We also now demonstrate that everybody seems to benefit from being near the seaside, not just the wealthy. Although the associations are relatively small, living near and especially visiting the coast can still have substantial effects on population health.”

    Understanding the potential benefits of coastal access for all members of society is key for policymaking. Dr. Paula Kellett from the European Marine Board said: “The substantial health benefits of equal and sustainable access to our coasts should be considered when countries develop their marine spatial plans, consider future housing needs, and develop public transportation links.”

    But what does this mean for landlocked residents like Geiger and her colleagues in Austria? “Austrians and other central Europeans visit the coasts in their millions during the summer months, so they too get to experience some of these benefits. Besides, we are also starting to appreciate the similar health benefits offered by inland waters such as lakes and natural pools.”

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    University of Vienna

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  • Left sounds = Brain’s preferred positive vocals

    Left sounds = Brain’s preferred positive vocals

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    Newswise — Sounds that we hear around us are defined physically by their frequency and amplitude. But for us, sounds have a meaning beyond those parameters: we may perceive them as pleasant or unpleasant, ominous or reassuring, and interesting and rich in information, or just noise.

    One aspect that affects the emotional ‘valence’ of sounds – that is, whether we perceive them as positive, neutral, or negative – is where they come from. Most people rate looming sounds, which move towards them, as more unpleasant, potent, arousing, and intense than receding sounds, and especially if they come from behind rather than from the front. This bias might have a plausible evolutionary advantage: to our ancestors on the African savannah, a sound approaching from behind their vulnerable back might have signaled a predator stalking them.

    Now, neuroscientists from Switzerland have shown another effect of direction on emotional valence: we respond more strongly to positive human sounds, like laughter or pleasant vocalizations, when these come from the left.

    “Here we show that human vocalizations that elicit positive emotional experiences, yield strong activity in the brain’s auditory cortex when they come from the listener’s left side. This does not occur when positive vocalizations come from the front or right,” said first author Dr Sandra da Costa, a research staff scientist at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland.

    “We also show that vocalizations with neutral or negative emotional valence, for example meaningles vowels or frightened screams, and sounds other than human vocalizations do not have this association with the left side.”

     

    From erotic vocalizations to a ticking bomb

    Da Costa and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare how strongly the brain of 13 volunteers responded to sounds coming from the left, front, or right. These were women and men in their mid-twenties, all right-handed, and none were trained in music. The researchers compared the brain’s response between six categories of sounds: besides positive human vocalizations like erotic sounds, they played back neutral and negative vocalizations, like meaningless vowels and a frightened scream; and positive, neutral, and negative non-vocalizations, like applause, wind, and a ticking bomb.

    Da Costa et al. focused on brain regions known to be important for the early stages of sound processing, the primary auditory areas A1 and R, the surrounding other early-stage auditory areas, and the ‘voice area’ (VA). Each of these areas occurs in the left and right hemisphere of the brain.

    The results showed that A1 and R in both hemispheres became maximally active when listening to positive vocalizations coming from the left, and much less when listening to positive vocalizations coming from the front or right, to neutral or negative vocalizations, or to non-vocalizations.

     

    Auditory cortex discriminates in favor of positive vocalizations from left

    “The strong activation by vocalizations with positive emotional valence coming from the left takes place in the primary auditory cortex of either hemisphere: the first areas in the brain cortex to receive auditory information. Our findings suggest that the nature of a sound, its emotional valence, and its spatial origin are first identified and processed there,” said co-author Dr Tiffany Grisendi.

    In addition, area L3 in the right hemisphere, but not its twin in the left hemisphere, also responded more strongly to positive vocalizations coming from the left or right compared to those coming from the front. In contrast, the spatial origin of the sound didn’t impact the response to non-vocalizations.

    The evolutionary significance of our brain’s bias in favor of positive vocalizations coming from the left is still unclear.

    Senior author Prof Stephanie Clarke, at the Neuropsychology and Neurorehabilitation Clinic at the Lausanne University Hospital said: “It is currently unknown when the preference of the primary auditory cortex for positive human vocalizations from the left appears during human development, and whether this is a uniquely human characteristic. Once we understand this, we may speculate whether it is linked to hand preference or the asymmetric arrangements of the internal organs.”

