Switching Directions

After Mrs. Penney and I reviewed my Original Work, which was a case study using attention-bias modification therapy in socially anxious high school age individuals, we both realized that more research was necessary to determine the feasibility of the project. Psychological testing on individuals, especially minors in a public education setting, is an incredibly complicated topic as there are numerous legal and ethical guidelines that I would have to follow. Not to mention, psychological testing performed by an untrained professional such as myself can not only be inaccurate, but perhaps detrimental to the test subjects if an element is not performed correctly. When I presented my project idea to Dr. Nyaz Didehbani of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Frisco, she confirmed these concerns and stated that before I initiated a case study that I would have to perform an extensive literature review over the span of months to truly understand how to perform the test. Because of these numerous complications, I've decided to look into other avenues of study for my Original Work. An interesting and topical approach to psychological therapy and intervention is telehealth. I've discovered an incredible web-based intervention called 7 Cups that provides anonymous emotional support to people through trained volunteer listeners. I am excited to perform further research into 7 Cups to see what project ideas I can derive from the resources they have and how I can incorporate internet technologies into my research.