psychopathology

FIRE-PF: Developing and Testing a Trauma-Informed Alcohol Intervention to Enhance Mental Health in Firefighters

PROJECT SUMMARY Alcohol use and hazardous drinking are ubiquitous among firefighters in the United states and is associated with significant physical and mental health risks for this population. Due to the nature of their work, firefighters experience substantially higher rates of trauma exposure and are subsequently at greater risk of developing specific mental health conditions compared to the general population, particularly trauma-related psychopathology (e.g., posttraumatic stress). Hazardous drinking and posttraumatic stress frequently co-occur among firefighters, leading to poorer health outcomes compared to either condition alone. Despite this elevated risk, firefighters often lack access to tailored, empirically supported interventions, and no existing mental health interventions address hazardous drinking in a trauma-informed framework for this at-risk population. Personalized feedback interventions (PFIs) are a promising approach that could address this gap. By delivering brief, patient-centered feedback on drinking behaviors and perceptions within the context of trauma and occupational stress, PFIs aim to reduce problematic drinking behaviors and stigma related to coping-orientated drinking and improve stress management strategies. PFIs can be brief, cost-effective, and easily disseminated in a format accessible to large groups, making them a strong candidate for use with firefighters who face critical barriers to engaging in traditional mental health programs. This innovative study aims to develop a single-session, trauma-informed, online PFI tailored specifically for firefighters, using a comprehensive, three-phase approach to address three primary aims. The Development Phase involves developing, adapting, and enhancing a trauma-informed PFI by gathering qualitative feedback from firefighters (N = 45) and using an iterative, rapid user-centered design approach to ensure the intervention is engaging for firefighters as well as relevant and aligned with fire service culture. The Evaluation Phase will assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the PFI in a mixed-methods longitudinal open trial with firefighters (N = 50), with a focus on the intervention's usability, delivery, and influence on drinking behaviors. The Implementation Planning Phase will involve qualitative and quantitative assessments with fire service leaders (N = 15) to identify implementation barriers and shape future research testing the implementation process for the intervention and inform future strategies for resource integration and fostering sustainable community partnerships. This proposal will equip Dr. Lebeaut with essential training for an independent research career, including training in (1) qualitative methodologies, (2) user-centered design, (3) developing, adapting, and enhancing trauma-informed alcohol interventions, and (4) developing collaborative relationships with community partners in the fire service. The proposed study will directly inform a future R01 to evaluate the intervention’s efficacy and scalability and support the development of a firefighter-focused research program.

Decoding stress vulnerability

Although stress can be considered as an ongoing process that helps an organism to cope with present and future challenges, when it is too intense or uncontrollable, it can lead to adverse consequences for physical and mental health. Social stress specifically, is a highly prevalent traumatic experience, present in multiple contexts, such as war, bullying and interpersonal violence, and it has been linked with increased risk for major depression and anxiety disorders. Nevertheless, not all individuals exposed to strong stressful events develop psychopathology, with the mechanisms of resilience and vulnerability being still under investigation. During this talk, I will identify key gaps in our knowledge about stress vulnerability and I will present our recent data from our contextual fear learning protocol based on social defeat stress in mice.

Epigenomic (re)programming of the brain and behavior by ovarian hormones

Rhythmic changes in sex hormone levels across the ovarian cycle exert powerful effects on the brain and behavior, and confer female-specific risks for neuropsychiatric conditions. In this talk, Dr. Kundakovic will discuss the role of fluctuating ovarian hormones as a critical biological factor contributing to the increased depression and anxiety risk in women. Cycling ovarian hormones drive brain and behavioral plasticity in both humans and rodents, and the talk will focus on animal studies in Dr. Kundakovic’s lab that are revealing the molecular and receptor mechanisms that underlie this female-specific brain dynamic. She will highlight the lab’s discovery of sex hormone-driven epigenetic mechanisms, namely chromatin accessibility and 3D genome changes, that dynamically regulate neuronal gene expression and brain plasticity but may also prime the (epi)genome for psychopathology. She will then describe functional studies, including hormone replacement experiments and the overexpression of an estrous cycle stage-dependent transcription factor, which provide the causal link(s) between hormone-driven chromatin dynamics and sex-specific anxiety behavior. Dr. Kundakovic will also highlight an unconventional role that chromatin dynamics may have in regulating neuronal function across the ovarian cycle, including in sex hormone-driven X chromosome plasticity and hormonally-induced epigenetic priming. In summary, these studies provide a molecular framework to understand ovarian hormone-driven brain plasticity and increased female risk for anxiety and depression, opening new avenues for sex- and gender-informed treatments for brain disorders.

(Mal)adaptive biases in motivated action: computations, brains and psychopathology

Unpacking Nature from Nurture: Understanding how Family Processes Affect Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Mental Health problems among youth constitutes an area of significant social, educational, clinical, policy and public health concern. Understanding processes and mechanisms that underlie the development of mental health problems during childhood and adolescence requires theoretical and methodological integration across multiple scientific domains, including developmental science, neuroscience, genetics, education and prevention science. The primary focus of this presentation is to examine the relative role of genetic and family environmental influences on children’s emotional and behavioural development. Specifically, a complementary array of genetically sensitive and longitudinal research designs will be employed to examine the role of early environmental adversity (e.g. inter-parental conflict, negative parenting practices) relative to inherited factors in accounting for individual differences in children’s symptoms of psychopathology (e.g. depression, aggression, ADHD ). Examples of recent applications of this research to the development of evidence-based intervention programmes aimed at reducing psychopathology in the context of high-risk family settings will also be presented.

Relational dopamine/metabolic correlates of psychopathology in schizophrenia

FENS Forum 2024