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    Frontiers

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  • Penn Medicine to Open New Crisis Response Center as Part of a Unified Mental Health Care Hub at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania – Cedar Avenue

    Penn Medicine to Open New Crisis Response Center as Part of a Unified Mental Health Care Hub at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania – Cedar Avenue

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    Newswise — PHILADELPHIA—Penn Medicine is launching a new community mental health hub at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — Cedar Avenue (HUP Cedar), co-locating inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care with a new crisis response center (CRC) at the facility. The multi-year plan will put crucial psychiatric and substance use care in easy reach for West and Southwest Philadelphia residents, at a time when both mental illness and drug and alcohol dependence are surging in the city.

    The project will begin with moving inpatient psychiatric and drug and alcohol detoxification units from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center to HUP Cedar in July, followed by the opening of a new crisis response center at the facility later in the summer which is expected to provide an estimated 4,000 patient visits each year. The steps will create two comprehensive, fully integrated mental health hubs at Penn Medicine facilities in Philadelphia, offering emergency mental health services and inpatient and outpatient care at both HUP Cedar and Pennsylvania Hospital, which has operated a CRC since 1999. Together, Pennsylvania Hospital and HUP Cedar will have 73 licensed inpatient psychiatric beds and 16 beds for substance use treatment. Additional space at HUP Cedar will allow for expansion of coordinated services to further care for West and Southwest Philadelphia communities over the next five years.

    “The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the mental health crisis across the nation. As COVID recedes, we have a moral imperative to tackle this suffering in our communities,” said Kevin B. Mahoney, chief executive officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS). “Providing easy access to care when people are in crisis changes – and saves – lives. We are committed to the investment and innovation needed to close the gaps in access to care and reverse the toll of mental health and substance use in Philadelphia.”

    As one of the nation’s largest cities, Philadelphia’s mental health struggles are a microcosm of broader trends: A Pew Research Center survey from late 2022 reported that 41 percent of Americans — and nearly 60 percent of young adults — have experienced high levels of psychological distress at least once since the early stages of the pandemic. At the same time, more than two-thirds of Americans live in areas without sufficient psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. In Philadelphia, more than 20 percent of the city’s residents are coping with a diagnosed depressive disorder and substance use-related deaths have climbed to record levels.

    Similar to the CRC at Pennsylvania Hospital, the HUP Cedar CRC — which will replace the CRC previously operated on the site by Mercy Philadelphia Hospital until its closure in March of 2020 — will be licensed as a crisis intervention walk-in facility and will serve as a discreet psychiatric emergency room, providing triage, evaluation, treatment and social services support for acute substance use and serious psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, major depression, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia.

    The co-location of the inpatient psychiatric units with emergency care provided through the CRC will enable a seamless transition of care for patients, eliminating the wait time and additional steps required to transfer patients to inpatient units at other facilities — a common occurrence in a city where emergency psychiatric resources remain in short supply.

    “We know that a lack of quality mental health support and crisis response services has a traumatic ripple effect across families and entire communities. When patients and families are coping with a mental health crisis, the last thing they need to think about is how to navigate a complex system,” said UPHS Chief Operating Officer Michele Volpe. “By putting all our services together, we can help keep patients safer, get them into treatment faster, and better support families as they begin to navigate supporting their loved ones during their hospitalization and recovery.”

    Staff at both CRC locations will be connected via a real-time data system providing details on bed availability in order to ensure patients can be placed as quickly as possible and that each location has the right staffing resources. Penn Presbyterian will continue to provide select outpatient psychiatric care as well treatment for substance use disorders after the transition of inpatient services to HUP Cedar.

    HUP Cedar is part of the PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar, which opened in March 2021, transitioning the building from the former Mercy Philadelphia Hospital into a campus offering emergency and inpatient care as well as primary care and community-driven social supports.

    Penn Medicine will invest $5.76M toward the opening of the CRC at HUP Cedar as part of the mental health hub project. The CRC reopening has also received funding from the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, and the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health earmarked $4.1 million in HealthChoices reinvestment funds.

