Efficacy of Virtually-Delivered Qigong/Tai Chi for Depression in Middle- and Older-Age Adults with Bipolar Disorder (QT-BD): A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background : Depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older age bipolar disorder (BD) are associated with decreased quality of life and premature mortality. Yet, currently available pharmacological treatments are limited in efficacy. Mind-body interventions have been shown to improve mood, quality of life, and cognition in other adult populations, and may thus provide a promising therapeutic alternative. Here we conduct the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) examining the efficacy of a group Qigong/Tai Chi intervention (QT-BD) for reducing depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults with BD. As a further innovation during the COVID pandemic, we used Zoom to deliver the group intervention and active control. Methods : We conducted a virtually-delivered 12-week pilot RCT with 23 patients with BD aged >= 40 comparing a QT-BD intervention versus an active control (light exercise). We assessed depressive symptoms (primary outcome), verbal fluency (secondary outcome), and functioning/quality of life (exploratory outcomes) at baseline and 12-weeks. Results : No statistically significant differences were observed between groups for all outcomes (all p's>0.05). However, non-significant decreases in depressive symptoms were found in the subgroup of participants with baseline MADRS scores ≥10 in the QT-BD intervention only (p=0.07). Limitations : Our sample size was limited and the virtually-delivered format may have limited the positive benefits of face-to-face interventions. Conclusions : This novel pilot study suggests that QT-BD may be a feasible and efficacious intervention for reducing depressive symptoms in middle- and older-aged BD, particularly when baseline MADRS is ≥10, warranting further investigation in larger-scale trials.

A Case Report on Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback and Postconcussion Syndrome: Healing the Autonomic Nervous System

Postconcussion syndrome is a devastating condition of the mind, body, and even personality. Mounting research demonstrates that heart rate variability biofeedback can help the concussed individual in three critical ways: (a) eliciting high amplitude oscillations in cardiovascular functions and thereby strengthening self-regulatory control mechanisms;(b) restoring autonomic balance;and (c) increasing the afferent impulse stream from the baroreceptors to restore balance between inhibitory and excitatory processes in the brain.

Coronavirus Pandemic and Online Education: Impact on Developing Countries

In this book, eight substantive chapters examine how "developing” countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Mexico confronted the pandemic-driven online education shift. As local instruments, resources, and preferences of specific universities meshed with global platforms, ideas, and knowledge, the book addresses several questions. Was the mix too flaky to survive increasing competitiveness? Were countries capable enough to absorb mammoth software technological changes? Throwing a "developed” country (the United States) in for contrast, the book elaborates on the inequities between these countries. Some of these inequalities were economic (infrastructural provisions and accesses), others involved gender (the role of women), political (the difference between public and private universities), social (accessibility across social spectrum), and developmental (urban-rural divides). In doing so, new hypotheses on widening global gaps are highlighted in the book for further investigation. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.

Analysing the Effect of Body, Mind and Soul State on Subjective Well-Being During COVID-19 Pandemic

The concern about health is continuously increasing and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused so many changes at a global level, affecting people, regardless demographic features. Different analysis show that people have been affected from different points of view, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The research is focusing on Romanians' perceptions, believes and behaviours in respect with their body, mind and soul (BMS) condition. The paper evaluates the effect of the state of BMS on subjective well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was conducted a descriptive research, using interviews based on an online anonymous questionnaire. The study reveals that when referring to their well-being, the majority are considering emotional and mind condition first. More hours spent in front of a screen and lack of socialization are the main effects of the pandemic. The respondents considered that their emotional state was impacted most in the last year. More then 60% became more aware of the importance of well-being. The majority of the respondents evaluated separately their physical, mental and emotional condition as being good, sustaining their state especially though walking, sleeping enough hours per night and socializing with others, and spending less then 100 euros per month for maintaining their subjective well-being.

