Systematic review of interruption and redirection procedures for autistic individuals

Interruption and redirection (IR) procedures involve systematically disrupting an undesirable behavior and prompting an individual to engage in an alternative behavior. These procedures have been frequently assessed for reducing repetitive behaviors for autistic individuals. The primary purpose of this review was to assess IR interventions to determine whether outcomes vary according to intervention characteristics, dependent variable types, design quality, or publication status. A secondary purpose was to assess the extent to which generalization and maintenance outcomes were measured and whether characteristics of these conditions were related to outcomes. IR interventions were moderately successful for reducing repetitive behaviors but less effective for improving corollary variables such as appropriate vocalizations and functional engagement. Generalization and maintenance outcomes, when measured, were poor. Results indicate the need for alternative or augmentative procedures that focus on engagement in meaningful interactions and activities.     

L’approche existentielle dans l’accompagnement de personnes au chômage en perte de repères : les processus de construction du sens de la vie et du travail (études de cas)

The guidance design for unemployed people in changing career must increasingly take into account their existential concerns about career meaning. The literature about life and work meaning has highlighted the multifactorial complexity of meaning definition and determinants of meaning. This fact does not facilitate their use in counselling design. Bernaud et al. (2020) “Guidance for life and work meaning” device takes into account this problem; it offers many thinking prospects that organize meaning questioning in order to help people who loosed professional and personal markers. By analyzing an application of this device with the multiple cases method, our article examines how a meaning guidance helps unemployed people in giving a new direction of their career. The study of five cases with chronologic analysis unities shows how various meaning dimensions help people to clarify, to enrich and to transform their initial problematic during accompaniment and how they progress with different rhythms to major personal and vocational decisions.     

Efficacy of a Therapist-Assisted Self-Help Internet-Based Intervention Targeting PTSD,Depression, and Insomnia Symptoms After a Disaster: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of an online CBT intervention with limited therapist contact targeting a range of posttraumatic symptoms among evacuees from the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires.One hundred and thirty-six residents of Fort McMurray who reported either moderate PTSD symptoms (PCL-5 ≥ 23) or mild PTSD symptoms (PCL-5 ≥ 10) with moderate depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) or subthreshold insomnia symptoms (ISI ≥ 8) were randomized either to a treatment (n = 69) or a waitlist condition (n = 67). Participants were on average 45 years old, and mostly identified as White (82%) and as women (76%). Primary outcomes were PTSD, depression, and insomnia symptoms. Secondary outcomes were anxiety symptoms and disability. Significant Assessment Time × Treatment Condition interactions were observed on all outcomes, indicating that access to the treatment led to a decrease in posttraumatic stress (F[1,117.04] = 12.128, p = .001; d = .519, 95% CI = .142–.895), depression (F[1,118.29] = 9.978, p = .002; d = .519, 95% CI = .141–.898) insomnia (F[1,117.60] = 4.574, p = .035; d = .512, 95% CI = .132–.892), and anxiety (F[1,119.64] = 5.465, p = .021; d = .421, 95% CI = .044–.797) symptom severity and disability (F[1,111.55] = 7.015, p = .009; d = .582, 95% CI = .200–.963). Larger effect sizes (d = 0.823–1.075) were observed in participants who completed at least half of the treatment. The RESILIENT online treatment platform was successful to provide access to specialized evidence-based mental health care after a disaster.     

Examining Safety Behavior Subtypes Across Distinct Social Contexts in Social Anxiety Disorder and Major Depression

People with social anxiety disorder (SAD) use different types of safety behaviors that have been classified as avoidance vs. impression management. The current study investigated differences in safety behavior subtype use in 132 individuals with principal diagnoses of social anxiety disorder (SAD, n = 69), major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 30), and nonpatient controls (n = 33) across two social contexts: an interpersonal relationship-building task (social affiliation) and a speech task (social performance). We examined whether diagnostic groups differed in safety behavior subtype use and whether group differences varied by social context. We also explored relationships between avoidance and impression management safety behaviors, respectively, and positive and negative valence affective and behavioral outcomes within the social affiliation and social performance contexts. Safety behavior use varied by diagnosis (SAD > MDD > nonpatient controls). The effect of diagnosis on impression management safety behavior use depended on social context: use was comparable for the principal SAD and MDD groups in the social performance context, whereas the SAD group used more impression management safety behaviors than the MDD group in the social affiliation context. Greater use of avoidance safety behaviors related to higher negative affect and anxious behaviors, and lower positive affect and approach behaviors across contexts. Impression management safety behaviors were most strongly associated with higher positive affect and approach behaviors within the social performance context. These findings underscore the potential value of assessing safety behavior subtypes across different contexts and within major depression, in addition to SAD.     

Effect of Daily Life Reward Loop Functioning on the Course of Depression

Engagement in activities increases positive affect (Reward Path 1), which subsequently reinforces motivation (Reward Path 2), and hence future engagement in activities (Reward Path 3). Strong connections between these three reward loop components are considered adaptive, and might be disturbed in depression. Although some ecological nomentary assessment (EMA) studies have investigated the cross-sectional association between separate reward paths and individuals’ level of depression, no EMA study has looked into the association between individuals’ reward loop strength and depressive symptom course. The present EMA study assessed reward loop functioning (5x/day, 28 days) of 46 outpatients starting depression treatment at secondary mental health services and monitored with the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology—Self-Report (IDS-SR) during a 7-month period. Results of multilevel regression analyses showed significant within-person associations for Reward Path 1 (b = 0.21, p < .001), Reward Path 2 (b = 0.43, p < .001), and Reward Path 3 (b = 0.20, p < .001). Stronger average reward loops (i.e., within-person mean of all reward paths) did not relate to participants’ improvement in depressive symptoms over time. Path-specific results revealed that Reward Paths 1 and 2 may have partly opposite effects on depressive symptom course. Together, our findings suggest that reward processes in daily life might be best studied separately and that further investigation is warranted to explore under what circumstances strong paths are adaptive or not.     

