Blog Post 14- Abbi Herrold

For this week's discussion I will be reflecting on the process of my presentation and final paper. I have chosen to write about the use of the mobile-phone based app Pacifica as an intervention for anxiety disorders in college students. I chose anxiety as it is a very prevalent issues among college students and young adults that up until recently people did not consider. Throughout the process of creating my presentation and writing my paper I have found there to be able sources that say the prevalence of anxiety disorders is high in college students and people in "emerging adulthood". However, I have found little research to find out why that is. Finding appropriate resources and research to back up my thoughts and claims has by far been the most difficult aspect of writing this paper. There is ample amounts of research on anxiety in general and cognitive behavioral therapy as a treatment, although the research for the treatment of anxiety via mobile-phone and computed based apps is sparse.

I feel as if this mainly has to do with the fact that the field of mental health is reluctant to use technology in treatment, and understandably so. A significant piece of therapy is focused on the patient-client relationship which ca not successfully be recreated through the use of technology and the internet. Although, I feel as is more research and treatment needs to focus on the patient as the primary provider of care and the therapist as the secondary provider of care. I would like to see more research done that focuses on self-help for mental illness and how effective they are or what can be done to make them better if found not to be effective. 

Additionally, through writing this paper I've recognized that their seems to be two relatively " hot topics" regarding anxiety in college students: test anxiety and anxiety as result of the college transition. While I recognize that there are important topics it disappoints me that there is not more research on Generalized Anxiety Disorder and other anxiety disorders in college students. Perhaps my search terms are not narrow enough, but I have had great difficulty researching this topic when I know these things exist. I work with NAMI on campus and other mental health organizations and I know based on many anecdotes that Anxiety is an issue for college students, but if it is such a leading issue then why don't we have more answers about its causes and effects? 

Lack of research and lack of time has made this paper rather frustrating to write, but it has also made me ask myself a lot of questions about research and the field of mental health. If nothing else, I hope this paper is able to reflect on the need for more research and increased mental health care for college students.