Stress is important for health. As emergency departments (EDs) are often stressful places, a better understanding of the human stress response is important for understanding how and why patients respond as they do when they come to the ED. Since the investigators cannot take up space in the ED for research, the investigators will instead recruit 20 methamphetamine-using participants who are not currently in treatment and 10 healthy adult matched participants to a simulated ED room in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Simulation Center. The investigators will have participants perform a stressor task involving public speaking and a simple arithmetic task. The investigators will see if this experiment can be made to be like being in an actual ED by varying what participants speak about in the task. By doing this, the investigators hope to find out several important things: 1) Is a stressor task feasible and acceptable to participants? 2) What does the stress response -- as measured by cortisol and alpha-amylase -- look like in these participants? 3) Does varying what participants talk about make the experiment seem more like an actual ED? 4) Do participants under stress show even mild symptoms of agitation as measured by clinical scales? If so, how often?
Age range
21 Years – 55 Years
Sex
ALL
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Determine the feasibility and acceptability of an ED-relevant stressor task as compared to a standard social stressor task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Measure the stress response (alpha-amylase) in participants who undergo an ED-relevant stress task compared to a standard social stress task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Measure the stress response (cortisol) in participants who undergo an ED-relevant stress task compared to a standard social stress task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Measure the stress response (systolic blood pressure) in participants who undergo an ED-relevant stress task compared to a standard social stress task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Measure the stress response (diastolic blood pressure) in participants who undergo an ED-relevant stress task compared to a standard social stress task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Measure the stress response (heart rate) in participants who undergo an ED-relevant stress task compared to a standard social stress task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Evaluate the ED-representativeness of an ED-relevant stressor task compared to a standard social stressor task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Measure agitation scale ratings (Behavioral Activity Rating Scale) in participants who undergo an ED-relevant stress task compared to a standard social stress task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Measure agitation scale ratings (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale - Excited Component) in participants who undergo an ED-relevant stress task compared to a standard social stress task.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours
Evaluate ethological ratings of non-verbal behaviors thought to indicate assertion using a rating scale (Ethological Coding System for Interviews) commonly employed in the clinical environment for this purpose.
Timeframe: Up to 12 hours