View clinical trials related to Stress.
Filter by:The proposed study examines the differences in how the ANS responds to cervical adjustments in comparison to thoracic adjustments. This study is the continuation of a previous study titled Perceived stress and patterns of autonomic function: a protocol development study. Autonomic tests such as HRV, GSR, and the stress surveys will be the primary method of measurement. CareTaker and Biopac devices will provide continual data collection of ECG (for HRV analysis) and GSR throughout the exam and adjustment. Participant's subjective stress levels will be measured through the use of stress questionnaires including the National Stressful Events Survey Acute Stress Disorder Short Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The objective of the study is to determine if the location of a chiropractic adjustment will affect the autonomic nervous system in such a way that PNS or SNS activation increases or decreases after the adjustment. Further, the study will continue to examine how the chiropractic adjustment affects the subjective stress response.
Pregnancy ends in preterm birth (PTB) for approximately 1 in 10 women, though more often for Non-Hispanic Black women, 14.12% PTB rate, compared to 9.09% for Non-Hispanic White women. Psychosocial stress and childhood trauma each are associated with risk for PTB and PTB has an intergenerational impact: mothers born preterm are more likely to give birth pretern, especially amongst Black women. In this project, we will study mitochondria, which contain their own genome, the mitochondria DNA, and are inherited from the mother, as they represent a potential intersection point between psychosocial experiences and their biological embedding in underlying disease outcomes such as PTB
Dementia is widely prevalent and results in high direct and indirect health costs. Dementia is associated with stress, anxiety, and depression in both patients and caregivers, and caregiver burden is extremely common. Treatment protocols for patients and caregivers are unclear and insufficient; drug treatments to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia can yield serious negative side effects, and caregivers may not have access to one-on-one psychotherapy due to high costs and long wait times. Yoga is an ancient Indian mind-body practice that uses physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. Yoga may be a viable therapeutic modality to address the psychological challenges associated with dementia in patients and caregivers, as it has been shown to decrease stress and improve anxiety and depressive symptoms in various populations. Recent research has suggested that patients with dementia and their caregivers may also experience positive effects on their mental health from practicing yoga. Furthermore, when yoga is taught in a gentle and mindful manner, it is generally not associated with any negative side effects. While there is preliminary data on dyadic exercise interventions for dementia patients and their caregivers, to date no research has examined the effectiveness of a dyadic yoga intervention on stress, anxiety, and depression. The investigators propose an 8-week study of a dyadic chair yoga program for patients with mild to moderate dementia and their caregivers (n = 30-40 participants). Our primary outcome of interest is changes in perceived stress, while secondary outcomes include changes in symptoms of depression and anxiety. The investigators will also look at the effects of the chair yoga program on caregiver burden, quality of interactions, well-being, mindfulness, and self-compassion. All outcomes will be assessed before the program starts and upon its termination. Participants will attend a 1-hour weekly group yoga class (4-10 participants per group) with their dyad for 8-weeks, and will also be given a video recording of a yoga class to practice together at home as often as possible. The investigators hypothesize that after the 8 week yoga program, patients and caregivers will report lower stress, as well as reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results will be available mid-2020.
Anhedonia is a symptom dimension that characterizes many individuals suffering from depression, as well as some types of anxiety, psychosis, and substance use. For the most part, treatments are effective in decreasing negative affect but ineffective in improving anhedonia, with some antidepressant medications even worsening symptoms of anhedonia. Yet anhedonia is a significant marker of poor prognosis as well as suicidal ideation and actual suicide. The development of effective treatments for anhedonia is thus of paramount importance. Advances in neuroscience indicate specific targets that may underlie anhedonia that can be shifted through behavioral training. The investigators have developed such a program and found it to be effective in raising positive affect, especially for depressed or anxious individuals with anhedonia at baseline. To date, this program has been implemented by highly trained clinicians, which have supervised its implementation on a large scale. Moreover, the behavior program is dependent on readily available rewarding experiences, which anhedonia obviously challenges. Furthermore, mechanistic evaluation is impeded by intra¬- and inter-¬individual variability in exposure to rewarding stimuli. Virtual Reality (VR) offsets these barriers by repeated controlled immersion in experiences designed to enhance approach motivation, initial responsiveness to reward attainment, and reward learning. In this current study, the investigators aim to measure clinical outcomes using Virtual Reality-Reward Training (VR-RT).