Research on interventions designed to increase posttraumatic growth (PTG) among interpersonal trauma survivors is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a six-week trauma-informed mindfulness meditation intervention on PTG. Additionally, I examined outcomes of posttraumatic stress (PTS) and loneliness, as well as analyzed the variables of dispositional mindfulness,...
Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide, and current smoking cessation treatments are limited by low long-term efficacy. An interplay between positive and negative reinforcement drives high relapse rates. Psychedelic compounds, particularly psilocybin, have shown promising clinical outcomes for smoking cessation, yet the neurobiological and...
This study investigated the two research questions, 1) what are the relationships among the pretest latent variables mindfulness, stress, and flourishing and the manifest variables GPA and retention in first-year college students in a first-year experience seminar and 2) will there be differences in mindfulness, stress, flourishing, GPA, and retention between groups of students in a first-year...
5-HT2B receptor agonism causes cardiac valvulopathy, a condition characterized by thickening of the heart valves and as a result, regurgitation of blood within the heart. The anti-obesity drug fenfluramine, which was originally prescribed as an anorectic, was withdrawn from the market due to causing cardiac valvulopathy. Fenfluramine, after metabolism by N-dealkylation, produces the metabolite...
This study investigated the effects of two novel forms of 8-week mindfulness meditation training, focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM), relative to an established training, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), on early emotional reactivity to negative emotional images as assessed by electroencephalography (EEG). Data on the late-positive potential (LPP) were analyzed to...
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a widely used anesthetic adjunct in dentistry and medicine that is also commonly abused. N2O alters the function of several receptors in vitro and ex vivo, however, the receptors systems underlying its abuse-related intoxicating effects are poorly understood. The goals of this dissertation were to (1) establish N2O as a discriminative stimulus, (2) characterize the...
Combat and war zone veterans are particularly vulnerable to developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to the increased risk of experiencing trauma inherent in military service. Insomnia and nightmares are core symptoms of PTSD and can be factors in the development, maintenance, and exacerbation of PTSD. However, sleep disturbance has received relatively little attention from a...
The dissociative anesthetic ketamine has been subject to growing abuse worldwide, particularly in adolescents. This project compared the effects of ketamine in conditioned place preference and intravenous self-administration in adolescent (PND 28-50) and adult (>PND70) Sprague-Dawley rats. Cocaine served as a positive control. In CPP, adolescents demonstrated preferences for ketamine, while...
Cannabinoid agonists (e.g., THC) dose-dependently decrease locomotor activity and body temperature and produce antinociception and catalepsy. Drugs that produce this tetrad of effects within a limited dose range are likely to function as CB1 receptor agonists. A structure activity relationship study from our laboratory investigating analogs of the CB1 antagonist rimonabant revealed that certain...
The present research examined if mindfulness reduced negativity bias on measures of attitude formation and cognitive style, as a potential explanation for the beneficial effects of mindfulness on emotional disturbance. Two studies were conducted. Study One was correlational and found that trait mindfulness inversely correlated with measures of negative cognitive style, and that the latter...
PROBLEM STATEMENT: Growing evidence indicates that psychological stress contributes to cardiovascular diseases through complex neuroendocrine mechanisms. Psychological stress leads to several physiological responses including increased heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) as well as decreased heart rate variability (HRV) through alterations in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), specifically...
Within the last two decades, the United States has witnessed the growth of a phenomenon which the media has referred to as "The New Age Movement". This multi-faceted social pattern includes astrology, meditation, mysticism, and eastern philosophies, the popularity of which have increased significantly in the 1980's. This thesis is a case study of the "New Age Movement". First, I develop a...