• 2400 Russellville Rd Hopkinsville KY 42240

Teaching Excellence

Qualified Staff

Monthly Archives: August 2015

HomeWestern State Hospital Internship Program   Blog   2015   August
August 08 2015

Friday Factoids: Relationship between Tobacco Use and Psychosis

Author Susan Vaught Categories Blog, Continuing Education, Current Interns, Friday Factoids, General Information, Mental Health and Wellness, Resources for Interns 0 Comments

Though an association between tobacco smoking and psychotic illness is well known, reasons for the association are more ambiguous.  Recent research has associated smoking tobacco with an increased risk for developing psychosis (Gurillo, Jauhar, Murray, & MacCabe, 2015).  The authors reviewed studies that reported rates of smoking in people with psychotic disorders compared with controls.  They hypothesized that tobacco use is associated with increased risk of psychotic illness, that smoking is associated with an earlier age of onset of psychotic illness, and an earlier age of smoking is associated with increased risk of psychosis.  Overall, though the association between tobacco use has been established, little attention has addressed if tobacco may actually increase the risk of psychosis.

 

Gurillo, Jauhar, Murray, and MacCabe’s (2015) analyzed 61 studies composed of 15,000 tobacco users and 273,000 controls.  The results indicate that people who suffer from psychosis are three times more likely to smoke.  Also, 57% of individuals with first episode psychosis were smokers.  The risk of psychotic disorder increased modestly by daily smoking.  In short, daily tobacco use was associated with increased risk of psychosis and with an earlier age of onset of psychosis.

 

Again, it is difficult to determine the direction of causality; rather an association between tobacco use and psychosis was supported.  Also, the authors noted the possibility of publication bias might be present.  Even still, the authors caution that smoking should be considered a possible risk factor for developing psychosis, and should not be construed as merely a consequence of the illness.  Furthermore, consistent with the dopamine hypothesis, they suggest that nicotine exposure may increase the release of dopamine and cause psychosis to develop.  Limitations include, a small number of longitudinal prospective studies and determining the exact consumption of other substances in some of the included studies.  Of course the authors suggest more research is needed.  Overall, they note that tobacco use may be a modifiable risk factor for psychosis, and every effort should be made to modify smoking habits in this population.

 

Gurillo, P., Jauhar, S., Murray, R. M., & MacCabe, J. H. (2015). Does tobacco cause psychosis? Systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry, 2(8), 718-725.

 

 

Dannie S. Harris, M.A., M.A., M.A.Ed., Ed.S.
WKPIC Practicum Trainee

 

August 08 2015

Friday Factoids: Sleep and Brain Functioning

Author Susan Vaught Categories Continuing Education, Current Interns, Friday Factoids, Mental Health and Wellness, Resources for Interns 0 Comments

A Monday catch-up factoid!

 

We all recognize the importance of sleep, but there is emerging evidence that describes a causal relationship between sleep and emotional brain function (Goldstein & Walker, 2014).  The literature indicates that sleep abnormalities are involved in nearly all mood and anxiety disorders.  For example, as in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is diminished and disrupted. Goldstein and Walker (2014) propose that after a traumatic experience, REM sleep helps to decouple emotion from memory, and if this is not achieved, the process will be repeated in subsequent nights.  What is experienced is a hallmark symptom of PTSD, nightmares.

 

Further, Major Depression is associated with exaggerated REM sleep, which includes faster entrance into REM sleep, increased intensity of REM, and longer duration of REM sleep (Goldstein & Walker, 2014).  With this underlying disruption of REM sleep, individuals with Major Depression are noted to experience next-day blunting due to excess amounts of REM sleep, which alters PFC-amygdala sensitivity and specificity to emotional stimuli (Goldstein & Walker, 2014).

 

Overall, without sleep, the regulation and expression of emotions is compromised (Goldstein & Walker, 2014).  Goldstein and Walker (2014) argue that REM sleep provides a restoration of “appropriate next-day emotional reactivity and salience discrimination” (p. 702).  Consequently, emotional responsiveness, sleep, and consistent REM sleep promote the processing of emotional memories.  REM sleep provides not only a therapeutic depotentiation of emotion from affective experiences, but also provides a re-calibration that restores emotional sensitivity and specificity.  Thus, rather than being a symptom of a psychiatric disorders, the relationship between sleep and psychiatric disorders is now considered to be more causal and bidirectional (Krystal, 2012).  In short, given this intimate and causal relationship highlights the importance of assessing for sleep disturbance, as well as informing intervention.

 

Goldstein, A. N., & Walker, M. P. (2014). The role of sleep in emotional brain function. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 10, 679-708.

 

Krystal, A. D. (2012). Psychiatric disorders and sleep. Neurologic Clinics, 30(4), 1389-1413.

 

Dannie S. Harris, M.A., M.A., M.A.Ed., Ed.S.
Psychology Practicum Student

August 08 2015

Annual APPIC Comment on “Internship Businesses”

Author Susan Vaught Categories Announcements, Application Tips, Blog, Dr. Vaught, General Information, Resources for Interns 0 Comments

From Jason Williams, Psy.D., Chair, APPIC Board of Directors, and  Greg Keilin, Ph.D., APPIC Match Coordinator:

 

“Each year, the APPIC Board receives feedback about the increasing number of enterprising individuals who have established businesses that focus on assisting applicants in obtaining an internship.  Furthermore, the APPIC Board has heard comments and complaints about the claims that some of these individuals are making, the ways in which certain individuals are advertising their businesses and recruiting students, and the rates being charged to students (e.g., $100 or more per hour) for these services.

 

While there may in fact be some legitimate and helpful services that are being offered, the Board remains very concerned about the potential for exploitation — i.e., that some of these businesses may be taking advantage of the imbalance between applicants and positions by exploiting students’ fears and worries about not getting matched.

 

We encourage students to be cautious and informed consumers when it comes to decisions about using any of these services.  Please know that there are a number of no-cost and low-cost ways of obtaining advice and information about the internship application process, such as the workbook published by APAGS (as well as books written by other authors), the free information available on the APPIC and NMS web sites, discussion lists sponsored by APPIC, APAGS, and others, and the support and advice provided by the faculty of many doctoral programs.”

 

WKPIC wishes for all of our potential applicants to know that using a service like this is absolutely not necessary to apply to our site. What we most want to see/know about is YOU. Perfection is not required. Please, just be yourself, and show us the best that you can do. We look forward to getting to know you!

 

Susan R. Vaught, Ph.D.
Director, Western Kentucky Psychology Internship Consortium

 

 

 

 

1 2