    In addition to Penn Medicine’s adult mental health services on the site, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia plans to open an inpatient pediatric behavioral health facility, the CHOP Behavioral Health & Crisis Center, on the site, as well. The 46-bed acute inpatient psychiatric facility and 24/7 walk-in crisis center will create a safe, inclusive and restorative setting for children and adolescents.

    The second phase of the new mental health hub plan will also increase care capacity at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), by converting the vacated psychiatric beds to medical surgical units. Those steps will help to improve patient movement across the hospital, reducing emergency department wait times and providing additional capacity for post-surgery recovery.

    The new services at HUP Cedar are part of Penn Medicine’s wraparound commitment to bringing more mental health care support to the community across each of its mission areas. Penn Integrated Care (PIC), a program, which embeds mental health professionals in primary care practices, launched in 2018. More than 230,000 patients in 24 Penn Medicine primary clinics have access to PIC services. To date, 35,000 patients have been treated directly by PIC clinicians or connected to specialty care in the community.

    Beginning this summer, the health system will add a new path for training fellows in drug and alcohol use treatment. That program, for physicians specializing in family medicine, primary care, and emergency medicine, among other disciplines, aims to ensure that providers in multiple settings are equipped to help patients take steps toward recovery and provides a much-needed addition to the existing fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry at Penn Medicine and the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center (CMC VAMC) in Philadelphia.

    In addition, a new consultation service provides psychiatric care to patients hospitalized for complex medical needs at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Future plans include potential opening of a medical-psychiatric unit to ensure that patients with these complex needs are cared for in dedicated spaces.

    “Expanding our resources to care for mental health needs in Philadelphia is a core part of our mission,” said Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania CEO Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN. “No matter where people live in the city, we aspire to provide them with support in convenient settings, and work to erase both the stigmas and access problems that stand in the way of helping people get help.”

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    Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

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  • Mission reflection boosts teachers’ growth mindset

    Mission reflection boosts teachers’ growth mindset

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    All children can thrive

    The impact of teachers on students’ enjoyment of school and academic performance is significant. Teachers who hold a growth mindset, believing that all children have the potential to thrive and learn, can positively influence their students. Anke Heyder emphasizes the importance of teachers’ conviction in fostering students’ growth and learning. In contrast, a fixed mindset, which assumes that talent or innate ability is necessary for success and predicts failure without it, can hinder motivation, particularly among students who struggle academically. The belief in the growth mindset promotes a positive learning environment and encourages students to overcome challenges and reach their full potential.

    While numerous studies have highlighted the importance of teachers’ beliefs and the growth mindset in student success, there hasn’t been a concise intervention specifically aimed at reinforcing the growth mindset among teachers. Anke Heyder acknowledges this gap and introduces a novel intervention that is both brief and subtle. The intervention centers around teachers engaging in a short reflection on their personal mission as educators. They are encouraged to contemplate why they chose to be a teacher and how they aspire to make a positive impact on their students’ lives through their teaching. This reflective exercise aims to cultivate a growth mindset and enhance teachers’ dedication to fostering learning and growth in their students.

    Survey on teacher beliefs

    In the study conducted by the researchers, they recruited 576 student teachers as participants. The participants were divided into different groups for the purpose of the study. In the intervention group, the student teachers were asked to engage in a brief reflection exercise where they wrote down their personal mission as educators. Afterward, they completed a survey regarding their beliefs. On the other hand, the control groups were given a different question to reflect upon, and then they also completed the questionnaire. By comparing the results between the intervention group and the control groups, the researchers aimed to assess the impact of the mission reflection intervention on the beliefs of the student teachers.

    The study found that the participants who engaged in the mission reflection intervention demonstrated significantly stronger beliefs aligned with a growth mindset compared to the control group. This result remained consistent regardless of the subject the student teachers were studying. A follow-up survey conducted one week later confirmed the durability of the effect, indicating that the intervention’s impact lasted for at least a short period of time. Further research will be needed to determine if the effect is long-lasting. Anke Heyder advises teachers, university lecturers, and business leaders to periodically reflect on their own mission, as it not only benefits those under their responsibility but also enhances their own motivation and job satisfaction, as supported by evidence.

