Browsing by Subject "anxiety"
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Item Authors, Audiences, and Elizabethan Prologics(2011-02-22) Heil, Jacob AllenIn examining examples of prologues, inductions, and choruses from early modern drama, Authors, Audiences, and Elizabethan Prologics tries to frame a more comprehensive picture of dramatists? relationships with the plays they write and the audiences for whom they write them. It suggests that these various prologics are imbued with an intrinsic authority that provides something of a rubric, perceptible by both playwright and playgoer, through which one can measure the crucial negotiations with and within the shifting valences of dramatic representation in the early modern period. The project develops a way of thinking about the prologic as a hermeneutics unto itself, one which allows us to contextualize more adequately the manner in which playwrights conceptualize and construct their own relationship to nascent notions of authorship and authority. My first body chapter (Chapter II) considers the rhetorical construction of audiences? silences in various Elizabethan interludes, suggesting that such ideal silences register one?s contemplative engagement with the performance and, thus, work to legitimize early drama. The prologues to John Lyly?s plays?my subject in Chapter III?exemplify the desire to legitimize, instead, the playwright. Reading Lyly?s plays alongside his letters of petition to Queen Elizabeth and Sir Robert Cecil, one can see the manner in which Lyly creates an authorial persona rooted in his rhetorical skills. In Chapter IV I examine Shakespeare?s sparse but measured use of prologues to manipulate his audiences? preconceptions of theatrical conventions and to guide them toward a consideration of what it means to have interpretive agency, how far that agency extends, and where to locate the limits of narrative in the necessarily liminal domain of the theater. Finally, I argue in Chapter V that Thomas Nashe?s Summer?s Last Will and Testament expands the prologic space, mimicking in the playspace the critical, interactive stance that he assumes in the printed marginalia of his prose writing. This is to say that Summer?s Last Will echoes?or in many cases prefigures?the authorial anxieties that Nashe expresses elsewhere in his work, and chief among them is an anxiety over the interpretational agency of the reader and auditor.Item Media induced anxiety in the active duty medical clinic setting: A pilot study(2009-05-21) Jonathan Michael Strobel; Laura Rudkin; Ruth Levine; Dan FreemanMedia stimuli have long been used in the research community to evaluate autonomic responses among subpopulations. Prior to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the majority of research had been focused on war veterans, rape/crime victims, and vehicle accident victims. Post- 9/11, a new surge of research has been focused on survivors, eyewitnesses, and media watchers to the extraordinary events that occurred on that historic day. The current news media stimuli of violent activities and economic and political turmoil are potential stressors for active duty soldiers who have faced or will face similar events in the near future. These types of media stressors could potentially lead to unnecessary autonomic response in the active duty soldiers who are a susceptible population. Currently there is no policy is in place to regulate what is being shown in the waiting rooms of clinics attended by these soldiers. The aims of this Capstone are twofold. The first aim is to assess the impact of current news media coverage on the anxiety levels of active duty soldiers in the clinical setting. The second aim is to propose recommendations regarding the types of media that should be restricted in the military medical clinic setting.Item Psychological Well-Being and Spinal Cord Injury Recovery: A Two-Way Street?(2014-08-26) Maldonado, SiouiSpinal cord injury (SCI) leads to increased anxiety and depression in as many as 60% of patients. Yet despite extensive clinical research focused on understanding the variables influencing psychological well-being following SCI, risk factors that decrease psychological well-being remain unclear. We hypothesized that excitation of the immune system, inherent to SCI, may contribute to the decrease in well-being. We used a battery of established behavioral tests to assess depression and anxiety in contused rats and (1) characterized psychological well-being as a function of SCI severity, (2) examined peripheral (serum) and central (hippocampi and spinal cord) inflammation in relation to psychological well-being post SCI, and (3) explored whether social enrichment, as a modulator of psychological well-being, could improve overall recovery post SCI, by housing contused animals either alone, or with an injured or an intact cagemate. Following SCI, the contused subjects showed one of three profiles: depression-like, depression- and anxiety-like, or no signs of decreased psychological well-being. Subjects exhibiting a purely depression-like profile showed higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines peripherally, whereas subjects exhibiting a depression- and anxiety-like profile showed higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines centrally (hippocampi and spinal cord). These changes in inflammation were not associated with injury severity; suggesting that the association between inflammation and the expression of behaviors characteristic of decreased psychological well-being was not confounded by differential impairments in motor ability. Social enrichment, in the form of group housing, did not improve psychological well-being post SCI. Depression- and anxiety-like signs were found in all group housing conditions. Unexpectedly, we found that the intact animals housed with contused subjects showed depression- and anxiety-like signs similar to those of contused subjects, indicating that their psychological well-being was affected by the presence of an injured cagemate. This is reminiscent of the caregiver effect in humans, specifically the manifestation of symptoms of depression in individuals who care for patients suffering with a chronic illness, such