A pilot study investigating the efficacy of brief, phone-based, behavioral interventions for burnout in graduate students.

OBJECTIVE: This pilot study tested the efficacy of two brief, phone-administered, behavioral interventions derived from behavioral activation in reducing burnout among doctoral students. METHODS: Sixty-six doctoral students demonstrating current high burnout were randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions: (1) Reward: increasing pleasant, rewarding behaviors, (2) Approach: approaching important goals that they have been avoiding, or (3) Control: monitoring only. RESULTS: Results indicated that doctoral students treated with the approach intervention reported significantly lower burnout compared to participants in the control condition immediately after the intervention and at a 1-week follow-up. Results also suggested that students in the approach intervention also reported higher well-being compared to students in the control condition. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that this approach intervention is an effective treatment for school burnout for doctoral students that can be delivered remotely through phone and web technology.

Applying the Stress Process Model to Stress-Burnout and Stress-Depression Relationships in Biomedical Doctoral Students: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study.

Although doctoral students in the biomedical sciences have been recognized as a population at particular risk for mental health problems such as burnout and depression, little research has been conducted to identify candidate targets for intervention. To this end, we used the stress process model to evaluate potential mediators of stress-burnout and stress-depression relationships in biomedical doctoral students. A cross-sectional sample (n = 69) completed validated self-report measures of stress; symptoms of burnout and depression; and perceptions of mastery, social support, and advisor support. In linear regression models, we found that academic stressors were most predictive of burnout, whereas family/monetary stressors were most predictive of depression. In mediation models, we found that the relationship between stress and burnout was partially mediated by mastery and advisor support, while the stress-depression relationship was partially mediated by mastery. These findings represent a first step in identifying interventional targets to improve mental health in this at-risk population. Whereas certain stressors are inherent to the doctoral training environment, psychosocial interventions to enhance one's sense of mastery and/or to improve advisor relationships may mitigate the influence of such stressors on burnout and depression.

Burnout and Mental Health Problems in Biomedical Doctoral Students.

Although burnout and mental health problems may adversely impact quality of scientific research, academic productivity, and attrition in biomedical doctoral training programs, very little research has been done on this topic. Recent studies have used brief survey methods to begin to explore burnout and mental health problems in biomedical doctoral students. In this pilot study, biomedical doctoral students (N = 69; 12% of enrolled biomedical doctoral students at a large research institution's school of medicine in the United States) were administered standardized psychiatric interviews and self-report questionnaires focused on dimensions of burnout, mental health symptoms, and academic outcomes. We discovered high levels of burnout, depression, and anxiety. Additionally, we identified that burnout was significantly associated with thoughts related to dropping out, subjective appraisal of employment opportunities, functional impairment due to a mental health problem, and having at least one current psychiatric disorder. These findings extend prior research indicating the presence of significant emotional health challenges doctoral students in biomedical graduate programs face involving high burnout and difficulties with the training environment. We outline several recommendations and next steps to programmatically understand and address these emerging emotional wellness concerns in biomedical doctoral students.

The Effect of Patient Education on Chinese Adolescent and Parental Beliefs About Counselors' Breaches of Confidentiality.

The primary aim of the present study is to explore whether brief education can change Chinese adolescents' and parents' beliefs about when counselors would breach confidentiality. The two secondary aims are to examine whether the brief education (1) increases adolescents' willingness to share private information with their counselor and (2) decreases parents' expectations of the amount of information their child's counselor would divulge to them. Results showed that adolescents and parents who read a brief passage about the limitations of confidentiality were significantly less likely to believe counselors would breach confidentiality in situations where counselors reported they would not likely breach confidentiality. Regarding our secondary research aims, results indicate that education increases adolescents' willingness to share more sensitive information, such as about suicidality and drug use, but it does not change parents' expectations to have most of the information divulged to them by their child's counselor.

Suicidal Behavior and Problems with Emotion Regulation.

We examined in two independent samples whether: (1) difficulties with emotion regulation predict suicide ideation and (2) depressed adults with a history of attempting suicide report and exhibit more emotion dysregulation compared to healthy and depressed controls. Difficulties with emotional clarity and relationship status were significant predictors of suicide ideation (Study 1). In Study 2, when compared to controls, depressed attempters reported significantly more difficulties with emotional clarity and emotional impulsivity. Attempters had significantly more difficulty than controls returning to heart rate baseline following a stressful task. Problems with emotions are therefore differentially connected to suicidal behaviors.

Challenging assumptions from emotion dysregulation psychological treatments.

BACKGROUND: Contemporary treatments assume that the inability to downregulate negative emotional arousal is a key problem in the development and maintenance of psychopathology and that lack of effective regulation efforts and a preference to use maladaptive regulation strategies is a primary mechanism. Though ubiquitous, there is limited empirical evidence to support this assumption. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine whether self-reported emotion dysregulation equated to difficulties reducing emotional arousal during a behavioral task and to primary use of maladaptive strategies to manage negative emotions. METHODS: 44 anxious and depressed adults with high emotion dysregulation induced negative distress using autobiographic memory recall. After induction, participants were instructed to downregulate but were not provided any specific instructions in strategies to use. Self-reported emotional arousal was assessed before and after induction and after regulation. Qualitative descriptions of regulation efforts were collected and codedinto effective and maladaptive strategies. RESULTS: The task was successful in inducing emotional arousal and participants were successful in their efforts to down regulate negative emotions. Additionally, effective regulation strategies were used more frequently than maladaptive strategies. LIMITATIONS: Data collected was exclusively self-report and the sample size was small. CONCLUSION: Adults who report high emotion dysregulation may still have effective emotion regulation strategies in their behavioral repertoire and are more likely to engage in these effective strategies when given an unspecific prompt to regulate negative emotional arousal. Despite reporting problems with emotion regulation, adults with anxiety and depression can successfully downregulate distress when prompted to do so.

Identity disturbance and problems with emotion regulation are related constructs across diagnoses.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relation between identity disturbance and emotion dysregulation in a cross-diagnostic sample. We assessed whether these constructs are related and relevant beyond borderline personality disorder (BPD). METHOD: We recruited 127 participants who completed measures assessing identity disturbance, emotion dysregulation, anxiety, and depression. The sample included primarily depressed adults meeting criteria for multiple diagnoses as well as psychiatrically healthy participants. RESULTS: Identity disturbance was significantly higher among psychiatric participants with and without BPD compared to healthy controls. Emotion dysregulation was a significant predictor of identity disturbance, even when controlling for BPD diagnosis, depression, and anxiety. In particular, clarity in emotional situations and problems using emotion regulation strategies were most closely related to identity disturbance. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that future research should examine identity disturbance and its relation with emotion regulation transdiagnostically.