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    Ruhr-Universitat Bochum

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  • Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

    Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

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    Title 42, the United States pandemic rule that had been used to immediately deport hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed the border illegally over the last three years, has expired. Those migrants will have the opportunity to apply for asylum. President Biden’s new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges. The US Homeland Security Department announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, to qualify for asylum. Border crossings have already risen sharply, as many migrants attempted to cross before the measure expired on Thursday night. Some have said they worry about tighter controls and uncertainty ahead. Immigration is once again a major focus of the media as we examine the humanitarian, political, and public health issues migrants must face. 

    Below are some of the latest headlines in the Immigration channel on Newswise.

    Expert Commentary

    Experts Available on Ending of Title 42

    George Washington University Experts on End of Title 42

    ‘No one wins when immigrants cannot readily access healthcare’

    URI professor discusses worsening child labor in the United States

    Biden ‘between a rock and a hard place’ on immigration

    University of Notre Dame Expert Available to Comment on House Bill Regarding Immigration Legislation, Border Safety and Security Act

    American University Experts Available to Discuss President Biden’s Visit to U.S.-Mexico Border

    Title 42 termination ‘overdue’, not ‘effective’ to manage migration

    Research and Features

    Study: Survey Methodology Should Be Calibrated to Account for Negative Attitudes About Immigrants and Asylum-Seekers

    A study analyses racial discrimination in job recruitment in Europe

    DACA has not had a negative impact on the U.S. job market

    ASBMB cautions against drastic immigration fee increases

    Study compares NGO communication around migration

    Collaboration, support structures needed to address ‘polycrisis’ in the Americas

    TTUHSC El Paso Faculty Teach Students While Caring for Migrants

    Immigrants Report Declining Alcohol Use during First Two Years after Arriving in U.S.

    How asylum seeker credibility is assessed by authorities

    Speeding up and simplifying immigration claims urgently needed to help with dire situation for migrants experiencing homelessness

    Training Individuals to Work in their Communities to Reduce Health Disparities

    ‘Regulation by reputation’: Rating program can help combat migrant abuse in the Gulf

    Migration of academics: Economic development does not necessarily lead to brain drain

    How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected immigration?

    Immigrants with Darker Skin Tones Perceive More Discrimination

     

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    Newswise

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  • Why do we fall for certain people? The science of attraction

    Why do we fall for certain people? The science of attraction

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    Newswise — Sometimes life’s most meaningful relationships grow from the briefest of connections. Like when you go to a party and meet someone wearing your favorite band’s T-shirt, or who laughs at the same jokes as you, or who grabs that unpopular snack you alone (or so you thought) love. One small, shared interest sparks a conversation—that’s my favorite, too!—and blossoms into lasting affection.

    This is called the similarity-attraction effect: we generally like people who are like us. Now, new findings from a Boston University researcher have uncovered one reason why.

    In a series of studies, Charles Chu, a BU Questrom School of Business assistant professor of management and organizations, tested the conditions that shape whether we feel attracted to—or turned off by—each other. He found one crucial factor was what psychologists call self-essentialist reasoning, where people imagine they have some deep inner core or essence that shapes who they are. Chu discovered that when someone believes an essence drives their interests, likes, and dislikes, they assume it’s the same for others, too; if they find someone with one matching interest, they reason that person will share their broader worldview. The findings were published in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

    “If we had to come up with an image of our sense of self, it would be this nugget, an almost magical core inside that emanates out and causes what we can see and observe about people and ourselves,” says Chu, who published the paper with Brian S. Lowery of Stanford Graduate School of Business. “We argue that believing people have an underlying essence allows us to assume or infer that when we see someone who shares a single characteristic, they must share my entire deeply rooted essence, as well.”

    But Chu’s research suggests this rush to embrace an indefinable, fundamental similarity with someone because of one or two shared interests may be based on flawed thinking—and that it could restrict who we find a connection with. Working alongside the pull of the similarity-attraction effect is a countering push: we dislike those who we don’t think are like us, often because of one small thing—they like that politician, or band, or book, or TV show we loathe.

