Disorders - depressive disorders
Motter, J.N., Grinberg, A., Lieberman, D.H., Iqnaibi, W.B., Sneed, J.R.
Background: Computerized cognitive training (CCT) has previously improved cognition and mood in people with
depression. Existing research has not determined if the benefits following CCT are specific to the content of CCT or are a function of participation
in an engaging activity. In this double-blind randomized controlled trial, we tested whether executive functioning and processing speed (EF/PS)-
focused CCT could outperform verbal ability-focused CCT. Methods: 46 young adults with at least mild depressive symptoms (HDRS >= 10) were recruited
from the community and randomized to either EF/PS CCT or verbal ability CCT. Participants trained on their mobile device 5 days per week for 8 weeks.
Depressive severity, everyday functioning, and cognition were evaluating pre and post-training. Results: The EF/PS group had greater gains in
executive functioning and processing speed than the verbal group. There were no differences between groups in mood or everyday functioning
improvement, though the EF/PS obtained equivalent improvement with half the training time. Both groups saw significant improvements in self and
clinician-rated depressive severity, everyday functioning, and cognition. Limitations: There was no waitlist control condition and the sample
consisted of individuals with mild depressive symptoms and not diagnosed major depressive disorder. Conclusions: CCT is associated with improved
mood, cognition, and everyday functioning, though the type of CCT content does not differentially impact depressive symptom change. EF/PS focused CCT
has greater impact on processing speed and executive functioning and leads to equivalent mood/everyday functioning gains as verbal-focused CCT more
efficiently. Common factors remain plausible drivers of CCT's therapeutic effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Affective Disorders, 245 : 28-37
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive remediation
therapy, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Rith-Najarian, L. R., Mesri, B., Park, A. L., Sun, M., Chavira, D. A., Chorpita, B. F.
Cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT)
for youth with anxiety, traumatic stress, and depression have demonstrated strong effects in individual studies and meta-analyses. Relatively more
attention has been given to posttreatment effects, though, and assessment of follow-up effects has been limited at the meta-analytic level. The
current meta-analysis aimed to (a) examine the effects of youth CBT at posttreatment, 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, 1-year, and long-term (2+ years)
follow-up as well as (b) identify research-related variables (e.g., measure respondent type) that relate to effects. Using a random effects model
across 110 child and adolescent CBT groups, within-group effect sizes were large at posttreatment (g = 1.24) and from 1-month through long-term
follow-up (g = 1.23-1.82), and effect sizes did not significantly differ by treatment target (i.e., anxiety, traumatic stress, depression). However,
availability of outcome data for effect sizes diminished across later follow-up assessments. Moreover, effect sizes were significantly associated
with outcome respondent type across assessment timing, with outcome measures from caregiver and youth respondents associated with smaller effect
sizes (B = -0.97, p < 0.001) relative to outcome measures that were evaluator-reported. Results provide initial support for the durability of
treatment effects for youth CBTs and highlight the importance of some confounding variables. Implications for improving treatment research standards
and prioritizing assessment of long-term follow-up assessment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Behavior Therapy, 50(1) : 225-
240
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depressive Disorders
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Towbin, K., Vidal-Ribas, P., Brotman, M. A., Pickles, A., Miller, K. V., Kaiser, A., Vitale, A. D., Engel, C., Overman, G. P., Davis, M., Lee, B., McNeil, C., Wheeler, W., Yokum, C. H., Haring, C. T., Roule, A., Wambach, C. G., Sharif-Askary, B., Pine, D. S., Leibenluft, E., Stringaris, A.
OBJECTIVE: Despite the clinical importance of chronic and severe irritability, there is a paucity of
controlled trials for its pharmacological treatment. Here, we examine the effects of adding citalopram (CTP) to methylphenidate (MPH) in the
treatment of chronic severe irritability in youth using a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled design. METHOD(S): After a lead-in phase of open
treatment with stimulant, 53 youth meeting criteria for severe mood dysregulation (SMD) were randomly assigned to receive CTP or placebo (PBO) for 8
weeks. Forty-nine participants - 48 of them (98%) meeting disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) criteria - were included in the intent-to-
treat analysis. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of response based on improvements of irritability at the 8th week of the trial.
