Pictures Included!

Hello all and welcome to week 3 of my SRP (this time including pictures)! 😏

Fun Fact: These lovelies are actually called Schtroumpfs not Smurfs!

The direction of my project has stayed pretty constant so far (hopefully this will not change) and I am still doing a lot of reading and sorting. I have not faced any significant challenged, although it is often said that "the pen is mightier than the sword," something which I can attest to after combing through countless papers to see whether they contain enough relevant material to contribute to my systematic review. Also, that last sentence was really long and might be a run-on (but I don't think so?) so sorry about that!

As promised, I took pictures this week:

This is the front of the Mayo Clinic Collaborative Research Building

This is the beautiful and comfortable lobby

This is me using my badge to use the elevator (it also allows me to open the stairwell doors)

This is another angle of the front of the Mayo Clinic Collaborative Research Building

Furthermore, I am almost done with gathering papers so if my posts so far have seemed somewhat redundant, I hope you enjoy the changes to be seen in my post for Week 4. However, for this week's post, I will discuss my time spent assembling studies a wee bit further. [Insert smooth transition] On Monday, Patherica and I discussed my project, surrounded by silence and nothingness (all the other desks were empty because of President's Day), making sure that we were on the same page. I then proceeded to scour the Mayo server for more studies to possibly include. I was expecting to find a plethora of appropriate studies so was surprised when I realized that most of the ones identified by my search terms* were not adequate. Although it must be noted that while many of the texts found did speak plenty about ACT, many of the texts were manuals or books and did not focus specifically on ACT but rather on a variety of therapies, briefly outlining them and explaining different aspects of each. Instead of this, I am looking for papers which discuss specific aspects of ACT such as its origins, its ability to remold neural pathways, and the neural pathways of brains pre-treatment. Also that last sentence was not even close to being parallel so I'm sorry.

P.S. Sorry for the quality of the pictures...and for the gif included below



*If anyone is interested, I have been primarily using two searches:
"acceptance and commitment therapy" "neurobiology" "pathways"
AND
"acceptance and commitment therapy" "mindfulness training"

Abstract

Hello all and welcome to my week 2 of the SRP! (I’ll try to keep it shorter than last week)

Like last week, I did a lot of research. After doing hours of research, I have a tip for you: don't make your search terms too broad because after realizing half the papers I looked through were not suitable for the systematic review, I regretted not adding a search term to cut down the number of irrelevant search results.

Also, as I mentioned last week, I wrote my abstract:

Every country has citizens suffering from various disorders, in the US, 19 Million* suffer from depression, 100 Million** from chronic pain, and 40 Million*** adults from anxiety. In a country of roughly 320 Million, most of them living in more favorable conditions than those elsewhere, this is evidently a tremendous problem. For hundreds of millions of people to be subjected to the struggle of mental disorders - not only those who themselves have a disorder, but also their families, friends, and dependents - it is evident that finding a treatment or therapy which would augment the quality of life of those affected is paramount. A therapy which has had success in improving the quality of life of individuals enduring these particular disorders (and others with varying levels of success) is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). However, identifying a conductive therapy is not enough; analyzing it and understanding it is key to improving other therapies and the therapy itself. In order to do this, I will write a systematic review on the neurobiological underpinnings of ACT. This means that I will compile papers relating to the psychological underpinnings of ACT, the physiological aspects of ACT, and changes in neural pathways. The paper will explain how through ACT, neural pathways may be altered, enabling a life with less pain. I expect to find that ACT has roots in peaceful teachings and that it fosters physiological neural change.

I hope this helped clear up things a bit for those of you who were still a little confused about my project. If not, please comment specific things which are still confusing so that I can concentrate on better explaining those specific aspects.

Additionally if you are wondering about my experience as an intern at the Mayo Clinic, I have to say it is a really nice environment full of very friendly people. Everyone there is extremely kind and helpful.

