6^th International Conference on Depression, Anxiety and Stress Management 26 July, 2019 London ,UK

Biography:

Maxine Outerbridge is a New York City native, hardworking and passionate mother of two (including a special needs child) and mental health and healing advocate. Maxine’s testimony of surviving domestic violence and sexual abuse, teen pregnancy and financial distress during her pursuit of her undergraduate degree landed her a role as surrogate to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential Campaign. Maxine was the youngest delegate to represent the state of New York at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Maxine studied Finance and Accounting in her undergraduate and graduate studies and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) working in the financial services industry (including holding positions at PwC, AIG and Bank of America.)

Abstract:

Experiencing domestic violence and sexual abuse is commonplace within black and brown communities, especially when committed against women of color, while acknowledging and collectively addressing the residual mental health effects of trauma are not. This keynote presentation will provide a powerful testimony of the inevitable succumbence of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), anxiety and depression following the rampant ailes of physical and sexual abuse, teen pregnancy and familial isolation. A completely holistic treatment approach saturated with the principles of Self-Love and coupled with psychological counselling debunks the often misconceived notion by untreated parties that acknowledgement or identification of mental health disorders is also acceptance and submission to narcotic intervention. Fundamental self-love practices can improve mental illness related symptoms due to increased interest and accountability over one’s own mental health, establishment of realistic expectations, adequate management of adversity and prioritization of acceptance, compassion, forgiveness and care of oneself among others. This keynote presentation will also highlight a personal attestation to psych level limitations that result from sexual abuse including obsessive attachment, co-dependency and intimacy deficiencies. As a call to action, there is an opportunity within the Psychiatry industry to increase targeting of vulnerable communities, such as communities of color and to mitigate the cultural hesitancy and cynicism that often exist. 

Biography:

Dr. Sumedh Thero (Dr Suman, Banwari Lal) is currently working as Fonder President Sumedh Bhoomi Buddha Vihar, Dr Ambedkar Park, Jhansipura, Lalitpur-284403 India. Ven Dr. Sumedh Thero received his Doctoral degree or PhD on “Effect of allelogenic biomass of tree species on growth, yield and quality of  arable crops”from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. Ven Dr. Sumedh Thero completed his Masters Degree from the University of  Agra, India. He then worked at the Indian Grassland and Fodder research Institute Jhansi, India, served as Professor (Principal Scientist).

Abstract:

The Buddha said also the bhikkhu sits down, having crossed his legs, set his body straight. It refers to the posture most suitable for. Although can and should be practised in every bodily posture, sitting is usually the best posture for developing deep concentration. And in sitting, one must keep one's body naturally straight: not too straight and stiff, and not too relaxed. A straight and comfortable sitting posture allows one to sit for a long time without developing tension or tiredness in the body.  The Buddha said also the bhikkhu has established mindfulness before him. This means he has mindfulness established upon the breath in front: at the nostrils (nāsāpuña) or at the upper lip (uttar. He ever mindfully breathes in, ever mindfully breathes out. This is, mindfulness of breathing: being mindful of the breath. To be mindful of the breath is to pay attention to the breath as it goes in and out at the nostrils or at the upper lip. When breathing in, one knows one is breathing in; when breathing

out, one knows one is breathing out. That is how one breathes in mindfully, and breathes out mindfully. Whenever one's mind wanders, one brings it calmly it back to the breath. One does not get upset when one's mind wanders. And if one has trouble keeping one's mind on the breath, one counts the breaths:

1) On one in&out breath, one counts `one'.

2) On the next in&out breath, one counts `two'.

3) On the next in&out breath, one counts `three'.

4) And so on, up to eight.

One counts the breaths until one's mind settles down calmly with the breath. Then one stops counting and is just mindful of the breath. After this introductory explanation, The Buddha continues  with four sets of four explanations.

Biography:

Thanita Pilunthanakul is currently a 4^th medical student from Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. She previously received a Masters in Biotechnology from Columbia University and Bachelors of Science in Neural Science from New York University. Her research interests lie in the field of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and in healthcare technology for psychiatric illnesses.

Abstract:

Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and comorbid depression may experience significant functional impairment and risk of suicidality. Screening and early detection is essential for timely treatment. The Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9) is a brief and user-friendly screener with a cutoff score of 11 when assessing for depression symptoms in neuro-typical adolescents. However, given that the presentation of depression may differ in ASD, the current study aims to examine the validity of the PHQ-9 in detecting major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents with ASD.

Methods:

A total of 58 pairs of English-speaking adolescents with a diagnosis of ASD (M = 14.6, SD = 1.9), and their parents were enrolled. Participants completed the self- and parent-rated PHQ-9 independently, in addition to a demographics form. MDD was assessed using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Kid version, as the gold standard.

Results:

Self- and parent-rated PHQ-9 had a ROC area under the curve of 0.70 (95% CI: 0.49-0.91) and 0.61 (95% CI: 0.42-0.79), respectively. Self- and parent-rated PHQ-9 showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α: 0.770 and 0.840, respectively) and convergent validity (r = 0.417, p < 0.01).

Conclusion:

Our preliminary findings suggest that the sensitivity and specificity of the PHQ-9 were suboptimal for adolescents with ASD using the current cutoff score, and that self- and parent-rated scores could be adjusted to 14 and 6, respectively. Parents tended to rate depressive symptoms at a lower severity level than the adolescents with ASD. However, our study was underpowered given the sample number of positive cases of MDD identified.  

Biography:

NDJE NDJE Mireille: PhD in Clinical and Pathological Psychology University of Yaounde I Cameroon

Abstract:

Taking care of patients is the daily task of the caregiver who, to succeed needs the availability of the patient. The patient who is confronted with a serious illness is invaded by pain, and face a multitude of fears: the fear of suffering, of having physical pain, of leaving his family, of being abandoned or giving up, of being forgotten. Accompany the patient is to be with, not to be in front to see him facing the disease, or behind, to protect him and keep him away from the lived experience of the violence of the disease. It is about to meet each time with a kidness neutrality a human being in need, who put all his hope in the medicine, without being locked in an obligation of result. It is also a question of experiencing one's own psychological processes, of managing the pressures of the often very strong demand, the beliefs of the patient who generally attributes his illness to mystico-religious facts, the non tolerance of the failure by certain social conceptions. The caregiver must let himself be led where the patient wants to take him and not at all costs to achieve the predefined goals. It is not a question of trivializing, but rather of being sufficiently available to allow the patient to put down his anguish. But the caregiver is confronted not only with his own psychic processes, his relationship with the patient, but also with the team of caregivers and the entire society. In this triad carer-colleagues-society, the caregiver encounters misunderstandings in relation to his own anxiety, the emotional or technical points of view of his colleagues, the absolute search for positive results of society. Studying the day-to-day reality of the caregiver's work would contribute to a better understanding of the caregiver's behavior in this double bind dyad and triad to improve the quality of care delivery.