Worked Examples Moderate the Effect of Math Learning Anxiety on Children's Math Learning and Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic

We investigated whether worked examples could be used to reduce cognitive load on mathematics learners who may have reduced available cognitive resources due to experiencing anxiety or excess stress. Across 2 days, 280 fifth-grade students learned from a difficult lesson on ratio, half of whom reviewed worked examples at key problem-solving opportunities during instruction. We also measured two sources of students' worry during learning: math anxiety and worries about learning during the pandemic. We explored the attentional and affective effects of worked examples and worries in addition to their effects on learning. Results suggest that math anxiety, but not pandemic learning worries, negatively predicted procedural and conceptual learning from the lesson. In line with previous research and cognitive load theory, math anxiety also predicted greater mind wandering during testing and lower situational interest during learning. Critically, reviewing worked examples during learning mitigated these effects on learning and engagement. Pandemic-related learning worries were unrelated to learning outcomes but did predict affective and motivational outcomes. Educational implications are discussed.

Using theory of mind to understand the impact of Covid-19 fear on healthcare workers' withdrawal intentions

PurposeHealthcare workers' (HCWs') job-related high exposure to Covid-19 virus arouses fear of Covid-19 among them. Based on the Theory of Mind (ToM), the study predicts that fears will lead to negative psychological (psychological distress) and behavioral (withdrawal intentions) outcomes. ToM is also used to identify social intelligence as a means to counter fear of Covid-19 on heightened psychological distress and increased withdrawal intentions.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate the study design, a sample of 262 HCWs, including doctors, nurses and technicians, were surveyed using standardized questionnaires.FindingsAs predicted, Covid-19 fear led to increased withdrawal intentions with heightened psychological distress partially mediating the relationship. The alleviating role of social intelligence on the effects of Covid-19 was supported as high social intelligence reduced HCWs' turnover intentions, with decreased psychological distress partially mediating the relationship.Originality/valueGiven the universality of the Theory of Mind (ToM), the findings of this study are likely to be generalizable to all pandemics. The study results support the increased application of ToM in organizational settings and have both theoretical and practical implications for health administrators. Based on study results, health administrators are exhorted to develop ToM-based mental models to understand and deal with the fear of contagious diseases. Health administrators can also increase HCWs' social intelligence to deal with the negative perceptual and behavioral outcomes arising from the emotions aroused by the nature of their work.

ACCEPT HOW YOU FEEL: HOW TO FIND BALANCE AND ENJOY FREEDOM FROM STRESS

HOW TO FIND BALANCE AND ENJOY FREEDOM FROM STRESS By Karen Graham Light Ideas Press (2020) Kindle Edition Reviewed by ROBIN J. LEWIS The topic of Accepting How You Feel by Dr. Karen Graham is common to many new books being published on mental health, especially in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. Since each person thinks uniquely and feels emotions in a personalized way, each one of us have our own perception in every situation. [...]to cope well in a difficult situation means to be emotionally aware of and to tolerate an uncomfortable feeling. [...]the author gives an exercise called the Circle for anyone that really wants to go all in with his/her mind-body relationship.

A tai chi/qigong intervention for older adults living with HIV: a study protocol of an exploratory clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Almost half of people living with HIV (PLWH) in the USA are over 50 years of age; this is expected to increase to 70% by 2020. Yet, few interventions exist for older PLWH that address psychological and physical symptoms combined, both prevalent in this population. There is a need to find innovative and accessible interventions that can help older PLWH to manage their symptoms. Mind-body interventions, like tai chi/qigong (TCQ), improve both physical and psychological health. TCQ is a series of slow, low-impact meditative movements that integrates breathwork, meditation, and stances. METHODS: The present study is an exploratory clinical trial that will evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a 12-week, small group TCQ intervention (n = 24), a sham qigong control condition (n = 24), and a standard of care control condition (n = 24) for older people living with HIV/AIDS. It will also explore any preliminary associations between the TCQ intervention and symptom alleviation. Participants will be recruited from community-based health and social services organizations in Miami, FL, and randomized to one of the 3 conditions. DISCUSSION: We will assess feasibility and acceptability through questionnaires and adherence to TCQ. We will assess preliminary associations with symptoms such as depression, anxiety, social support, chronic HIV-related fatigue, and clinical outcomes. These will be described through proportions, means, and changes over time through graphing techniques. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, at post-intervention, and at 3 months follow-up. These preliminary analyses also will provide information necessary to estimate effect size and power needed for a larger clinical trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03840525 . Registered on 16 July 2018.

