When Climaco Abarca was 15 years old, he lost the ability to walk following a paralyzing diving accident. While the accident changed the course of the Washington State University Tri-Cities junior’s life, it did not stop him from going to college and helping others in similar circumstances.

“Everyone would struggle with waking up one day and not being able to walk,” he said. “It is incredibly hard and there are many people that don’t think they could do it, but at the end of the day, you have to live and overcome. I have learned to live with my disability, and I don’t let it affect me. I have strong family support that is what has kept me motivated. I want to set a good example for them.”

Abarca has sought the help of WSU Tri-Cities TRIO Student Success Programs, which provides tutoring support, mentorship, help with financial aid and more for students who are low-income, first-generation and/or have a documented disability. Particularly, he said, being paired with a supplemental instructor for some of his classes has been crucial to his success.

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WSU Insider
YakTriNews

It’s no secret that going without sleep can affect people’s mood, but a new study shows it does not interfere with their ability to evaluate emotional situations.

“People do become less happy through sleep deprivation, but it’s not affecting how they are processing emotional stimuli in their environment,” said Anthony Stenson, a WSU psychology doctoral student and lead author of the study in Plos One.

“I don’t think we want our first responders being numb to the emotional nature of the situations they encounter, and it looks like they are not. On the other hand, reacting normally to emotional situations, but not being able to control your own emotions, could be one reason sleep loss sometimes produces catastrophic errors in stressful situations.” Paul Whitney, WSU Professor of Psychology.

The current study shows that top-down regulation is a problem as well with “hot” or emotional cognitive processes. Future research is needed to understand whether the effects of sleep loss on the two top-down processes are linked.

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News Medical
WSU Insider
California News Times

We’ve been questioning the same thing for years: Is Instagram bad for mental health? Between the need for likes and a verified status—plus the picture-perfect influencers we hold on a pedestal—it’s next to impossible not to feel somewhat inadequate while doom scrolling.

“Attaching our self-worth to how we think we compare to others who post on social media is also problematic,” says Dr. Chris Barry, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Washington State University. “Instead, using social media to connect with others or to keep up with news or topics of interest seem to be more adaptive in terms of well-being.”

Instagram users of all ages have felt some type of anxiety at one point or another whilst using the app. The picture-perfect presentation with engagement reveals, vacation stories, and job updates can be enough to make someone crack. What’s meant to be a fun, accessible way to connect with people has turned into a grand competition that’s led to feelings of deficiency, jealousy, FOMO and so much more.

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My Imperfect Life

This week’s question would appear to answer itself: It is the rare person who emerges from an hour’s scrolling feeling healthy, rejuvenated, and better-prepared to take on the vicissitudes of the day. The general consensus among the terminally online would seem to be that the internet is a miserable place just barely made tolerable by the idiots and well-meaning naifs whose screw-ups at least provide something to ridicule. But is there a scientific basis for this generalized feeling? How has social media actually impacted mental health, per the research? For this week’s Giz Asks, we reached out to a number of experts to find out.

According to Chris Barry, professor of psychology at Washington State University, whose work focuses on adolescent self-perception and social media engagement in adolescents and young adults:

It’s somewhat difficult to determine cause and effect with social media. It could be that social media impacts mental health, but it also could be that certain people who are feeling distressed and lonely seek out social media. So it’s a little bit of a chicken-and-the-egg situation.

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Gizmodo