*All About Depression: Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.allaboutdepression.com/gen_01.html
**The American Academy Of Pain Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.painmed.org/patientcenter/facts_on_pain.aspx
***Facts & Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from
https://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

PS: Last week, I gave a shoutout to my friend Saleena's blog because it explained misconceptions about anxiety. This week, she discussed depression, which is another disorder which ACT has had success in improving quality of life so click on her name if you want to check out her blog!

Research!

Hello all, welcome to a summarization of my first week at the Mayo Clinic.

Monday:

After some minor confusion about how to log into the Mayo server, I took a Human Subject Training course. I learned some of the history behind different ethics organizations such as the HHS (US Department of Health and Human Services) and the NIH (National Institute of Health) as well as the meaning and significance of terms such as equity, equality, beneficence, justice, and more. Following the test was some more confusion as apparently I do not know how to print off computers other than my own!

Scattered:

Throughout the week, I searched databases such as JSTOR and PubMed for papers relating to ACT. Search terms such as "acceptance and commitment therapy," "mindfulness training," and "neurological pathways" were used. Dr. Geda's ASU student, Patherica Charoenmins, helped me better understand the topic of my systematic review, sharing some papers with me which related to the subject at hand: the neurobiological underpinnings of ACT.

If you are a bit confused by what I mean when I say that I will be writing a systematic review on the neurobiological underpinnings of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, I assure you that you are not the only one. This can be broken down into three sections: "systematic review," "neurobiological underpinnings," and "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy." I will briefly explain all three parts for the sake of clarity and if you have further questions please feel free to ask them!
     -systematic review: a literary review ideally compiling all studies on a specific subject, summarizing and analyzing each study
     -neurobiological underpinnings: the genetic or neurophysical aspects
     -ACT: a behavioral therapy promoting compassion and acceptance
     -also, I will include:
            -psychological underpinnings of ACT: the philosophy behind the therapy
            -mindfulness training: "intentionally alter[ing] the direction of information flow—to use the skilled focus of attention to change the mind—[enabling amplifying] activity of certain pathways and inhibit[ing] others"*

So, simply put, I will write a literary review about how through ACT, one can train their brain's

pathways to function in an alternate manner, leading to a heightened quality of life. These alterations in one’s neurophysiology relate to the psychological underpinnings of ACT due to the achievement of a different physiology not through forceful or aggressive techniques but through peaceful and smooth means. In order for the physiological changes to be best understood, the philosophical aspects of ACT must also be understood.

Also Monday/Partly Thursday:

I started working on a rough draft for my abstract (the final abstract will be featured in next week's post). However, I will tell you the gist because it might make the whole "neurobiological underpinnings" thing a bit more clear. Many of the papers which I identified this week for possible use in my systematic review related to Buddhism, meditation, and yoga. I found this a bit curious at first but after some contemplation, realized that the principles of these somewhat spiritual orders are very similar to those of ACT (although I must admit that my knowledge of Buddhism, meditation, and yoga is very limited and that I am by no means an expert on ACT). Despite my self-proclaimed limited knowledge on these subjects, I know that these orders prioritize peace and reflection. That, like ACT, they promote acceptance. Another link is the emphasis on purging negatives not through aggression or ill-intent but through resolution and tranquility.

(If anyone can confidently correct any statements which I have made please do so in the comments.)

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this week comprised mostly of sorting through abstracts to find which papers might have information relevant to the neurobiological underpinnings of ACT - how many times have I said that in this post? Probably too many - and figuring out what exactly the phrase means. I would like to thank Patherica for being so helpful by answering my many questions and letting me into the building as I did not have my badge until Friday (today!).

Also, I would like to share the blog of a dear friend of mine: Saleena. Her SRP is a sort of mythbusters for different psychological disorders, featuring a different disorder every week. This week, she talked about anxiety, a condition which behavioral therapies such as ACT have had success in treating.

*: A systematic review of the neurobiological underpinnings of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in childhood and adolescence.