Integrative Medicine in Long COVID.

Physiatry and Integrative Medicine practice approaches the care of patients holistically to achieve recovery and optimal function. The current lack of knowledge on proven treatments for long COVID has resulted in a surge in both demand and use of complementary and integrative health (CIH) treatments. This overview summarizes CIH therapies using the framework of the United States National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, divided into nutritional, psychological, physical, and combinations of these categories. Representative therapies selected based on the availability of published and ongoing research for post-COVID conditions are described.

Zooming in or zoning out: examining undergraduate learning experiences with zoom and the role of mind-wandering

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a systematic change in course modalities due to the nationwide suspension of in-person instruction, resulting in the transition to emergency remote distance learning via Zoom. This transition certainly facilitated affordances of flexibility and continuity, but with it brought issues of unfamiliarity, lack of confidence, anxiety, distractions, and validity from both the instructors and the student perspectives. This in situ study aimed to better understand the students' learning experiences with Zoom by assessing the social, cognitive, and behavioral factors influencing learner's mind-wandering and its effect on online engagement. Undergraduate students from 14 classes across two research institutions in California (N = 633) were recruited to participate in an online survey while distance learning through a pandemic. Structural equation modeling was used to conduct a path analysis to explain the factors impacting students' online engagement mediated by students' frequency to mind-wander. Study findings revealed that (1) self-efficacy and trait anxiety had significant direct effects on students' mind-wandering;(2) self-efficacy, trait anxiety, task-value beliefs, and mind-wandering had significant direct effects on students' online engagement;and finally (3) the frequency of students' mind-wandering partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and engagement and between trait anxiety and engagement. Identifying these structural relationships further confirmed our hypotheses on sources contributing to students' mind-wandering while learning remotely, provided insights into potential mechanisms underpinning students' online engagement, and suggests practical pedagogical learning experience design recommendations for instructors to immediately implement while teaching and learning with Zoom..

Embodied approaches to supervision: The listening body

Movement and the body are an essential aspect of supervision, whether we explicitly work with the body or not. The interest of this book is in the intentional focus on the body and movement and how this can serve the supervisory process. The book presents innovative approaches and reflective accounts of working with the body in supervision. The supervisory interventions open up new ways of seeing, listening and understanding through embodied processes. The authors, all experts in their fields, each bring a wealth of experience and knowledge, raising awareness of the value of working with the body in the supervisory relationship. The hybrid nature of the book reflects the current climate of cross-modality fertility in the world of psychotherapy. The book offers further insights into how embodiment is defined and can be attended to within supervision sessions. It presents with clarity diverse approaches to supervision practice where the body is at the center of facilitating the reflection and containment of supervisees, in both a one-to-one and a group context. In addition, each chapter contains case vignettes illustrating the application of a particular supervision model, whether working in person, online, indoors or outside or in the context of self-supervision. Taking shape in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the book emerges at a time of unprecedented challenges. So, besides reflecting on their specific approach, some contributors offer reflections on the impact of the pandemic on their practice. The ten chapters present a variety of embodied approaches to supervision rooted in a diverse range of practices including body psychotherapy, psychodrama, eco-supervision, dance movement psychotherapy, family therapy and drama therapy. This text will be of value to supervisors and supervisors-in-training, psychotherapists, practitioners seeking supervision and anyone keen to learn more about embodied approaches in supervision. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Implementing a virtual mind-body prehabilitation program for patients undergoing thoracic surgery: A quality improvement project.

