Attention bias to threat in mothers with emotional disorders predicts increased offspring anxiety symptoms: a joint cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis

There is convincing evidence of the transmission of anxiety and depression from parents to children; however, mechanisms by which this vulnerability is passed on are unclear. Cognitive models and a small body of cross-sectional research suggest that parental attention biases (ABs) may be one mechanism involved in transmission. Longitudinal associations of maternal and offspring ABs with offspring symptoms have been scarcely studied. Forty-three mothers–child dyads were included. All children (7–12 years old) were diagnosis-free while 24 mothers had a lifetime emotional disorder (anxiety or depression) (high risk, HR) and 19 mothers had no psychiatric diagnoses (low risk, LR). This study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of maternal and child AB and child anxiety symptomology at initial and 12-month assessments. ABs were assessed using a visual-probe task with emotional faces. There was a significant cross-sectional but not longitudinal association of increased child anxiety symptoms with increased maternal threat AB for HR but not LR dyads. At the cross-sectional level, increases in HR but not LR offspring anxiety symptomology were associated with maternal threat AB. Larger longitudinal studies are required that examine the interplay between parent–child variables and include multiple time-points of assessment and measures of AB.     

Advancing cognitive behaviour therapy for older adults with comorbid insomnia and depression

Insomnia and depression are two of the most common mental health problems that negatively impact older adults. The burden associated with these highly comorbid conditions requires an innovative approach to treatment. There have been significant advancements in the field of cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) over recent years. CBT-I has evolved from targeting homogenous insomnia samples to now showing promising results for comorbid insomnia. CBT-I is not only effective at treating comorbid insomnia, but can also have a positive impact on depression severity. Despite these important clinical developments, limited research has explored whether modifying CBT-I programmes to specifically target comorbid depression could improve outcomes for older populations. This paper reviews recent literature and provides therapeutic recommendations to advance CBT-I for older adults with comorbid insomnia and depression.     

Adherence predictors in an Internet-based Intervention program for depression

Internet-delivered psychotherapy has been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of depression. Nevertheless, the study of the adherence in this type of the treatment reported divergent results. The main objective of this study is to analyze predictors of adherence in a primary care Internet-based intervention for depression in Spain. A multi-center, three arm, parallel, randomized controlled trial was conducted with 194 depressive patients, who were allocated in self-guided or supported-guided intervention. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were gathered using a case report form. The Mini international neuropsychiatric interview diagnoses major depression. Beck Depression Inventory was used to assess depression severity. The visual analogic scale assesses the respondent’s self-rated health and Short Form Health Survey was used to measure the health-related quality of life. Age results a predictor variable for both intervention groups (with and without therapist support). Perceived health is a negative predictor of adherence for the self-guided intervention when change in depression severity was included in the model. Change in depression severity results a predictor of adherence in the support-guided intervention. Our findings demonstrate that in our sample, there are differences in sociodemographic and clinical variables between active and dropout participants and we provide adherence predictors in each intervention condition of this Internet-based program for depression (self-guided and support-guided). It is important to point that further research in this area is essential to improve tailored interventions and to know specific patients groups can benefit from these interventions.     

Strategies included in cognitive behavioral therapy programs to treat internalized disorders: a systematic review

This review aimed to identify the strategies used in programs based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to prevent and treat symptoms of anxiety, depression, and internalized behaviors of children and adolescents. Based on an online search (ERIC, PsycInfo, Virtuose UQAM, and Google Scholar), 61 studies describing different cognitive behavioral programs were selected. Results showed that 40 strategies were implemented in at least one program. However, none of the strategies were systematically present in all programs, and only few were reported in more than 50% of the studies. Cognitive restructuring and problem-solving were the most popular strategies to treat depressive symptoms, whereas anxiety programs also generally included relaxation and exposure. Furthermore, six strategies were identified in a single anxiety program, whereas nine strategies were implemented in only one depression program. These results suggest that in anxiety and depression programs designed for children and adolescents, the label “CBT” encompasses a wide variety of programs with only few similar strategies. Such findings highlight the need to define a common basis for CBT programs, in order to better reflect CBT theory and to identify the effectiveness of the strategies included in these programs.     

