Active clinical trials for "Stress, Psychological"

This study will consist of a randomized experimental group and a control group, In addition to the control and experimental group, there will also be a non-randomized motivated experimental group. Approximately 75 males and females from the ages of 18 to 80 will take part in this study. Subjects will be randomly divided into a Control and Experimental Group. Subjects for the control and experimental group will be recruited from a Tony Robbins Facebook page, and subjects in the experimental group (DWD Group) will be admitted to the Tony Robbins Date With Destiny Event (December 2019) in West Palm Beach for free, while the subjects randomly assigned to the control group, will not attend the event, but instead be required to a Gratitude Journaling experiment (Three Good Things Intervention). Psychological assessment surveys will be taken before the event, directly after the event, and one month following the event. The control group will take the psychological assessment before beginning journaling, directly after completing journaling, and one month following completion of journaling.

This project aims to determine whether neurofeedback augmented mindfulness intervention increases the plasticity in brain areas affected by exposure to early life adversity in youth. The study will first establish the augmented mindfulness training protocol targeting the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) with real-time fMRI neurofeedback for use with healthy control and ELA-exposed youth. Next, in addition to ongoing data collection with healthy controls, ELA-exposed youth will be randomly assigned to either complete the neurofeedback augmented mindfulness training (AMT) or sham condition protocol. Effect of augmented mindfulness training on state measures of mindfulness, perceived stress, and affect will be examined.

In vitro fertilization for infertility has been associated with a significant amount of treatment related stress for patients. In addition,stress levels increase between embryo transfer and pregnancy test, during this waiting period. The investigators evaluated whether or not brief interventions by phone by trained social workers influenced stress levels. Our data showed that these interventions did not change levels, but confirmed that stress did increase during this time and that patients report wanting additional emotional support to improve stress during this period.

Introduction Stress is part of the investigators daily life, and means to cope with it allow adaptation and survival. To this end, physiological pathways are activated, including neuroendocrine, cardiovascular and metabolic responses. In short term, the majority of consequences are beneficial, in the long run, however, chronic psychosocial stress may constitute an increased risk for coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and disability. Acute mental stress induces an exaggerated release of stress hormones e.g. catecholamine and cortisol which are thought not only to increase heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) but also to increase blood glucose levels. In clinical practice, patients and health care providers are often confronted with questions concerning psychological stress as a possible reason for glucose fluctuations. Whether stress itself or poor treatment adherence is responsible for the altered glucose control remains often controversial. Differences in the inter- and intraindividual response to stress have been suggested, but only a few small studies have addressed the effect of acute psychological stress on glucose control in patients with diabetes. Patients with type 2 diabetes may overestimate the effect of acute psychological stress on glucose control but further studies are clearly needed to definitely exclude or confirm a relevant effect of stress on the glucose control in diabetic patients. For example, effects of longer lasting or repetitive events of psychological stress on glucose concentrations still remain elusive. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the effect of prolonged psychological stress by means of repetitive safe driving training courses on glucose control in patients with diabetes. Patients and Methods Forty patients with type 1 or insulin-treated type 2 diabetes attending the outpatient-clinic of the Kantonsspital Frauenfeld or University Hospital of Zurich for regular visits are invited to participate. Included are patients on any oral glucose-lowering treatment and at least one daily injection of insulin, a valid driver license and written informed consent given. Exclusion criteria are diabetes duration <2 years, pregnancy, unstable coronary artery disease, limited visual acuity or unstable proliferative diabetic retinopathy, uncontrolled hypertension (BP >160/95mmHg) and pituitary or adrenal disease. The Ethics committee of the Kanton Thurgau approved the protocol and the study conform to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Study protocol Each patient completes a control and a stress testing day which takes place consecutively in a randomized order. Randomization is performed by an uninvolved third person. The study is carried out at the driving training area of the Touring Club Switzerland at Hinwil. Patients are advised to have lunch before 12:00 a.m. and to abstain from food thenceforth. Drinking mineral water remains allowed during the entire study days, and the patients have to take their basal insulin and other medication as usual. Patients are advised to arrive at the driving training area between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. At arrival, a capillary glucose measurement is carried out, and glucose concentrations ≥10mmol/l are corrected with short-acting insulin analogues (glucose target 6 - 8mmol/l). Subsequently, no additional adjustment with insulin is allowed during the study. Glucose concentrations ≤4mmol/l are always corrected with administration of 10g carbohydrate (DextroEnergy® or orange juice). On both study days, patients ingest a standard meal at 4:45 p.m. (i.e. 15min before the driving training). Immediately after the meal, short-acting insulin is injected in knowledge of the carbohydrate content (same dose on both days) or oral antidiabetics are ingested as usual. Measurements of capillary and plasma glucose concentration, blood pressure, heart rate, stress perception and salivary cortisol concentration are carried out in regular intervals between 4 and 9 p.m. on both study days. On the control day, patients are placed in a quiet room and are permitted to read. They also have the possibility to leave the room and stay on a balcony. On the stress testing day, patients complete a driving training with their car between 5 and 7 p.m. The driving training consists of 3 consecutive exercises: first, a slalom track on dry and wet asphalt, secondly, a full braking exercise with water obstacles. Thirdly, the car is hurled around by a mechanical plate and the patients has to regain control over it.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the leading cause of death in the elderly. Silent myocardial ischemia (SI) is a manifestation of CAD in which there is a transient alteration in myocardial perfusion, function, and/or electrical activity not accompanied by chest pain. Mental and emotional stress, in particular hostility and anger are potent inducers of SI, Individuals with SI are at a 3-5 fold higher risk for the development of angina, myocardial infarction and death than subjects without SI.

The harmful effects of stress on health professionals are expressed both in terms of their health (physical or mental) and the quality of work (reduced memory capacity, deterioration in patient care). These adverse effects highlight the importance of implementing effective coping strategies and/or early learning of stress management methods in medical training programs. Relaxation breathing techniques coupled with heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback is one of the new techniques used to reduce the stress level. No research has yet tested the effects of HRV induced by relaxation breathing technique before managing a simulated critical situation.

This study aims to investigate the effects of short, psychological interventions on bio-psychological stress responses after an acute stressor. The efficacy of two different approaches (expectation-bases vs. acceptance-based) will be compared to a control-group.

The impact of well-known risk factors for such disorders (stress, biological sex, anxiety-related dispositions) on fear generalization will be examined. Findings from this study may provide insight into how these risk factors influence the development and/or maintenance of psychological disorders that involve overgeneralization of fear and could facilitate future approaches to their treatment.

Stress among healthcare professionals is well documented. Untreated stress can lead to anxiety, depression, substance use, and suicide. The use of mindfulness-based programs to reduce stress and enhance wellbeing, among health care professionals, has increased with promising results. Typical mindfulness-based programs are 30 hours in length across 9 sessions. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a shorter and more practical program that could be offered during work hours to health care professionals at the NIH Clinical Center. The program will be delivered in five weekly 1.5 hour sessions.

In this study, it will be investigated how psychological stress evoked by skydiving affects the intestinal permeability in 20 healthy subjects. Participants attend two visits: 1) Skydiving visit, 2) Negative control visit. At all visits, saliva samples, blood samples, and faecal samples are collected, and the multi-sugar permeability test is performed. In this test, participants drink a sugar solution and then collect urine for 5 and 24 h. The ratio of the sugars detected in the urine is a reflection of the intestinal permeability. Saliva samples are collected for assessment of cortisol, a stress marker. Blood and faecal samples are collected for assessment of markers of intestinal barrier function and inflammation.