November, 2012
Dr. Asberg Receives Award for Research
http://thereporter.wcu.edu/2012/12/asberg-recognized-for-violence-research/
Current and Former Students Present at National Conference!
Current clinical graduate students Jessica Kelliher and Brittany Blanchard each presented a poster at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in National Harbor, MD, in November. Jessica' study was titled: Coping among socially anxious and non-anxious emerging adults: One size does not fit all. One of the main findings of this research was that highly socially anxious college students used mostly the same coping strategies as their non-anxious peers, but did not experience the same benefits from their efforts. In addition, highly socially anxious college students did not experience negative effects of substance use coping, which may lead to continued use of this strategy (i.e., the behavior is reinforced). In Brittany's study, which was co-authored by Drs Asberg and Bobadilla, and also included WCU graduate Courtney Pfeifer, the effects of blunted cortisol reactivity was examined in a sample of veterans who all had a primary diagnosis of substance use disorder (SUD). The study was titled: Blunted cortisol response in veterans with substance use disorders: Treatment implications.There were some differences between those who had typical (non-blunted) reactivity to a stress task and those who exhibited a blunted reaction (no increase in cortisol). Specifically, within the non-blunted group, suicidal ideation and trait depression were associated with substance use problems, but in the blunted group, only veterans' anxiety was related to such problems. Mood and anxiety may be related to outcomes in different ways depending on an individual's reaction to stress.
