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Evaluation ViewAttendees 1

Category: Adult- Health Psychology / Behavioral Medicine
Symposia

Symposium 121 - Cultivating Joy with Exercise: Targeting affect, enjoyment, distress tolerance, and resilience with exercise

Sunday, November 19, 2023
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM PST
Location: Entiat (404), Level 4
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Exercise, Transdiagnostic, Treatment
Level of Familiarity: Basic
Recommended Readings: Szuhany, K. L., Steinberg, M. H., McLaughlin, N. C., Mancebo, M. C., Brown, R. A., Greenberg, B. D., ... & Abrantes, A. M. (2023). Predictors of Long-Term Exercise Engagement in Patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: The Role of Physical Activity Enjoyment. Behavior Therapy.,   Heissel, A., Heinen, D., Brokmeier, L. L., Skarabis, N., Kangas, M., Vancampfort, D., ... & Schuch, F. (2023). Exercise as medicine for depressive symptoms? A systematic review and meta-analysis with meta-regression. British Journal of Sports Medicine.,   Ramos-Sanchez, C. P., Schuch, F. B., Seedat, S., Louw, Q. A., Stubbs, B., Rosenbaum, S., ... & Vancampfort, D. (2021). The anxiolytic effects of exercise for people with anxiety and related disorders: An update of the available meta-analytic evidence. Psychiatry Research, 302, 114046.,   Otto, M., & Smits, J. A. (2011). Exercise for mood and anxiety: Proven strategies for overcoming depression and enhancing well-being. OUP USA.,  

Exercise is an adaptive health behavior that has broad demonstrated benefits for mental health, including improving depression (Heissel et al., 2023), anxiety (Ramos-Sanchez et al., 2021), and PTSD (Bjorkman & Ekblom, 2022), and promoting well-being (Schuch et al., 2016). It also benefits physical health, including reduced risk for mortality and for several chronic diseases (Warburton & Bredin, 2017; Posadzki et al., 2020), and less engagement in negative health behaviors (e.g., smoking; Roberts et al., 2012). Despite the benefits, only 23% of US adults meet weekly exercise recommendations (Blackwell & Clarke, 2018) with evidence that older adults and those with psychiatric conditions engage in even less exercise (Harvey et al., 2013; Helgadottir et al., 2015). Exercise may also be more challenging for groups who are at risk for experiencing exercise-related sensations as uncomfortable, such as those with high anxiety sensitivity or chronic pain.

Therefore, it is important to understand factors that may enhance exercise engagement and ultimately improve mental health outcomes and well-being. Aligned with the convention theme of Cultivating Joy with CBT, this symposium highlights psychological mechanisms such as affect, physical activity enjoyment, resilience, and well-being as well as biological factors targeted with exercise across a variety of populations. The symposium also features motivation enhancement techniques and novel intervention delivery methods (e.g., using technology-based online platforms) to promote mood with exercise. The over-arching goals of this symposium are to: 1) improve understanding of well-being based mechanisms targeted by exercise across a variety of populations; and 2) empower practitioners to prescribe exercise for mental health to aid in the goal of cultivating joy.

The first talk will highlight acute effects of high intensity resistance training on affect, perceived arousal, and distress in individuals with PTSD symptoms. Building upon the initial evidence of affect-based mechanisms, the second presentation will examine the effects of a 12-week exercise intervention for PTSD and chronic pain. It will also present the relationship between biological mechanisms (which have anti-stress properties) and motivational factors. The third talk will examine how anxiety sensitivity and physical activity enjoyment interact to influence exercise engagement longitudinally through a 1-year follow-up for smokers, who may also experience physical sensations associated with exercise as uncomfortable. The fourth presentation utilizes community engagement to implement a novel technology-based exercise intervention to underserved older adults. Importantly, the long-term effects on exercise and well-being will be presented. Finally, the symposium culminates with a discussion of the effects of exercise on resilience, which has become more important than ever throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This talk will lead into a discussion of CBT-based strategies to prescribe exercise to promote well-being. Audience participation is encouraged.

Ultimately, exercise is a widely accessible, affordable, and acceptable intervention to improve well-being, reduce burden of disease, and cultivate joy.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session, the learner will be able to:
  • Identify at least two affect/enjoyment based mechanistic targets of exercise.
  • Explain at least two distress tolerance mechanisms of exercise.
  • Describe at least two motivation strategies to enhance affect/enjoyment and exercise engagement.
  • Understand how exercise enhances well-being across multiple populations.
  • Identify at least two ways to integrate promoting exercise for mental health into your clinical practice.

Presentations:

  • (SYM 121) Acute Effects of Resistance Exercise on Affective Valence and Perceived Distress Among Individuals Who Screened Positive for PTSD

    Speaker: James W. Whitworth, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – VA Boston Healthcare System, National Center for PTSD

    Co-author: James W. Whitworth, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – VA Boston Healthcare System, National Center for PTSD

    Co-author: Nicholas SantaBarbara, PhD (he/him/his) – Merrimack College

    Co-author: Sanaz Nosrat, PhD (she/her/hers) – Teachers College Columbia University

    Co-author: Michelle Pebole, PhD (she/her/hers) – VA Boston Healthcare System

    Co-author: Bradley Cripe, MA (he/him/his) – VA Boston Healthcare System

    Co-author: Grace McKeon, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of New South Wales

  • (SYM 121) Neurobiological, Motivational and Psychological Benefits of Exercise in Chronic Pain and PTSD: a Proof -of- concept Study

    Speaker: Erica R. Scioli, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – VA Boston Healthcare System

    Co-author: Graziano Pinna, PhD – University of Illinois at Chicago

    Co-author: Ann Rasmusson, M.D. – VA Boston Healthcare System

    Co-author: James W. Whitworth, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – VA Boston Healthcare System, National Center for PTSD

    Co-author: Allison Cucalon, MS – VA Boston Healthcare System

    Co-author: Bradley Cripe, MA (he/him/his) – VA Boston Healthcare System

  • (SYM 121) the Relationship Between Anxiety Sensitivity, Physical Activity Enjoyment, and Exercise Engagement over Time in Low-active Daily Smokers Participating in Smoking Cessation Treatment

    Speaker: Kristin L. Szuhany, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – NYU School of Medicine

    Co-author: Margot H. Steinberg, Other – NYU Langone Health

    Co-author: Naomi Simon, MD – NYU Langone Health, New York University School of Medicine

    Co-author: Ana Abrantes, Ph.D. – Alpert Medical School of Brown University

  • (SYM 121) Exercise and Online Maintenance Program for Older, Predominantly Black Adults

    Speaker: Louisa Sylvia, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Sarah Bannon, Ph.D. – Mount Sinai Hospital

    Co-author: Antonietta Alvarez Hernandez, B.A. – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Nathaniel R. Choukas, B.S. – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Yunfeng Deng, B.A. – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Nicha Puvanich, M.S. – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Roberta E. Tovey, Ph.D. – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Andrew DeMott, MPH – University of Illinois at Chicago

    Co-author: Susan Hughes, PhD – University of Illinois at Chicago

    Co-author: Ana-Maria Vranceanu, Ph.D. – Massachusetts General Hospital

  • (SYM 121) Exercise for the Transdiagnostic Goal of Enhancing Psychological Resilience

    Speaker: Michael W. Otto, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Boston University

    Co-author: Jasper Smits, Ph.D. – The University of Texas at Austin