Unintended Deviations of a Random Event Generator by Patients With Late Life Depression and Anxiety During a Direct Mental Influence Task.

ABSTRACT: The primary objective was to determine whether depression and anxiety influence the outcome of random microevents in a nonrandom manner in the absence of any physical intervention by using a random event generator (REG). The secondary objective was to correlate other dimensions of consciousness with the REG's output. The experimental group (n = 30) included individuals with depression, the control group (n = 15) included individuals without depression, and the comparison group (n = 10) included individuals with or without depression. It was hypothesized that those with depression or anxiety would significantly deviate the REG in the unintended direction but the whole sample did [t(49) = -2.37, p = 0.022, two tailed]. There was no significant difference between the group means [F(2, 50) = 0.12, p = 0.84] and no robust correlations between dimensions of consciousness and REG activity. Further analysis is needed to understand negative emotions in mind-matter interactions.

Breath Regulation and yogic Exercise An online Therapy for calm and Happiness (BREATH) for frontline hospital and long-term care home staff managing the COVID-19 pandemic: A structured summary of a study protocol for a feasibility study for a randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: Objective 1: To determine if it is feasible to conduct an RCT of online Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) for frontline hospital and long-term care home staff under the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and need for remote trial monitoring. Objective 2: To assess whether online versions of SKY and/or Health Enhancement Program (HEP) result in improvement in self-rated measures of insomnia, anxiety, depression, and resilience. TRIAL DESIGN: This is an open-label feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT), comparing an online breath based yogic intervention SKY versus an online control mind-body intervention HEP in frontline hospital and long-term care home staff managing the COVID-19 pandemic. PARTICIPANTS: Participants will include frontline hospital and long-term care home staff that are involved in the management of COVID-19 patients in London, Ontario, Canada. Participants will be willing and able to attend via online video conferencing software to participate in the study interventions. Participants must have an adequate understanding of English and be able to sit without physical discomfort for 60 minutes. INTERVENTION AND COMPARATOR: Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY): The online version of SKY will be delivered by at least one certified Canadian SKY teacher, with at least one back up teacher at all times, under the supervision of Ms. Ronnie Newman, Director of Research and Health Promotion, Art of Living Foundation, USA. The online version of SKY for healthcare workers has a total duration of 3 hours. Phase I will consist of 5 self-paced online modules of 4-10 minutes each to learn the breath control techniques. Participants will be sent an online survey in REDCap requesting that they self-confirm completion of the Phase I modules. In Phase II, 2 interactive online sessions of 1 hour each will be held on consecutive days with a certified SKY teacher, during which participants will learn the fast, medium and slow breaths. For ease of scheduling, multiple time windows will be offered for Phase II. There will be at least one back up teacher at all times. Both Phase I and II will be completed in the first week. Health Enhancement Program (HEP): The active control arm, HEP, will consist of time-matched online self-paced modules for Phase I. Phase II will consist of mindfulness-based meditation sessions delivered by mental health staff. HEP will be an active treatment program that incorporates mind-body interventions. HEP will consist of time-matched online self-paced modules with psychoeducation on healthy active living as well as interactive modules comprising of guided de-stressing exercises including music therapy, mindfulness and progressive muscle relaxation. Weekly follow up sessions will be offered to all recruited participants for 30 minutes each for the subsequent 4 weeks in both study arms. MAIN OUTCOMES: The following feasibility outcomes will be measured at the end of the study: (1) rate of participant recruitment, (2) rate of retention, (3) completeness of data entry, (4) cost of interventions, and (5) unexpected costs. Such measures will be collected on a daily basis through-out the study and tabulated 5 weeks later at the end of the study. RANDOMISATION: Participants will be randomized after they have electronically signed the consent form and the research staff have confirmed eligibility. We will use REDCap to perform randomization in a 1:1 ratio as well as allocation concealment. REDCap is widely used by health researchers worldwide to significantly reduce data entry and study management errors to improve data fidelity. BLINDING (MASKING): All study participants will be blinded to the study hypotheses so as to prevent any expectation bias. Group allocation will be masked during analysis. NUMBERS TO BE RANDOMISED (SAMPLE SIZE): This study will randomize a total of 60 participants in a 1:1 ratio to either SKY or HEP interventions. TRIAL STATUS: Protocol version number 2.0 (June 5, 2020). Recruitment is currently ongoing (starting June 25, 2020). We anticipate to complete recruitment by June 30, 2021 and complete the study by September 30, 2021. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov protocol ID NCT04368676 (posted April 30, 2020). FULL PROTOCOL: The full protocol is attached as an additional file, accessible from the Trials website (Additional file 1). In the interest in expediting dissemination of this material, the familiar formatting has been eliminated; this Letter serves as a summary of the key elements of the full protocol.

Sahaj Samadhi meditation vs a Health Enhancement Program in improving late-life depression severity and executive function: study protocol for a two-site, randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Recent estimates suggest an 11% prevalence of current late-life depression (LLD) and a lifetime prevalence of 16-20%. LLD leads to cognitive disturbance as well as a nearly two to three times increased risk of dementia. We conducted a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) which demonstrated that Sahaj Samadhi meditation (SSM), an easy-to-implement, meditation-based augmentation strategy, led to higher rates of symptom remission when compared to treatment as usual (40.0 vs 16.3%; odds ratio, 3.36; 95% CI 1.06-10.64; p = 0.040). Here we present a protocol describing a two-site, blinded, RCT, comparing an SSM arm to an active-control arm - a Health Enhancement Program (HEP) intervention - in their ability to reduce depressive symptoms and improve executive functioning, among several other exploratory outcomes. METHODS/DESIGN: One hundred and ninety-two (n = 192) participants with LLD will be recruited at two sites (London, ON, Canada, and Montreal, QC, Canada). Participants will undergo stratified randomization with regards to site and the presence of treatment-resistant-LLD (TR-LLD) or not, to either SSM or HEP. We will assess change in (1) depression severity using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), (2) executive functioning, and (3) other exploratory physiological and mood-based measures, at baseline (0 weeks), post intervention (12 weeks), and 26 weeks after baseline. Raters, clinicians, and care providers will be blinded to group allocation while participants will be blinded to the study hypotheses. DISCUSSION: This study should more definitively assess whether SSM can be used as an augmentation strategy in routine clinical care for patients suffering from LLD and TR-LLD. If the effects of SSM are significantly better than HEP, it will offer support for the routine use of this intervention to manage LLD/TR-LLD and comorbid declines in executive dysfunction. The results of this study could also inform whether SSM can improve/prevent cognitive decline in LLD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT03564041 . Registered on 20 June 2018.

Perceived parental attachment and achievement motivation.

A significant amount of research in attachment theory has been devoted to factors affecting academic achievement, but less attention has been given to the role of attachment in the relation between academic achievement and achievement motivation. The current preliminary study examined the role of perceived parental attachment in achievement motivation. Self-report data obtained from the Parental Attachment Questionnaire, Achievement Goals Questionnaire, and the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory were collected from 50 university students with a mean age of 18.8 yr. Correlation and regression analyses indicated that parental facilitation of independence correlated significantly and negatively with fear of failure. Results yielded partial support for the hypothesis that performance-oriented goals are related to a fear of failure, whereas mastery-oriented goals are not. The results also suggest that high parental attachment in the case of high-frequency religious practitioners is related to an increased chance of acquiring a more avoidance-oriented achievement motivation.