View clinical trials related to Stress.
Filter by:A total of 18 healthy volunteers will participate in this four-week, within-groups, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The study has two phases separated by a 4 to 15-day washout period. Subjects will be randomly assigned to receive either 40 mg atomoxetine or placebo. For Phase I, subjects will be assigned to atomoxetine or placebo for 4 days. After receiving medication or placebo for three days, subjects will have a 6-hour laboratory session, where responses to physical and psychological stress of a 20 mg/70 kg (20 mg maximum) dose of d-amphetamine will be measured. Several physiological, hormonal, and subjective outcome measures will be obtained during the experimental sessions. Subjects will then have a 4-15 day washout period and will be crossed over to the alternative treatment for Phase II.
Our objective was to test whether there were advantages to Nurse-CHW team home visiting designed to combine the strengths of both visitors, with a focus on maternal stress and mental health, when compared with standard of Community Care (CC) that included professional home visitors in a state-sponsored Medicaid program. We conducted the study under usual community conditions in a population of women eligible for state-sponsored Medicaid programs. We predicted that during pregnancy and infancy, women in the Nurse-CHW team intervention would report 1) less perceived stress; 2) fewer depressive symptoms; and 3) increased levels of psychosocial resources (self-esteem, mastery, and social support) than women in CC. Benefits were expected to be most pronounced for women with low psychosocial resources and high stress at enrollment.
This trial tests the hypothesis that increasing nonverbal affection in romantic relationships will improve blood lipid parameters (total cholesterol, high and low density lipoproteins, triglycerides), blood glucose, and immune parameters (C-reactive protein and antibodies to latent Epstein-Barr virus). 52 healthy cohabiting romantic couples took part. In half of the couples, one partner increased the frequency of romantic kissing with the other partner during the six-week trial. The other couples received no such instruction. Blood tests performed before and after the trial were used to assess the health outcomes.
This study will examine the effects of tending to significant social relationships on managing and reducing stress.
The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a comprehensive counseling and support intervention for people who care for parents with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other dementias on outcomes such as stress, depression and ability to postpone or avoid nursing home placement.
Complementary therapies such as Reiki are becoming popular. Reiki is a practice used for relaxation and pain management that involves physical touch and social contact with a trained, empathetic practitioner. Unlike many relaxation therapies, Reiki requires no participation by the patient, a feature that makes Reiki particularly attractive in the hospital setting, where patients are often extremely anxious, depressed, in pain, or sedated. Our primary research questions are to determine whether physiological changes are induced during a Reiki session and whether a Reiki session affects responses to a subsequent acute stressor. Secondary research questions include assessing which benefits result from placebo or unique abilities of "attuned" Reiki practitioners and assessing background characteristics of recipients that are associated with acceptance and responsiveness. Based on its use to reduce pain and anxiety, we will study potential mechanisms by which Reiki decreases activity of the sympathetic nervous system and other stress pathways. Comparison of the responses in a Reiki group with those in supine-control and sham groups will allow us to gain insights into mechanisms by which Reiki effects are mediated. Information obtained from the proposed studies will provide detailed information on physiological pathways affected by Reiki. Should Reiki decrease stress pathways or reduce physiological responses to stressful situations, it could be a useful adjunct to traditional medicine and have significant health and economic benefits.
This project is a collaboration between the Centre Regional de Medecine Traditionnelle (CRMT) of the Malian National Institute of Public Health Research (INRSP) and the Section on Socioenvironmental Studies (SSES). These units developed a three-pronged protocol reflecting their joint and individual concerns: 1. Effects of occupational complexity on psychological functioning. The project tests a theory derived from previous SSES research demonstrating that in industrialized societies doing relatively self-directed, substantively complex work increases self-directed orientations to self, society and family and promotes effective intellectual functioning. It uses sociological survey methodology to determine the generalizability of this theory to an essentially pre-literate, preindustrial society. 2. Effects of work-related stress on mental health. Earlier SSES work demonstrated that stressful work conditions lead to distress in industrialized societies. This project extends the investigation of these effects to a non-industrialized setting. It also extends the investigation of work-related stress to include work-related migration, resting a hypothesis that relates equally to SSES and CRMT concerns: that individuals from rural ethnic groups with a cultural tradition of work-related migration will show fewer mental health problems when migrating for nontraditional work than those from cultures without such a tradition. Mental health problems are assessed through: a) adaptations of standard survey-based psychological measures of components of distress, b) general and culture-specific survey-based psychiatric screening questions, and c) a psychiatric interview conducted by a CRMT psychiatrist trained in internationally accepted diagnostic procedures and knowledgeable about local cultures. 3. The effects of migration and cultural and socioeconomic factors on AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. The survey addresses concern regarding the degree of knowledge about the nature of AIDS among rural Malians who are relatively isolated from urban oriented sources of information about culturally non-traditional issues. It also examines how socio-cultural background and migration for work affect AIDS related attitudes and self-reported behaviors in an African society where estimates of HIV prevalence are still relatively low (less than 2%), compared to those of other sub-Saharan African countries. Although these prongs are distinguishable, each requires a longitudinal design, a representative sample, extensive information about responders' social and cultural backgrounds, occupational histories, work conditions, and personal orientations and beliefs. Because of their overlapping theoretical approaches and methodological requirements, combining them in one project increases the richness and efficiency of the data collected for each.
This study evaluates whether a 2 hour group session, "The Living Well with Hearing Loss Workshop," can successfully teach hard of hearing people how to best use hearing aids and a variety of personal skills to compensate for the limitations of their impaired ears.
Stress appears to be related to hot flash frequency and intensity, and the degree of distress that women experience from their hot flashes appears to be related to their coping resources. This trial is a pilot study to test the effect of participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program on hot flash frequency and intensity, as well as menopause-related quality of life.
Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are exposed to stressful stimuli such as loud noises, bright lights, blood drawing, suctioning, and intubation, and are frequently left in isolation with minimal proper interaction. Stress has been demonstrated to exert a negative effect on the immune system. Different psychological interventions, including relaxation, have been used in efforts to reduce stress, and several of these techniques have been shown to improve cellular immunity. Massage therapy (MT) has been used to reduce stress in premature infants and has been associated with weight gain, shorter hospital stay, and improvement in mental/motor development. While MT has been shown to increase the number and function of natural killer (NK) cells in healthy adults and in adults infected with HIV, the effect of MT on the immune system of children, including premature infants, has never been investigated. The investigators hypothesize that, in premature infants, MT will enhance the immune system. One hundred and twenty stable premature infants meeting selection criteria will be randomized to massage and sham treatment groups. Immunologic evaluation will be performed on both groups at baseline, midway and at the end of therapy. Physicians, nurses, and parents will be masked. The investigators' unique and innovative study will be the largest study in this area and will provide valuable information on potential immune parameters associated with stress reduction and improved development in premature infants undergoing massage therapy.