    “We are all so complex,” says Chu. “But we only have full insight into our own thoughts and feelings, and the minds of others are often a mystery to us. What this work suggests is that we often fill in the blanks of others’ minds with our own sense of self and that can sometimes lead us into some unwarranted assumptions.”

    Trying to Understand Other People

    To examine why we’re attracted to some people and not to others, Chu set up four studies, each designed to tease out different aspects of how we make friends—or foes.

    In the first study, participants were told about a fictional person, Jamie, who held either complementary or contradictory attitudes to them. After asking participants their views on one of five topics—abortion, capital punishment, gun ownership, animal testing, and physician-assisted suicide—Chu asked how they felt about Jamie, who either agreed or disagreed with them on the target issue. They were also quizzed about the roots of their identity to measure their affinity with self-essentialist reasoning.

    Chu found the more a participant believed their view of the world was shaped by an essential core, the more they felt connected to the Jamie who shared their views on one issue.

    In a second study, he looked at whether that effect persisted when the target topics were less substantive. Rather than digging into whether people agreed with Jamie on something as divisive as abortion, Chu asked participants to estimate the number of blue dots on a page, then categorized them—and the fictional Jamie—as over- or under-estimators. Even with this slim connection, the findings held: the more someone believed in an essential core, the closer they felt to Jamie as a fellow over- or under-estimator.

    “I found that both with pretty meaningful dimensions of similarity as well as with arbitrary, minimal similarities, people who are higher in their belief that they have an essence are more likely to be attracted to these similar others as opposed to dissimilar others,” says Chu.

    In two companion studies, Chu began disrupting this process of attraction, stripping out the influence of self-essentialist reasoning. In one experiment, he labeled attributes (such as liking a certain painting) as either essential or nonessential; in another, he told participants that using their essence to judge someone else could lead to an inaccurate assessment of others.

    “It breaks this essentialist reasoning process, it cuts off people’s ability to assume that what they’re seeing is reflective of a deeper similarity,” says Chu. “One way I did that was to remind people that this dimension of similarity is actually not connected or related to your essence at all; the other way was by telling people that using their essence as a way to understand other people is not very effective.”

    Negotiating Psychology—and Politics—at Work

    Chu says there’s a key tension in his findings that shape their application in the real world. On the one hand, we’re all searching for our community—it’s fun to hang out with people who share our hobbies and interests, love the same music and books as us, don’t disagree with us on politics. “This type of thinking is a really useful, heuristic psychological strategy,” says Chu. “It allows people to see more of themselves in new people and strangers.” But it also excludes people, sets up divisions and boundaries—sometimes on the flimsiest of grounds.

    “When you hear a single fact or opinion being expressed that you either agree or disagree with, it really warrants taking an additional breath and just slowing down,” he says. “Not necessarily taking that single piece of information and extrapolating on it, using this type of thinking to go to the very end, that this person is fundamentally good and like me or fundamentally bad and not like me.”

    Chu, whose background mixes the study of organizational behavior and psychology, teaches classes on negotiation at Questrom and says his research has plenty of implications in the business world, particularly when it comes to making deals.

    “I define negotiations as conversations, and agreements and disagreements, about how power and resources should be distributed between people,” he says. “What inferences do we make about the other people we’re having these conversations with? How do we experience and think about agreement versus disagreement? How do we interpret when someone gets more and someone else gets less? These are all really central questions to the process of negotiation.”

    But in a time when political division has invaded just about every sphere of our lives, including workplaces, the applications of Chu’s findings go way beyond corporate horse trading. Managing staff, collaborating on projects, team bonding—all are shaped by the judgments we make about each other. Self-essentialist reasoning may even influence society’s distribution of resources, says Chu: who we consider worthy of support, who gets funds and who doesn’t, could be driven by “this belief that people’s outcomes are caused by something deep inside of them.” That’s why he advocates pushing pause before judging someone who, at first blush, doesn’t seem like you.

    “There are ways for us to go through life and meet other people, and form impressions of other people, without constantly referencing ourselves,” he says. “If we’re constantly going around trying to figure out, who’s like me, who’s not like me?, that’s not always the most productive way of trying to form impressions of other people. People are a lot more complex than we give them credit for.”