Background: Prehabilitation before thoracic surgery has been found to improve outcomes in patients with cancer; however, COVID-19 presented challenges to access on-site programs. We describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a synchronous, virtual mind-body prehabilitation program developed in response to COVID-19. Methods: Eligible participants were patients seen at a thoracic oncology surgical department of an academic cancer center, aged 18 years or older with a diagnosis of thoracic cancer and referred at least 1 week before surgery. The program offered 2 45-minute preoperative mind-body fitness classes each week delivered via Zoom (Zoom Video Communications, Inc). We collected data for referrals, enrollment, participation, and evaluated patient-reported satisfaction and experience. We conducted brief semistructured interviews about participants' experience. Results: Among 278 patients referred, 260 were approached, and of those 197 (76%) patients agreed to participate. Among participants, 140 (71%) attended at least 1 class, with an average of 11 attendees per class. The majority of participants reported being extremely satisfied (97.8%), extremely likely to recommend the classes to others (91.2%), and indicated that classes were very much helpful in preparing for surgery (90.8%). Patients also reported that the classes helped reduce anxiety/stress (94.2%), fatigue (88.5%), pain (80.7%), and shortness of breath (86.5%). Qualitative data further suggest that the program made participants feel stronger, more connected to their peers, and better prepared for surgery. Conclusions: This virtual mind-body prehabilitation program was well received with high satisfaction and benefits and is highly feasible to implement. This approach may help overcome some of the challenges to in-person participation.

Expressiveness and psychic internality: The use of online diaries in the contemporary forms of life

The idea of psychic internality/interiority has always been a problem for Psychology as a science. The specific purpose of this chapter is to develop (1) a brief questioning about the meanings of privacy interiorized in the grammars of socio-historical and cultural perspectives of Psychology;(2) an approach to Wittgenstein's linguistic pragmatism critiques of language games from internality to the psychological individual;and (3) a discussion based on a research instrument for online diaries, about another grammar of a dialogical nature, which would dispense the spatialization of the psyche to talk about subjective agentivity and its psychic processes in the face of the alterity of the life of intersubjective relationship. Thus, we hope to sensitize the readers about the effects of internality spatialized in the current ultra-individualistic ways of life and to encourage them to pay attention to how dialogical ethics, anchored in the ideal of democratic utopias, can illuminate the very way we conceive, describe, and produce knowledge about the subjective and creative dimensions of life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Mind-body and creative arts therapies for people with aphasia: a mixed-method systematic review

Background: In the context of aphasia rehabilitation, there is a perceived need for interventions with a reduced linguistic demand targeting well-being. Mind-body and creative arts approaches are holistic and person-centred approaches, primarily relying on means other than verbal exchanges and promoting self-regulation strategies. Aim(s): This mixed-method systematic review aimed to evaluate the availability, feasibility and effectiveness of mind-body and creative arts therapies in promoting well-being for people with aphasia. Eight databases were searched using subject headings and keywords. Full-text screening, critical appraisal and data extraction were conducted independently by two reviewers. A segregated synthesis approach was used (i.e., Revised Effect Direction Plot technique and Thematic Synthesis approach). Findings are presented in a narrative and visual form. Main Contribution: Twenty-two studies were included (Mind-body: n = 11;Creative arts: n = 11). Heterogeneity of study design and quality, intervention type, procedures and dosage, outcomes, and level of offered communication support were identified. Improvements were noted across a wide range of well-being outcomes with more consistent positive results for anxiety and communication. One hundred and twenty-eight findings were extracted and synthesised in three broad themes: positive impact on self, empowering multifaceted experience, and relevance of needs-centred adjustments. Conclusion(s): Provisional findings about the benefits of mind-body and creative arts interventions on aspects of well-being for some individuals with aphasia were identified. However, findings are complex and need to be interpreted cautiously. Facilitators and barriers to these therapies are highlighted with related recommendations for practice. This review poses a demand for further research in the field, implementing rigorous methodology and aphasia-specific support to facilitate inclusion and engagement.Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Other lullabies: Attacks on Blackness, confusion of tongues, and the loss of play