网络社会排斥对抑郁的影响：一个有调节的中介效应模型

为探讨网络社会排斥对抑郁的影响以及自尊和正念在二者关系中的作用机制,采用网络社会排斥问卷、自尊量表、正念注意觉知量表和流调中心用抑郁量表(CES-D)对644名大学生进行调查,结果发现：（1）网络社会排斥不仅能直接影响抑郁,还能通过自尊的中介作用对抑郁产生影响。（2）正念能够调节网络社会排斥对抑郁的直接效应及自尊的中介效应的前半路径。具体而言,网络社会排斥对抑郁的预测作用以及自尊的中介作用在低正念个体中更加显著。研究结果表明,作为一种消极的人际关系体验,网络社会排斥会增加个体抑郁的风险,而正念能够弱化网络社会排斥的消极影响。     

负性情境诱导下抑郁个体的情绪Stroop效应：ERPs研究

运用ERPs技术探讨了正常和抑郁个体在中性和负性情境诱导下的情绪Stroop效应。结果发现正常被试在负性情境下对中性词判断的错误率比在中性情境下更高,对负性词加工的P1波幅减小、N1增大,出现了Stroop效应;抑郁被试在两种情境下对负性词加工的P1和 N1波幅没有差异。研究结果提示,抑郁个体在负性情境下出现注意脱离困难和资源不足,难以解决情绪冲突任务,支持了注意脱离损伤假说,并进一步说明抑郁个体的情绪选择性注意加工会受到心境一致性状态的影响,因过多的注意资源卷入从而出现负性情绪调节不良。实验结果为探讨抑郁个体对负性情绪的注意加工和调节过程提供了来自电生理的证据。     

Differentiating anxiety and depression: the State-Trait Anxiety-Depression Inventory

ABSTRACT

The differentiation of trait anxiety and depression in nonclinical and clinical populations is addressed. Following the tripartite model, it is assumed that anxiety and depression share a large portion of negative affectivity (NA), but differ with respect to bodily hyperarousal (specific to anxiety) and anhedonia (lack of positive affect; specific to depression). In contrast to the tripartite model, NA is subdivided into worry (characteristic for anxiety) and dysthymia (characteristic for depression), which leads to a four-variable model of anxiety and depression encompassing emotionality, worry, dysthymia, and anhedonia. Item-level confirmatory factor analyses and latent class cluster analysis based on a large nation-wide representative German sample (N?=?3150) substantiate the construct validity of the model. Further evidence concerning convergent and discriminant validity with respect to related constructs is obtained in two smaller nonclinical and clinical samples. Factors influencing the association between components of anxiety and depression are discussed.     

Attentional processing of emotional material in types of anxiety and depression

ABSTRACT

The present study was designed to address the hypothesis that differences and similarities in patterns of attentional processing in recently proposed types of anxiety and depression are connected with the dominant (reactive, regulative) function they play in stimulation processing and their structural components. Participants (N?=?1247) filled out the Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire, which assesses types of anxiety and depression, and completed the Emotional Faces Attentional Test one week later. The obtained results confirmed our prediction and suggested that the proposed typology of anxiety and depression is valid in the adaptive meanings of both phenomena.     

Difficulties in emotion regulation differentiate depressive and obsessive–compulsive symptoms and their co-occurrence

Background and Objectives: Depressive and obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms are frequently comorbid, and the combination of these may result in additional impairment compared to the difficulties of experiencing one of these symptom groups. Emotion regulation difficulties underlie many forms of psychopathology symptoms, and this study examined whether aspects of emotion regulation could differentiate clinical levels of depressive and OC symptoms, and their co-occurrence. Design and Method: College students (N?=?199; M_age?=?19.47 years; 59.8% female) were grouped based on the presence of clinical levels of OC and depressive symptoms. Using a multinomial logistic regression approach, differences in odds ratios for emotion regulation difficulties were examined. Results: The co-occurring clinical-symptom group was differentiated from the single clinical-symptom groups on several aspects of emotion regulation. Impulse-control difficulties and limited access to emotion regulation strategies differentiated clinical levels of depressive from OC symptoms. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of conducting a nuanced emotion assessment to best inform prevention and treatment of depressive and OC symptoms, and their comorbidity.