Week 2:
Carver College of Medicine

January 30, 2014

Real world lesson for the week: the research of emotional anguish is itself stressful, complicated, and often disheartening.  On Tuesday I was suppossed to shadow a visit with Sean, another student research assistant. Unfortunately his participant experiences extreme anxiety and social phobia, and Sean thought the presence of two researchers might overwhelm her. The second visit was supposed to be with Nichole’s patient, a symptom-free ‘control’ participant, but he was a no-show. I’m really looking forward to attending a patient visit that will (hopefully) take place next week. For now, the team is having me listen to past initial-visit interviews so I can gain a sense of how people are diagnosed before any assumptions are drawn.

The purpose of these interviews is to diagnose patients using standarized techniques like the Beck Depression/Anxiety inventories. In the past I viewed these forms as reductive; without sufficient respect to the intricacies of depression or paranoia. Now, after participating in this enormous study I see their value. In order to compare large groups of people in research you need to cast big, and often simple nets of categorization. I still feel uncomfortable with the idea of insurance company mandated standard inventories in a clinical setting, but I suppose they too are just trying to cut definite paths through a jungle of human complications.

In the absence of patient visits this week I have also further integrated into the data collection side of things. I’ve finally gotten the hang of relaying samples and testing equipment between the lab and the clinical research unit. Soon I am supposed to help with the lab analysis of both human and bacterial (gut fauna) DNA samples. Throughout all of this I am becoming deeply interested in the medical side of psychology, and am even considering gaining the credits neccessary to apply to medical school after I finish my bachelor’s.