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    Boston University

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  • Accelerated delivery of transcranial magnetic stimulation is safe and effective

    Accelerated delivery of transcranial magnetic stimulation is safe and effective

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    Newswise — May 12, 2023 — Accelerated schedules for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can be offered to patients experiencing treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD), a group of clinician–researchers and neuroscientists have concluded. The group cautions that such treatment should be proposed only after detailed discussion with patients about acceleration being an alternate form of rTMS scheduling, with documentation of informed consent.

    The recommendations are published in a special issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry (HRP), “Interventional Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation: An Emerging Subspecialty in Brain Medicine.” HRP is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

    Repetitive TMS is a noninvasive therapy in which an electromagnet delivers repeated low-intensity pulses to stimulate the brain. It has been proven safe and effective in numerous clinical trials involving patients whose MDD does not respond to antidepressant medication. Conventionally, rTMS is given once daily 20 to 30 days over four to six weeks. That places great time demands on both patients and clinicians.

    Theta burst stimulation treats MDD

    The next step in development of rTMS is accelerated schedules in which patients undergo two or more sessions per day, each approximately 30 minutes long, separated by one hour or more. Although this change was just as effective in treating depression as once-daily rTMS, it created a different kind of impracticality and clinical inefficiency, according to Leo Chen, MBBS, MPsych, PhD, FRANZCP, of Monash University/Alfred Health in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues. “These schedules required patients to attend treatment settings for long periods on each treatment day, limiting patient capacity at treatment clinics,” they note.

    The time burden can be alleviated, at least in part, with a novel approach called theta-burst stimulation (TBS). The most commonly used conventional rTMS protocol delivers electromagnetic pulses at a frequency of 10 Hz, whereas TBS refers to three pulses applied at 50 Hz (gamma frequency), repeated at 5 Hz (theta frequency) intervals. Two or more TBS sessions can be delivered within an hour.

    Dr. Chen and his colleagues recently published results from a multicenter randomized, controlled trial in which 10 days of TBS was compared head-to-head with a four week course of conventional rTMS. The two approaches were similar in antidepressant effect and safety. This was the largest study of accelerated TBS in depression to date.

    Standardization needed

    Accelerated delivery doesn’t necessarily mean accelerated response, the authors caution. Some retrospective studies have shown twice-daily rTMS induces antidepressant effects faster than once-daily administration, but the evidence is mixed. One barrier is that studies have varied widely in factors such as the stimulation target, frequency and intensity of stimulation, the duration of breaks between sessions, and the number of pulses applied per session and over a treatment course.

    Importantly, though, “accelerated rTMS’s antidepressant efficacy appears comparable to conventional, once-daily rTMS protocols,” Dr. Chen’s group writes. In addition, “studies show that accelerated rTMS protocols are well-tolerated and not associated with serious adverse effects.”

    “As with all therapies, the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of protocols that deviate from those investigated in clinical trials are unknown and should be cautioned against,” the researchers continue. “The durability and depression relapse patterns following accelerated rTMS remain a recognized knowledge gap.”

    Read [Accelerated Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Treat Major Depression: The Past, Present, and Future]

    Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.

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    About HRP

    Harvard Review of Psychiatry is the authoritative source for scholarly reviews and perspectives on a diverse range of important topics in psychiatry. Founded by the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry, the journal is peer-reviewed and not industry sponsored. It is the property of President and Fellows of Harvard College and is affiliated with all of the Departments of Psychiatry at the Harvard teaching hospitals.

    Articles encompass all major issues in contemporary psychiatry, including (but not limited to) neuroscience, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, history of psychiatry, and ethics. In addition to scholarly reviews, perspectives articles, and columns, the journal includes a Clinical Challenge section that presents a case followed by discussion and debate from a panel of experts.

    About Wolters Kluwer

    Wolters Kluwer (EURONEXT: WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the healthcare, tax and accounting, financial and corporate compliance, legal and regulatory, and corporate performance and ESG sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

    Wolters Kluwer reported 2022 annual revenues of €5.5 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

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