Through a close reading of an anonymous lullaby from Latin America, the paper argues how colonial legacies and systemic racism, in the context of the structure of whiteness and the Covid pandemic, have had a nefarious impact on the material, symbolic, and psychic life of poor and working-class children and adolescents of color. The paper places a focus on Black kids. Left outside the symbolic, material, and legal order, these individuals suffer systemic attacks against their body and mind. This fact, in tandem with the devastating realities of the pandemic, have produced what the author calls an experience of "the end of the world." Three main consequences of all these configurations are discussed: (1) failed identifications with whiteness;(2) loss of play;and (3) "confusion of tongues." The need for new social lullabies, ones that invigorate our social capacity to dream the (colonial) state of affairs as being otherwise and that create communal solidarity, is proposed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

"Suicide addict": The sovereignty of shame in the dissociated mind

Through her obsessive artwork of infinite dots, the artist Yayoi Kusama has been expressing her depression and suicidal ideation for over eight decades. To this day, Kusama has chosen to reside by night in a mental hospital in Tokyo while during the day she continues producing her works of art with their infinitude of elaborate repetition which mirrors the loop of her depression and the monotony of her obsession with death. The title of this paper is borrowed from Kusama's book (2005) and poem. Suicide, according to the French philosopher and sociologist Emile Durkheim, is a result of both emotional and social factors and the two are inseparable. In his book Suicide (1897), Durkheim concluded that the more socially integrated and connected a person is, the less likely he or she is to commit suicide. He came up with the term anomie. Anomie is a state or condition of instability in individuals or in a society resulting from the breakdown or absence of social norms and values. He associated anomie with the influence of a loss of societal norms that was too sudden and too rigid. When this rigidity becomes normalised and obsolete as a result of the lack of connection to a sense of purpose and belonging to society, an increase in suicide is then predictable. We can see this in times of economic austerity as well as in periods of political and societal upheaval such as the one we are currently facing with the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Investigating reading from screens and mind wandering in the context of standards of coherence

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine if reading purpose (study or entertainment) varied the effect of reading medium on comprehension and accuracy of perceptions of comprehension. A secondary purpose was to examine how mind wandering relates to reading medium and reading purpose. An unanticipated purpose was examining the role of emergency remote COVID-19 instruction on reading comprehension, mind wandering, as well as both preference for and use of screens and paper. Methods: In this study, undergraduate students (N = 133) were randomly assigned to reading purposes of study or entertainment as well as reading from paper (from a book) or screens (from an iPad). Results: Neither reading medium nor purpose had reliable differences in performance on the text comprehension assessment, metacomprehension, or mind wandering. Reading from one's preferred medium appeared to be related to more accurate metacomprehension. Exploratory analyses indicated less studying from paper and more task-unrelated thoughts while reading from screens after the COVID-19 learning changes. Conclusions: Reading medium may possibly have less effect on comprehension when readers have purposes for reading and the haptic experience of reading is similar by medium. Medium effects on metacomprehension and mind wandering may vary depending on characteristics of the reader. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Staging Race and Gender in the Era of Contemporary Crises: Dramas of African American Women Playwrights