RESULT(S): At the end of the trial, a significantly higher proportion of response was seen in those participants randomly assigned to CTP+MPH
compared to PBO+MPH (35% CTP+MPH vs. 6% PBO+MPH; OR=11.70, 95%CI 2.00, 68.16, p=0.006). However, there were no differences in functional impairment
between groups at the end of the trial. No differences were found in any adverse effect between treatment groups, and no trial participant exhibited
hypomanic or manic symptoms. CONCLUSION(S): Adjunctive CTP might be efficacious in the treatment of chronic severe irritability in youth resistant to
stimulant treatment alone. This trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT00794040). Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier
Inc.
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry., :
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Biological Interventions
(any), Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Antidepressants
(any), Other biological interventions
Nejati, V., Fathi, E., Shahidi, S., Salehinejad, M.A.
Depressed individuals interpret
ambiguous information more negatively and this has been suggested a central component in cognitive models of depression. In this study we
investigated the effectiveness of the interpretation modification training on modifying interpretation bias in depression and its association with
symptoms reduction. In a double-blind, randomized controlled design, twenty-two depressed individuals (mean age = 19.86, SD = 1.16) were randomly
assigned to the experimental and control groups. They completed 10 sessions of cognitive training with the Ambiguous Hallmark Program (AHP) over 5
weeks. Participants' interpretation bias and their depressive scores were assessed and compared before and after the intervention. Results showed
that the AHP significantly decreased negative interpretation in the experimental group. Additionally, a significant decrease in the depressive scores
was also observed in the intervention group compared to the control group. We also observed the transfer of learning from the AHP training to another
interpretation bias task. The AHP can significantly modify negative interpretations and symptoms in depression providing preliminary supporting
evidence for its clinical application especially in mild-to-moderate depression. Improved cognitive control over emotional information and unbiased
attention to them could explain effects of the Interpretation modification paradigm. Further studies need to examine the efficacy of the AHP as a
potential cognitive intervention in depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Asian Journal of
Psychiatry, 39 : 23-28
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive remediation
therapy, Attention/cognitive bias
modification
Dowling, K., Simpkin, A. J., Barry, M.
M.
School-based social and emotional learning programs aim to provide students with the skills they
need to deal with life challenges, thereby enhancing their social and emotional wellbeing, academic outcomes, and reducing their risk of mental
health difficulties. While there is a robust evidence base on the effectiveness of these programs originating from the US, there is a relative
paucity of research on how these programs impact young people in other county contexts, especially for older adolescents and those at higher risk.
This study sets out to address this research gap by evaluating the effectiveness of a social emotional learning program designed for older
adolescents in Ireland, the MindOut program. MindOut is a universal school-based social and emotional learning program designed for older adolescents
in Ireland which was developed based on a common elements approach underpinned by CASEL's framework. Employing a cluster randomized-controlled
trial, data on social and emotional skills, academic performance and mental health outcomes were collected from students (n=497; 51.1% female) ages
15-18 years in 32 disadvantaged schools. There were significant improvements in intervention students' social and emotional skills including,
reduced suppression of emotions (p=0.035), use of more positive coping strategies [reduced avoidance coping p=<0.001) and increased social support
coping p=0.044)]. Improvements in mental health and wellbeing were also found with significantly reduced levels of stress (p=0.017) and depressive
symptoms (p=0.030) as well as reduced anxiety scores for females students (p=0.044). These short-term evaluation findings support the positive impact
of school-based social and emotional learning programs, such as MindOut, when designed to be both age and culturally appropriate and delivered to
older adolescents in disadvantaged schools.
