Participation in the Camels Study was life changing for me, for reasons I will explain below. The purpose of the study was to learn about changes in hormone levels, specifically cortisol and amylase, in response to stress in children, adolescents, and young adults who do not have a psychiatric illness, to serve as a comparison for a sample of individuals with a history of anxiety. Looking back, I most likely should have been in the anxiety group instead of the healthy volunteer group, but I did not have an official anxiety diagnosis at the time of study screening.
After signing the consent forms, I was told I would soon be preparing for an interview, but first I was asked to give a saliva sample so the researchers could measure my baseline cortisol and amylase levels. To do this I had to repeatedly spit into a small straw that went into a tube about the size of two tootsie rolls until the fluid reached a certain level.
Helpful hint: If you ever have to give a relatively large saliva sample, try making yourself yawn. Saliva is produced and accumulates in the back of the mouth when you yawn. To yawn, just hold your mouth open as wide as you can and simulate yawning until your nervous system takes over and does it for you.
Next I was told to prepare for a job interview which would be with two judges who would give me a score based on my performance. I was to explain to them why I would be the best person for the job, which was described in a way that was vague but suggested the position involved managing and interacting with different stakeholders and types of people.
Then came the interview. I entered a room with two people sitting at a table with paper and pens. I was not invited to sit down, but had to remain standing throughout. I introduced myself and they began asking me questions. During my responses the judges would give me perplexed and agitated looks as though what I was saying either wasn’t satisfactory or didn’t make sense. At points, the judges would write vigorously on their clipboards.
As I started speaking I found myself becoming very invested in the interview so all the interviewers’ writing and quizzical stares made me feel anxious and inadequate. At one point during the interview they gave me a large number, something like 3,756, and told me to begin counting backwards by 7’s, without writing anything down. In retrospect, it is clear to me that the interview was designed to elicit a great deal of stress, but at the time I was quite caught up in trying to prove myself and was feeling all the emotional responses that go with being evaluated and found wanting.
Immediately after the interview I was escorted into a waiting room and instructed to give another saliva sample.
Once that was accomplished, the researchers debriefed me. They explained that the interview was bogus and was designed to stress me out. I’m not sure how I managed to not have already figured that out for myself considering I was in a study and have done quite a few of them! The so called judges had been trained to give me looks that would frustrate me and all their copious writing was just gibberish and doodles.
Their ruse definitely worked on me; I was stressed out from the interview! Normally, I do very well in an interview setting, but contrary to this particular experience, I’m usually receiving positive feedback throughout the interview. I can’t recall if I was told something could possibly emerge from the interview such as a job or a referral or if I was told it was mock interview, but I felt a pressure to perform well and cared about the outcome of my score.
Then came a thorough psychological assessment called the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, Adult Version (ADIS). This interview includes screening questions across a broad range of emotional and behavioral problems, such as anxiety, depression, attention deficits and hyperactivity, disruptive behavior, and substance abuse for two time periods: current (past six months) and lifetime. A researcher with a masters in Psychology administered the ADIS.
This assessment took longer than the usual two to three hours because I took full advantage of having someone ask me to talk about myself, my feelings, my anxieties, and my thoughts. In previous studies I’ve completed, I was exposed to many different questionnaires giving me experience with self insight, which added to the depth and length of my responses. I felt the assessment was very thorough. It included questions about mood, family psychological history, substance use, anxiety symptoms, and much more. I didn’t hold anything back when answering; I was completely honest.
After the assessment was complete I was free to go, a couple of hours after the time I had been told I would be finished because of the extra time I took for the ADIS. About a week later, I received payment in the form of a check for about $60 for the five plus hours. Considering I got a free psychological assessment as well, I felt this was an awesome deal.
The researchers did share the result of the assessment with me. The symptoms I endorsed were consistent with general anxiety disorder (GAD). In the letter about the assessment the researchers said my symptoms warranted a more thorough clinical evaluation, and that my symptoms might be reduced with appropriate intervention.
My thought: “Could there possibly be a more thorough assessment? Hahah!”