Starting from the premise that contemporary crisis is a pervasive continuation of the modern "series of interrelated crises"(Fernández-Caparrós and Brígido-Corachán vii), this article examines the manner in which the US theater has responded to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously considering crises as "agents of change and transformation"(xvii) and bearing in mind the #MeToo, and Black Lives Matter movements, the article questions the likelihood of contemporary American theater overcoming its own crisis of representation. Relating modern and current crises, the essay first outlines twentieth century dramatic literature and theatersi against the backdrop of the World Wars, the 1918 health crisis, economic depression, and post-war (racialized) society, focusing on plays by American women of color. The study then centers on dramatic and theatrical developments brought about by the annus horribilis of 2020, surveying new genres, authors and performances, and discerning no significant improvement in systemic discrimination on Broadway stages. The essay also offers complementary reading of Trouble in Mind (1955), a meta-drama mirroring systemic racial and gender discrimination in American theaters, and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2011) which unravels similar issues, albeit in the film industry. © 2022 Ifeta Čirić-Fazlija, published by Sciendo.

A Survey Study of Psybersecurity: An Emerging Topic and Research Area

When studying cybersecurity, the emphasis is generally given the personal information protection and the safeguarding of the technology on which the information is stored. Cybersecurity attacks, which can occur in multiple forms, can seriously affect the involved stakeholders mentally, and this impact aspect tends to be underestimated. With the human mind being a significant attack target, psybersecurity has begun gaining prominence as an important field of study. In this survey paper, we explore psybersecurity as an emerging interdisciplinary area within the human security domain of cybersecurity and conduct a detailed study of its causes plus effects. We discuss existing research work, which is relevant to this field of psybersecurity, and present a nifty organization of the surveyed literature, which is classified into three notable categories. With psychiatric engineering gaining prominence as a new impactful attack vector, a psybersecurity attack (PSA) primarily targets the human mind. We study the relations between cybersecurity and cyberpsychology, as well as between psychiatric engineering (PE) and social engineering (SE) from an interdisciplinary perspective. We perform a unique analysis of both PE and SE as PSA, linking them to Cialdini's six principles and their associated elements, as causes for PSA. We then show how to connect these causal components of PSA to the eight cyberpsychology dimensions through a tabular map that we have developed. We also discuss the emergence of COVID-driven PSA with a focus on the psybersecurity of online healthcare information (OHI) users, including potential ways of protecting the users of OHI from the increase of psybersecurity threats. We conclude this survey study by looking at the potential scope of future work in psybersecurity, including new research directions and open problems plus research questions. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Mind-body physical activity interventions in educational settings

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effectiveness and acceptability of mind-body physical activity (MBPA) interventions implemented within educational settings. Specifically, Study 1 was a systematic review with meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of MBPA on stress-related physiological health markers in primary, secondary, and higher education students. There were statistically significant and large pooled effects for lowering heart rate (Hedges' g = -1.71, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): -2.43, -0.98), cortisol (Hedges' g = -1.32, 95% CI: -2.50, -0.16), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (Hedges' g = -1.04, 95% CI: -1.53, -0.58). These effects tended to be greater in older students compared to younger students. Study 2 was a 10-minute stress alleviating MBPA pilot intervention that was delivered in four modules across 8 weeks in a sample of college students (N = 21). Study 2's outcome variables consisted of well-being, stress, interoceptive sensibility, and objectively measured physical activity. Results revealed that participants' time spent in objectively measured light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was significantly higher during and at the end of the intervention than at baseline [F (2, 36) = 11.9, P = .003, partial eta-squared = 0.39]. It was found that participants' subjective well-being, perceived stress, and interoceptive sensibility did not change significantly;however, the results indicated positive trends. Study 3 was a qualitative inquiry that aimed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of the MBPA intervention and to explore the experiences of a purposeful sample of 21 college students. An inductive qualitative process explored the data that emerged from the photovoice and journals. Six overarching themes emerged: (1) holistic individual well-being;(2) physical activity as a matter of necessity;(3) mind-body physical activity intervention impacts;(4) broadening strategies for adapting & reacting;(5) systemic effect of stress management changes;and (6) perceiving causes of stress. Findings from these three studies contribute to our understanding of the distinctive factors of COVID-19 among college students. Results can be used to implement larger scaled MBPA interventions within higher education settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)