Vol 4-3 Mini Review Article

Review of Study of Novel Treatment of Gulf War Illness

Donald F. Graves1*, Gayle S. Morse1,4, Kathleen Kerr2, David O. Carpenter3,4

1Psychology Department, Russell Sage College, Troy, NY, USA

2Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

3School of Public Health, University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA

4Institute for Health & the Environment, University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA

Gulf War Illess (GWI) is a serious health concern for 30% of veterans who were deployed during the first Gulf War. Symptoms include reduced physical, psychological, and neuropsychological wellness and function. Research indicates that these symptoms can be linked to environmental toxins that veterans were exposed to during their time in theater. Some data suggest that continued internal exposure may be maintaining the illness, thus a detoxification procedure could be of assistance to those experiencing GWI. Reviewed here is a novel detoxification procedure applied as a treatment for GWI and the positive outcomes associated with this procedure. Presented here is a brief logic for the detoxification method, a simple summary of the method, and the encouraging outcomes of the method. Awareness of this and similar detoxification methods’ impacts on GWI symptoms should highlight the need for more research on this and related topics.

DOI: 10.29245/2578-2959/2020/3.1204 View / Download Pdf
Vol 4-3 Review Article

Addressing the Emotional Distress of Healthcare Workers: Creating a Cohesive Resiliency Program Response to COVID-19

K Gilrain*, P Fizur, R Allen, E Campbell, P Watson, S Jordan, E Kupersmith, A Rostain

Division of Behavioral Medicine, Cooper University Hospital, USA

Background: Promoting resilience in healthcare workers is a well-studied area that has taken on new significance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Extant literature suggests a need to expand resiliency efforts, with a recommended focus on multimodal approaches.

Purpose: The present account describes the unique challenges faced by one urban, northeastern academic medical center during the COVID-19 crisis in promoting resiliency in their healthcare workers at all levels, with the related aim of examining feasibility and acceptability of doing so.

Methods: A review of existing procedures targeting wellness and resiliency at this hospital was completed. A literature review was conducted with regard to promoting resiliency and preventing burnout, with emphasis placed on case studies from other institutions during the pandemic. Post-intervention surveys were conducted to assess feasibility and acceptability.

Results: A multi-component approach was created based on a review of the literature and all available information. The current report focuses on the first five weeks of that effort, the results of which suggest sufficient feasibility and high acceptability among those surveyed. Common themes raised in support sessions are also identified and discussed.

Conclusions: The challenges raised by COVID-19 are significant, with a high probability of impact on the wellbeing of health care workers. Targeting resiliency now may be a key factor in preventing pathological responses later. The current approach appears feasible and acceptable with regard to targeting key resiliency areas. Future studies should focus on the longer term outcomes of these efforts.

DOI: 10.29245/2578-2959/2020/3.1210 View / Download Pdf
Vol 4-3 Commentary

Commentary: Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Imposter Syndrome: A Systematic Review

Dena M. Bravata1,2*, Divya K. Madhusudhan2, Michael Boroff2, Kevin O. Cokley3

1Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA

2Crossover Health, San Clemente, CA

3University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

DOI: 10.29245/2578-2959/2020/3.1207 View / Download Pdf
Vol 4-3 Research Article

Languishing but Not Giving Up: Suggesting A Surrender-Struggle Continuum as the Missing Piece of The Mental Health Puzzle

Per Eisele*

Associate professor, Department of Psychology, Mid Sweden University, Sweden

Background: The mental health continuum was created for the purpose of measuring mental health with several different wellbeing items.

Aims: The aim of the present study was to investigate the mental health continuum together with a new struggle continuum scale. With languishing and flourishing at the ends of a vertical scale and surrendering and struggling at the ends of a horizontal scale a quadratic model is suggested. Four factors can be distinguished at the corners of the square, depressed, anxious, content and joyful.

Methods: The sample (N=294) consisted of 174 women with a mean age of 40.48 and 124 men with a mean age of 37.27 year. The mental health continuum scale was used together with a new scale measuring struggling, the tendency to give up easily or keep on fighting.

Results: The model was tested on a normal population and was confirmed. Result of chi-square, correlation and t-test analyses show that the two scales could detect depressed, anxious, content and joyful participants.

Conclusions: The result has implications for the choice between mindfulness and activity-based interventions. Discussion about the result are provided.

DOI: 10.29245/2578-2959/2020/3.1211 View / Download Pdf
Vol 4-3 Mini Review Article

Pain Eliminativism

Tudor M. Baetu*

Department of Philosophy and Arts, University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres, Canada

The philosophical thesis of pain eliminativism can be understood in several ways. As a claim about the inadequacy and replacement of folk explanatory pain constructs and concepts, it is congruent with scientific findings. Eliminativism is controversial in as much as it demands a more or less radical recharacterization of the phenomenon of pain in order to ensure compatibility with physicalism and an identity model of reductive explanation. In this respect, eliminativism is at odds with experimental and explanatory paradigms at work in biomedical research. The latter is concerned with reproducible phenomena, controlled experiments generating evidence for causation and causal-mechanistic explanations. Since nothing here supports conclusive inferences about the identity or non-identity of pain, or aspects of it, with biological activity, it is not clear what, if anything at all needs to be eliminated.

DOI: 10.29245/2578-2959/2020/3.1206 View / Download Pdf