Improving the Transportability of CBT for Internalizing Disorders in Children

Research provides strong support for the efficacy and effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of childhood internalizing disorders. Given evidence for limited dissemination and implementation of CBT outside of academic settings, efforts are underway to improve its transportability so that more children with mental health needs may benefit from treatment. Creative modifications to existing treatments aim to deliver CBT for anxiety disorders and depression in a more transportable format. Notable progress has been made within the areas of computerized CBT, camp-based CBT, school-based CBT, and CBT delivered through primary care settings. These approaches are discussed within the context of key elements of transportability that are particularly germane to the dissemination and implementation of child treatments.     

Affective regulation in trichotillomania: Evidence from a large-scale internet survey

Trichotillomania (TTM), a repetitive hair-pulling disorder, is underrepresented in the clinical literature. The current project explores the relationship between affective regulation and disordered hair-pulling. Previous research suggests that cycles of emotional states are correlated with the disorder and may induce, reinforce, or otherwise contribute to hair-pulling behavior. We use anonymous internet survey responses from 1162 self-identified hair-pullers to address four questions about affective regulation in people with TTM: (1) Do hair-pullers experience greater difficulty “snapping out” of affective states than non-pullers? (2) Does difficulty with emotional control correlate with TTM severity? (3) Are subtypes identifiable based on the emotions that trigger hair-pulling behavior? (4) Does difficulty “snapping out” of an emotion predict whether that emotion triggers pulling behavior? The results showed a small-to-moderate relationship between affective regulation and problematic hair-pulling. In addition, individual patterns of emotion regulation were systematically related to emotional cues for hair-pulling as well as overall hair-pulling severity. These findings contribute to an understanding of the phenomenology of TTM and provide empirical support for treatments focused on affect regulation.     

Believing in change: The role of implicit theory on consumer's perception of the brand's corporate social responsibility message

With the sustainable consumption paradigms, corporate social responsibilities (CSR) across industries have been under scrutiny. However, little research exists on how brand's business model and consumers' characteristics are intertwined to influence CSR evaluation. Our study aims to examine how the brand type (e.g., fast vs. slow business model) influences the relationships among CSR-brand fit, authenticity, and skepticism, thus improving attitudes toward the brand. In addition, based on the implicit theory, how the consumer's incremental mindset (vs. entity) influences a brand's CSR evaluations are studied. Through two studies, our findings demonstrate consumers perceived a higher CSR-brand fit for the slow fashion/food brand than the fast fashion/food brand. A higher CSR-brand fit heightened the CSR authenticity and alleviated skepticism, which in turn resulted in positive brand evaluations. Importantly, incremental mindsets weakened the effect of brand type on CSR-brand fit. As one of the first studies to examine the relationship between consumers' implicit theory orientation and a brand's CSR message, our findings demonstrate that an incremental mindset is a powerful consumer characteristic in evaluating a brand's CSR activities that are less congruent with the brand's established business model.     

Aging and visual 3-D shape recognition from motion

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the ability of younger and older adults to recognize 3-D object shape from patterns of optical motion. In Experiment 1, participants were required to identify dotted surfaces that rotated in depth (i.e., surface structure portrayed using the kinetic depth effect). The task difficulty was manipulated by limiting the surface point lifetimes within the stimulus apparent motion sequences. In Experiment 2, the participants identified solid, naturally shaped objects (replicas of bell peppers, Capsicum annuum) that were defined by occlusion boundary contours, patterns of specular highlights, or combined optical patterns containing both boundary contours and specular highlights. Significant and adverse effects of increased age were found in both experiments. Despite the fact that previous research has found that increases in age do not reduce solid shape discrimination, our current results indicated that the same conclusion does not hold for shape identification. We demonstrated that aging results in a reduction in the ability to visually recognize 3-D shape independent of how the 3-D structure is defined (motions of isolated points, deformations of smooth optical fields containing specular highlights, etc.).     

Initiation of evidence-based psychotherapies in Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requires that all VA hospitals and clinics provide access to evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs). Despite these widespread dissemination efforts, only a minority of Veterans receive EBP services. Reasons for these low rates of EBP utilization are largely unknown. This study examined the characteristics of Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who did (Initiation group) and did not (No-Initiation group) initiate a VA-approved EBP after participating in an information session. Veterans chose their preferred treatment from a menu of EBPs. Results demonstrated that Veterans in the No-Initiation group had longer periods of time between their referral and first EBP visit. Among Veterans in the Initiation group, the majority (68%) initiated a trauma-focused EBP as their first or second treatment, suggesting that providing a range of treatment options did not negatively impact their willingness to engage in PTSD treatment. Results are discussed in terms of VA initiatives to improve access to and initiation of mental health care for Veterans.     

There's more to emotion than meets the eye: A processing bias for neutral content in the domain of emotional prosody

Research on emotion processing in the visual modality suggests a processing advantage for emotionally salient stimuli, even at early sensory stages; however, results concerning the auditory correlates are inconsistent. We present two experiments that employed a gating paradigm to investigate emotional prosody. In Experiment 1, participants heard successively building segments of Jabberwocky “sentences” spoken with happy, angry, or neutral intonation. After each segment, participants indicated the emotion conveyed and rated their confidence in their decision. Participants in Experiment 2 also heard Jabberwocky “sentences” in successive increments, with half discriminating happy from neutral prosody, and half discriminating angry from neutral prosody. Participants in both experiments identified neutral prosody more rapidly and accurately than happy or angry prosody. Confidence ratings were greater for neutral sentences, and error patterns also indicated a bias for recognising neutral prosody. Taken together, results suggest that enhanced processing of emotional content may be constrained by stimulus modality.     

The development of spatial category representations from 4 to 7 years

Representation of spatial categories was assessed in 4‐ to 7‐year‐olds. Across nine spatial categories (In, On, Under, In Front, Behind, Above, Below, Left, and Right), children were asked to pick the odd‐one‐out from four images, three of which displayed the same spatial relationship between two objects, and one which showed a different spatial relationship. Results support our proposed model of spatial category representation. Children progressed through three levels of understanding: from rigid (level 1), to abstract (level 2) to broad (including non‐prototypical category exemplars) (level 3) understanding of spatial category membership. This developmental pattern was common to all spatial categories, and the ages at which children reached each level varied across categories, in line with the order in which category representations emerge in infancy.     

Suicide Risk Documented During Veterans' Last Veterans Affairs Health Care Contacts Prior to Suicide

A total of 295 veterans who died by suicide in 2009 across 11 states and received Veterans Affairs (VA) health care in the 6 months prior to death were identified. The suicide risk factors documented and the care received at these veterans' last VA contacts are described, and the study explores whether veterans present differently to VA care (i.e., different risk factors documented or different care settings accessed) based on the proximity of their last contact to suicide. Many veterans were seen in primary care (n = 136; 46%) for routine follow‐up (n = 168; 57%). Fifty‐three (18%) were assessed for suicidal thoughts; 20 (38%) of whom endorsed such thoughts. Although higher frequencies of some risk factors at last contacts more proximal to suicide compared to those more distal were observed, findings overall highlight the challenges clinicians face detecting enhanced risk prior to suicide.