Treating Young Adult Depression With Text-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

Young adults (ages 18 to 25) in the U.S. suffer from the highest rates of past-year major depressive episode and are the least likely to receive treatment compared to other age groups. As such, we examined the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a text-message delivered cognitive behavioral therapy: CBT-txt with young adults. The study was a 2-month pilot RCT to test a 4-week intervention for depression that contained 197 text messages (average 12 texts every other day). The sample, recruited via Facebook and Instagram, was 102 U.S. young adults who presented with at least moderate depressive symptomatology. Assessments occurred at baseline prior to randomization and at 1 and 2 months post enrollment. The primary outcome, severity of depressive symptoms, was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory II. Feasibility benchmarks were met and participants reported high levels of engagement with and acceptability of the intervention. Logistic regression indicated that treatment participants were three times as likely to have minimal or mild depression symptoms at 2 months compared to waitlist control participants. Latent change score modeling found that the strongest significant treatment effect appeared at the 1-month follow-up period, particularly for participants who began with severe depressive symptoms. Mediation analysis revealed significant indirect treatment effects of increases in behavioral activation on reducing depressive symptoms, suggesting a mechanism of change. Limitations were that the sample was relatively small and consisted of primarily women. These results provide initial evidence for the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a text-delivered treatment for young adult depression.     

Cross-Lagged Analyses of Prolonged Grief and Depression Symptoms With Insomnia Symptoms

Prolonged grief disorder, characterized by severe, persistent and disabling grief, has recently been added to the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11. Treatment for prolonged grief symptoms shows limited effectiveness. It has been suggested that prolonged grief symptoms exacerbate insomnia symptoms, whereas insomnia symptoms, in turn, may fuel prolonged grief symptoms. To help clarify if treating sleep disturbances may be a viable treatment option for prolonged grief disorder, we examined the proposed reciprocal relationship between symptoms of prolonged grief and insomnia. On three time points across 6-month intervals, 343 bereaved adults (88% female) completed questionnaires to assess prolonged grief, depression, and insomnia symptoms. We applied random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to assess reciprocal within-person effects between prolonged grief and insomnia symptoms and, as a secondary aim, between depression and insomnia symptoms. Changes in insomnia symptoms predicted changes in prolonged grief symptoms but not vice versa. Additionally, changes in depression and insomnia symptoms showed a reciprocal relationship. Our results suggest that targeting insomnia symptoms after bereavement is a viable option for improving current treatments for prolonged grief disorder.     

跨期选择的变易程度正向预测中华文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效：亚非欧美大洋洲18国跨国研究

跨期选择是对不同时间点的得失的权衡与选择。伊索寓言《蚂蚁和蚱蜢》假借群居型昆虫的跨期选择偏爱暗喻投资未来的慢策略比只顾眼前的快策略更利于生存。用跨期选择领域通用的语言解读这一寓言便是：选择大而迟选项的蚂蚁比选择小而早选项的蚱蜢更可能扛过严冬而生存下来。为了探索何种跨期选择策略更有助于我们扛过疫情,本研究调查了亚非欧美大洋洲这5大洲18个国家共计26355名受测者对混合得失双结果的跨期选择偏爱,测量了人们平时和疫时跨期选择偏爱的变易程度(2类变易的程度指标),以及人们自评的扛疫成效。跨文化比较结果的主要发现是：不同通货的选择变易程度(指标1)和不同时期的选择变易程度(指标2)能联合预测中国/新加坡文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效;不同时期的选择变易程度(指标2)也可以单独预测印度/马来西亚/菲律宾/尼日利亚文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效;这2类选择偏爱变易的程度指标不能预测其他文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效(或者预测方向和假设相反)。基于易经“穷则变,变则通”的要旨和跨国比较的发现,我们认为：面临历史危机时善于变通的特长抑或成就了中华民族特有的竞争优势;在应对危机时,与中国文化距离越相近的国家或民族抑或也能...     

“‘WE' AND ‘THEY'”: WHY MUST WE ENGAGE IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONVERSATION?

This article contains the principal ideas that I presented in four different sessions at the IRAS 2022 conference, on the theme “‘We' and ‘They’: Cross-Cultural Conversation on Identity.” Focusing on the central topic, the article begins with (i) the contents of my opening lecture; followed by (ii) a broad outline of the concerns discussed in my book, Cross-Cultural Conversation: A New Way of Learning, intertwined with glimpses of the intellectual journey that led me to CCC, delivered in the Book-discussion session; (iii) a summary of the main ideas about the importance of meeting of religions today, which formed the background for the CCC Panel discussion on religion, where I was in conversation with spokespersons of five world religions; and (iv) my comments on how science–religion dialogue can help promote a sense for human solidarity by combining knowledge with wisdom, in the concluding session.