I had never consulted a mental health professional before and it would be a full three years before I sought further assessment and care, but my experience with this study gave me insight and validated some of my concerns and ultimately I would say I found it influential and helpful.
--
So the next study I want to tell you about is the Camels Study. Participation in this study was life changing for me. I had a thorough psychological assessment called the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, Adult Version (ADIS). The interview includes screening questions across a broad range of emotional and behavioral problems, such as anxiety, depression, attention deficits and hyperactivity, disruptive behavior, and substance abuse for two time periods: current (past six months) and lifetime.
The purpose of the study was to learn about changes in hormone levels, specifically cortisol and amylase, in response to stress in children, adolescents, and young adults who do not have a psychiatric illness, to serve as a comparison for a sample of individuals with a history of anxiety.
Looking back, I’m not sure I should have been in the healthy volunteer group instead of the anxiety group. Technically, I never have had a mental health diagnosis from a doctor, but as the researchers found out during my longer than normal study session, I may have just a little bit of anxiety. (joke to foreshadow the long interview).
After signing the consent forms, I was told I had to prepare for an interview. Before I started preparing, I gave the researchers a saliva sample—they were measuring my baseline cortisol and amylase levels. I had to continuously spit into a small straw that went into a small tube about the size of 2 tootsie rolls until the meniscus reached a certain level. If you ever have to give a saliva sample that requires a relative amount of volume, try making yourself yawn. Saliva is produced and accumulates in the back of the mouth when you yawn. To yawn, you just hold your mouth open as wide as you can and simulate yawning until your nervous system takes over and does it for you.
The interview would be with 2 judges who would give me a score based off my interview. I had to tell them why I was the best person for this job. The job description was vague but involved managing and interacting with different stakeholders and types of people.
Then came the interview. I entered a room with 2 people sitting at a table with paper and pens. I introduced myself, and they began asking me questions. During my responses, the judges would give me perplexed and agitated looks like what I was saying either wasn’t satisfactory or didn’t make sense. At points, the judges would write vigorously on their clipboards. (Later on when I was debriefed, I found out the judges were writing gibberish, scribbling, and doodling when I thought they were taking vigorous notes.)
I also had to stand. After I started speaking, I became very invested in the interview, so all of their writing and blank stares made me feel some emotions related to inadequacy. Part of the interview was reciting numbers and doing mental math. I don’t remember the exact number, but they gave me a large number like 3,756 and asked me to continuously subtract 7 from the number without writing anything down. For example, a person would recite 3,749, 3,742, 3,735, etc. until you reached the number they had given you.
I was escorted out of the room when the interview was over and was told to wait in a waiting room. I was then instructed to immediately give another saliva sample.
When the researchers were ready for me, they brought me into a room and debriefed me. They told me the interview was bogus and the purpose was to stress me out—not sure how I didn’t reach that conclusion beforehand since it was a study. The judges were trained to give me looks that would frustrate me, and everything they were writing was gibberish and doodles.
It definitely worked. I was stressed out from the interview.
Then came the psychological assessment. One of the researchers, an individual with a Masters in Psychological administered the ADIS. This part ended up taking a little longer than normal. The assessment should take between 2 to 3 hours for a (mentally) healthy individual, but I went way over the normal time. I took advantage of someone letting me talk about myself, my feelings, my anxieties, and my thoughts.
The assessment was very thorough including questions about my mood, family psychological history, substance use, anxiety symptoms, and many others. I didn’t hold anything back when answering, and I was brutally honest.
After the assessment was complete, I was free to go. It was a couple hours after they told me I’d be done which is very rare. I attribute this to my long assessment.
I got the payment a week letter in the form of a check sent to my house. I believe it was about 60 dollars for the 3 to 4 hours. Considering I got a free thorough psychological assessment as well, this was an awesome deal.
They also shared their assessment with me. The symptoms I endorsed were consistent with general anxiety disorder (GAD). The letter also said my symptoms were disturbing and warranted a more thorough clinical evaluation, and the symptoms may be reduced with appropriate intervention. Could there be a more thorough assessment? Haha.