as SCI. These experiments demonstrate that the depression and anxiety patients experience following spinal cord injury is not due solely to psychosocial factors, but may also, in part, result from increased immune activation following the injury.Item Sex differences in anxiety: testing a prenatal androgen hypothesis using behavioral and physiological markers(Texas A&M University, 2007-09-17) Evardone, MilagrosThe majority of studies examining the role of prenatal androgens on abnormal behavior have focused on developmental disorders showing large male to female ratios (i.e., autism and Tourette's Syndrome). There is a scarcity of research examining the role of prenatal sex hormones on female-linked disorders or disorders showing adult onset. This study is the first to evaluate the organizational and activational influences of sex hormones on adult levels of anxiety, while simultaneously examining previously reported hormone-behavior associations. In addition, this study explores the relation between prenatal and postnatal sex hormones and two other female-linked disorders, depression and borderline personality. As part of this study, participants (n = 110) completed a battery of psychopathology questionnaires, gender role measures, and spatial/cognitive tasks. Prenatal androgen levels were indirectly measured by means of the index to ring finger ratio (2D:4D), and testosterone and estrogen levels were obtained from saliva samples. Results replicate previously reported sex differences in anxiety and gendered behavior and confirm various hormone-behavior associations. More importantly, results provide preliminary evidence for the organizational role of prenatal androgens in two female-linked conditions, anxiety and borderline personality. Individuals with a higher (i.e., more feminine) 2D:4D reported greater symptoms of trait anxiety and borderline personality (i.e., affective instability), and this effect appeared to be strongest in males.Item The effects of cognitive competence and anxiety on depression in an elderly sample: a clinical assessment scales for the elderly (case) data analysis(2009-05-15) Arnemann, Kelly GeneThis study investigates the impact of self- and other-report cognitive competence, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behaviors on depression using a population sample from the archival data of the Clinical Assessment Scales of the Elderly (CASE). Structural Equation Modeling was used to test predictions of the abovementioned variables. Participants were a matched self-and other-report subset (N=123) of the CASE standardization sample (N=2,000). Structural equation modeling was used to test predictions. The results revealed that age does not predict self-report cognitive competence or other-report cognitive competence. A small covariance (0.42) was found between the errors of self-report cognitive competence and other-report cognitive competence. The data reports self-report depression mediates both self-report anxiety and self-report obsessive compulsive behaviors. Statistically significant large effects were found between self-report cognitive competence and all variables; self-report anxiety (0.72), self-report depression (0.62), and self-report obsessive compulsive behaviors (0.71). Moderate to large effects were found for other-report cognitive competence and all variables; other-report anxiety (.063), other-report depression (0.63), and other-report obsessive compulsive behaviors (0.35). The correlations between the anxiety and depression measures confirm the current literature regarding depression and anxiety. In this study depression has been found to have a mediating effect on both anxiety and obsessive compulsive behaviors in an elderly sample. The inclusion of obsessive compulsive behaviors as a measure of anxiety in this model has empirically demonstrated the variability of the presentation of depression. Psychological self-report measures continue to be the best determinant of a patient?s internal functioning. Research in the area of the presentation of depression in the elderly merits further investigation.Item The relation between family functioning and psychological adjustment in children with asthma and children with diabetes(Texas A&M University, 2007-04-25) Fontaine, Eve NicoleThe goals of this study were to evaluate the relationships among family functioning, psychological adjustment, and health-related quality of life in children with asthma and children with diabetes. A secondary goal of this study was to examine the relations between illness severity, psychological adjustment, and health-related quality of life in the children with asthma. Participants included 41 children with asthma and 109 children with diabetes, and one primary caregiver of each child. Questionnaires were given to children to assess their levels of anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life. Questionnaires pertaining to parenting stress, family functioning, and psychological adjustment also were completed by the participating primary caregiver. Results suggested these two groups of children do not differ in their psychological adjustment, family functioning, or health-related quality of life. Normal levels of anxiety and depression were reported, which both supports and contradicts current research in this area. Additionally, parenting stress mediated the relationship between family cohesion and parent-reported depression in children with diabetes; however, this result was not obtained in the children with asthma. In children with diabetes, significant relationships were found between self-reported anxiety and parenting stress and between parent-reported anxiety and health-related quality of life. Additionally, parent-reported depression was significantly related to parenting stress, health-related quality of life, and family cohesion. Self-reported depression was significantly predicted by health-related quality of life. In children with asthma, health-related quality of life significantly predicted self-reported anxiety and parenting stress was significantly related to parentreported depression. Illness severity did not predict psychological adjustment or healthrelated quality of life in children with asthma.