Virtual voices: social support and stigma in postnatal mental illness Internet forums

Many women with postnatal mental illness do not get the treatment they need and this is often because stigma prevents disclosure. The purpose of this study was to explore online social support for postnatal mental illness, how women experience stigma and potential disadvantages of using Internet forums. Interviews were conducted with fifteen participants who had suffered postnatal mental illness and had used forums. Systematic thematic analysis identified common themes in relation to social support, stigma and disadvantages of using forums. Most women felt they benefited from visiting forums by developing a shared understanding and discourse about their illness. Findings suggest future research should investigate if women benefit from using online social support provided by forums, if use challenges stigma and further explore potential concerns about using forums.     

Psychological health in long-term cancer survivorship: an Italian survey on depression and anxiety

Since long-term survivorship is now a reality for an increasingly number of people with a history of cancer, understanding their psychological health can inform health care policy as well as help supporting individual patients. This study was aimed to describe depression and anxiety (i.e. two of the most common psychological symptoms reported in oncology) in a sample of Italian long-term cancer survivors (LTCSs) defined as people who have been free from cancer and cancer treatments for at least five years. Four hundred and four Italian adult LTCSs completed a battery of questionnaires including the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale and the State Anxiety sub-scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory respectively for depression and anxiety assessment. 16.5% of the sample displayed mild depression, 11.1% moderate depression, and 7.1% severe depression. depression was negatively associated with education (p = .017), perceived social support as provided by the family (p = .028), and perceived social support provided by friends (p = .008), and it was positively associated with occupational status (p = .023), presence of health issues (p = .010), and anxiety (p < .001). 8.7 and 15.8% of the sample were respectively possible and probable cases of anxiety. Anxiety was negatively associated with occupational status (p = .038) and it was positively associated with depression (p < .001). These data support ongoing assessment and monitoring of depression and anxiety in LTCSs, and stimulate the development and testing of psychological interventions for such individuals. In addition, they encourage further study on the psychological health of this specific population.     

Moral transgression during the Vietnam War: a path analysis of the psychological impact of veterans’ involvement in wartime atrocities

Background and Objectives: Involvement in wartime combat often conveys a number of deleterious outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, hostility, aggression, and suicidal ideation. Less studied is the effect of engagement in wartime atrocities, including witnessing and perpetrating abusive violence.

Design and Methods: This study employed path analysis to examine the direct effects of involvement in wartime atrocities on hostility, aggression, depression, and suicidal ideation independent of combat exposure, as well as the indirect effects via guilt and PTSD symptom severity among 603 help-seeking male Vietnam War veterans.

Results: Involvement in wartime atrocities was predictive of increased guilt, PTSD severity, hostility, aggression, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation after controlling for overall combat exposure. Combat-related guilt played a minor role in mediating the effect of atrocity involvement on depression and suicidal ideation. PTSD severity had a larger mediational effect. However, it still accounted for less than half of the total effect of involvement in wartime atrocities on hostility, aggression, and suicidal ideation.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the heightened risk conveyed by involvement in wartime atrocities and suggest that the psychological sequelae experienced following atrocity involvement may extend well beyond guilt and PTSD.     

Brain Function Associated with Cooccurring Trauma and Depression Symptoms in College Students

The goal of this pilot study was to determine if functional brain differences are present among individuals with high and low cooccurring trauma and depression symptoms. This pilot study examined how the P300 latency component of event-related potentials (ERPs), measured using electroencephalography (EEG) while participants performed a go/no-go task, might be associated with cooccurring self-report of trauma and depression symptoms in a sample of college students (N = 38). Alpha-corrected independent sample t tests revealed statistically significant differences in ERP P300 peak latencies between those in the high cooccurring trauma and depression symptoms group (n = 12) and those in the low group (n = 26) for all 3 midline electrode sites (Fz, Cz, and Pz). This pilot study provides preliminary evidence of differential brain functioning in individuals experiencing cooccurring trauma and depression symptoms. Accordingly, these findings support future research examining brain functioning in cooccurring symptoms.     

Comorbidity of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and major depression in primary school children

The study investigated comorbid Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and depression in a sample of rural primary school children in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A total of 320 learners participated in this study of whom 160 learners had teacher and parent identified ADHD symptoms (females?=?50%; age range 6–14 years). All the learners took the Beck Depression Youth Inventory, second edition. Data were analysed applying ANOVA to investigate the possible differences between and within age, gender, and ADHD subtype group differences in depression symptomatology. Results indicated no statistically significant differences in the scores on the depression scale between the children with ADHD as identified by parents and teachers and the comparison group peers.     

Self-compassion mediates the link between dependency and depressive symptomatology in college students

Depression is highly prevalent among college students and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Dependency is among the known personality traits that predict an elevated risk for depression. Prior research has focused on the depressogenic role of self-critical thoughts among destructive overdependent (DO) individuals but has not considered other internal processes (such as self-compassion) that might influence mental health. The current report examined whether self-compassion had either moderating or mediating effects on the links between dependency and depression in college students. In a cross-sectional study, 85 college students completed measures of dependency, self-compassion, and depressive symptoms. Analyses suggested that self-compassion mediated both the effect of DO on depressive symptoms and the effect of healthy dependency (HD) on lower depressive symptoms; self-compassion did not moderate links between dependency and depressive symptoms. Our exploratory findings suggest that positive self-schema (in the form of self-compassion) may contribute to the downstream mental health effects of both adaptive HD and maladaptive DO.     

Effect of treatments for depression on quality of life: a meta-analysis*

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the two first-line treatments for depression, but little is known about their effects on quality of life (QOL). A meta-analysis was conducted to examine changes in QOL in adults with major depressive disorder who received CBT (24 studies examining 1969 patients) or SSRI treatment (13 studies examining 4286 patients) for their depression. Moderate improvements in QOL from pre to post-treatment were observed in both CBT (Hedges’ g = .63) and SSRI (Hedges’ g = .79) treatments. The effect size remained stable over the course of the follow-up period for CBT. No data were available to examine follow-ups in the SSRI group. QOL effect sizes decreased linearly with publication year, and greater improvements in depression were significantly associated with greater improvements in QOL for CBT, but not for SSRIs. CBT and SSRIs for depression were both associated with moderate improvements in QOL, but are possibly caused by different mechanisms.