HK 340 Exam 3

Mental Health

Successful performance of mental function leading to productive activities, fulfilling relationships, and effective coping with adversity

Mental Illness

Diagnosable mental disorders involving alterations in thinking,mood, or behavior that cause distress and/or impaired functioning

Mental Health Problems

Signs and symptoms that do not meet full diagnostic criteria but are still important and warrant preventive efforts

Continuum

mental health ←→ mental health problems ←→ mental illness

Fear

Immediate, acute response to a real, present threat (e.g., snake on a trail);focused on the present

Anxiety

Anticipatory worry about potential future threats; often ruminative and focused on "what if" scenarios

State Anxiety

Transient feelings of worry or tension in response to a situation

Trait Anxiety

General tendency to respond with anxiety across many situations

Clinical anxiety is distinguished from "normal" anxiety by

- Severity and number of symptoms
• Duration and frequency of symptoms
• Degree of suffering and functional impairment
• Symptoms that may occur without a clear trigger, are disproportionate, and feel unmanageable

Diagnostic criteria (e.g., DSM-5, ICD-10

specify that clinical anxiety disrupts normal functioning

Panic disorder

An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations.

Agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic

Generalized anxiety disorder

a disorder characterized by chronic excessive worry accompanied by three or more of the following symptoms: restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

an anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions)

Key features of anxiety

• Physical symptoms (e.g., palpitations, shortness of breath)
• Cognitive symptoms (e.g., fear of dying, fear of losing control)
• Behavioral responses (e.g., avoidance, escape)

Comorbidity

the co-occurrence of two or more disorders in a single individual

Most common anxiety disorder

generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Cognitive Anxiety

worry, self-doubt, difficulty concentrating, catastrophic thinking

Bodily/physiological anxiety

muscle tension, autonomic arousal, sweating, rapid heart rate

Behavioral Anxiety

avoidance, escape behavior, hypervigilance

Anxiety Medication

o Benzodiazepines (tranquilizers) and antidepressants (e.g., SSRIs).
o Benefits: Symptom reduction for many individuals.
o Limitations: Side effects, withdrawal symptoms, cost, adherence issues, not effective for everyone.

Psychotherapy

o Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and related approaches.
o Benefits: Strong evidence base; can modify maladaptive cognitions and behaviors.
o Limitations: Access barriers (cost, time, provider availability).

Anxiolytic

anxiety reducing

Acute exercise

Single bouts of moderate-intensity exercise can reduce state anxiety for several hours

Chronic exercise

Regular exercise is associated with lower trait anxiety and reduced risk of developing anxiety problems

Depressed mood

Persistent feelings of sadness, emptiness, or "numbness."

MDD diagnosis (DSM-5 framework)

o At least five symptoms present for at least two weeks.
o Must include either depressed mood or markedly diminished interest/pleasure (anhedonia).
o Symptoms can include changes in appetite/weight, sleep disturbances,psychomotor changes (slowing or agitation), fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, concentration difficulties, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

Melancholic features

Loss of pleasure, early-morning awakening, significant weight loss, psychomotor slowing

Atypical features of depression

Increased appetite/weight gain (hyperphagia), hypersomnia,mood reactivity

Psychomotor slowing vs. agitation

Both can appear in depression; agitation often linked to anxious distress

Classification approaches of depression

o Clinician-administered diagnostic interviews (DSM-5 based).
o Self-report scales with diagnostic cutoffs (e.g., PHQ-9 score ≥ 10)

Continuous approaches of depression

o Self-report scales used as continuous symptom severity measures (e.g. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale).

Monoamine hypothesis and limitations

o Proposed that depression results from deficiencies in serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine.
o Now seen as incomplete; depression involves complex interactions among neurotransmitters, genetics, environment, and plasticity.

BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)

o Lower BDNF levels observed in depression.
o Exercise and some antidepressants increase BDNF, supporting neuroplasticity

Resting-state functional connectivity in MDD

o Hyperconnectivity within the default network (DN) → excessive internally focused, ruminative thinking.
o Hypoconnectivity within frontoparietal control networks (FN) → weaker cognitive control.
o Altered connectivity between control, attention, and affective/salience networks (e.g., DAN, AN, VAN)

Exercise as Treatment for Depression

o Randomized controlled trials show regular exercise can reduce depressive symptoms.
o Effects often comparable to medication and psychotherapy for mild-to-moderate depression when adherence is good.
o Guidelines from professional organizations now include exercise as an evidence-based option (stand-alone or adjunct)

Key issues with exercise

• Dose parameters: Frequency, intensity, session duration, program length.
• Clinical vs. nonclinical samples.
• Importance of adherence and support when using exercise as treatment

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

• Emotions result from interpretation of bodily responses to events (we feel afraid because our heart is racing)

Distinguishing Affect

o General valenced feeling (pleasant-unpleasant) that may not require cognitive appraisal.
o Immediate, reflexive reactions (e.g., unpleasantness to pain)

Distinguishing emotion

o Short-lived, often high-intensity responses to specific stimuli or events.
o Typically involve cognitive appraisal ("I'm anxious because I have to give atalk").

Distinguishing moods

o Longer-lasting, lower-intensity feeling states.
o More diffuse, may not have a clear identifiable cause.
o Linked to ongoing behavior and cognition

POMS (Profile of Mood States)

o 65 adjectives → six mood subscales (tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, anger-hostility, vigor-activity, fatigue-inertia, confusion-bewilderment).
o Widely used but treats mood as discrete categories

PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule)

o Two independent dimensions: Positive Affect and Negative Affect.
o Captures high-activation states (e.g., excited, jittery, scared).
o Limitation in exercise context: Less sensitive to low-activation states (calm, relaxed, tired)

AD ACL (Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List) Measures

▪ Energetic arousal (energy ↔ tiredness)
▪ Tense arousal (tension ↔ placidity)

o Can be mapped into quadrants combining valence and arousal

Dimensional and Circumplex Models

o Affect represented along valence (pleasant-unpleasant) and activation(high-low) dimensions.
o Helps map states like energized, calm, tense, fatigued

Exercise-Specific vs. Generic Measures

o Several exercise-specific scales exist, but so far they do not clearly outperform well-validated generic measures.
o Key takeaway: Circumplex-based and other validated generic scales work well.

Acute Exercise and Affect Typical patterns

- Moderate-intensity exercise → increased positive affect and reduced negative affect for most people, especially post-exercise.
• High-intensity exercise (especially above ventilatory threshold) can feel unpleasant during the bout but may still lead to improved affect afterward in many individuals

Acute Exercise and Affect Individual differences

• Intensity-preference: Preferred intensity when given choice.
• Intensity-tolerance: Ability to continue at an imposed intensity even when uncomfortable.
• Low tolerance at high intensities → more negative affective responses

Regular physical activity is associated with

Higher positive affect and vigor.
• Lower negative affect and fatigue.
• Better general emotional well-being, even in nonclinical samples

What Is Cognitive Function?

• Processes by which individuals perceive, recognize, and understand thoughts and ideas.
• Includes perception, attention, learning, memory, and planning/executing goal-directed behavior.

Age-related changes

Decreases in gray and white matter volume with age.
• Particularly notable changes in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
• Slowed processing speed and declines in some executive functions.

Cognitive tasks used in research

• Stroop, flanker, task-switching paradigms, n-back, Trail Making, memory tasks.
• Be able to recognize which tasks tap executive control processes

Cross-sectional evidence

• Higher-fit older adults tend to perform better on tasks requiring executive control.
• They show more efficient activation in attentional networks compared to lower-fitpeers

ERPs - P3 component

• P3 amplitude: allocation of attentional resources and working memory updating.
• P3 latency: speed of processing.
• Higher fitness and acute exercise often associated with larger P3 amplitude and/orshorter latency → more efficient processing