Journal of youth and adolescence., :
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions
(any), Other Psychological Interventions, Other service delivery and improvement
interventions
Goff, D. C., Freudenreich, O., Cather, C., Holt, D., Bello, I., Diminich, E., Tang, Y., Ardekani, B. A., Worthington, M., Zeng, B., Wu,
R., Fan, X., Li, C., Troxel, A., Wang, J., Zhao, J.
Antidepressants are frequently prescribed in first episode schizophrenia (FES)patients for negative symptoms or for
subsyndromal depressive symptoms, but therapeutic benefit has not been established, despite evidence of efficacy in later-stage schizophrenia. We
conducted a 52 week, placebo-controlled add-on trial of citalopram in patients with FES who did not meet criteria for major depression to determine
whether maintenance therapy with citalopram would improve outcomes by preventing or improving negative and depressive symptoms. Primary outcomes were
negative symptoms measured by the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms and depressive symptoms measured by the Calgary Depression Scale for
Schizophrenia; both were analyzed by an intent-to-treat, mixed effects, area-under-the-curve analysis to assess the cumulative effects of symptom
improvement and symptom prevention over a one-year period. Ninety-five patients were randomized and 52 (54%)completed the trial. Negative symptoms
were reduced with citalopram compared to placebo (p =.04); the effect size of citalopram versus placebo was 0.32 for participants with a duration of
untreated psychosis (DUP)of <18 weeks (median split)and 0.52 with a DUP >18 weeks. Rates of new-onset depression did not differ between groups;
improvement in depressive symptoms was greater with placebo than citalopram (p =.02). Sexual side effects were more common with citalopram, but
overall treatment-emergent side effects were not increased compared to placebo. In conclusion, citalopram may reduce levels of negative symptoms,
particularly in patients with longer DUP, but we found no evidence of benefit for subsyndromal depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2019 The Authors
Schizophrenia Research, 208 : 331-
337
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Depressive Disorders, Psychosis Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: First episode (psychosis only), At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Biological Interventions
(any), Atypical Antipsychotics (second
generation), Psychological Interventions
(any), Psychoeducation
Olive, L.S., Byrne, D., Cunningham, R.B., Telford, R.M., Telford, R.D.
Physical
activity may benefit mental health, yet the potentially protective role of elementary school physical education (PE) on childhood mental health is
unknown. The aim of the current study was to determine the effect of a specialist-taught PE program on indicators of childhood mental health. In this
cluster-randomized controlled trial, participants were initially 821 healthy children (8 years, 406 girls) from 29 schools. Thirteen schools were
allocated to the 4-year intervention program of specialist-taught PE, with the remaining schools forming the control group. Mental health indicators
of depression, body image, and stress were measured at ages 7, 8, and 12 years. Assessments of covariates included percent body fat (DEXA), physical
activity (pedometers), puberty (Tanner stages), and socioeconomic status. After receiving 1 year of specialist-taught PE, children of the
intervention group reported a -0.71-unit decrease in body dissatisfaction compared to a 3.01-unit increase in control group children (p = .042); and
a mean decrease in depressive symptoms (ineffectiveness), which was -0.27 units more than the control group (p = .005). Mixed-model analyses
investigating longer-term effects revealed that the early positive effect of the intervention on body dissatisfaction and depression was not
sustained over time. In fact, there was evidence of an intervention effect of an overall increase in depressive symptoms over the 4 years of the
study for girls only. While our specialist-taught PE intervention had a positive influence on girls' body dissatisfaction and boys' depressive
symptoms in the first year, this was not sustained over the 4-year duration of the study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights
reserved) Impact Statement Educational Impact and Implications Statement-Physical activity may benefit mental health, yet the potentially protective
role of elementary school physical education (PE) on mental health is unknown. The aim of the current study was to determine how PE taught by
specialist-trained PE teachers influences children's levels of stress, depression. and body image. In this investigation, spanning 4 years, our
specialist-taught PE intervention had a positive influence on girls' body dissatisfaction and boys' depressive symptoms in the first year. However,
this was not sustained over the 4-year duration of the intervention. In fact, there was evidence that girls receiving the intervention, and therefore
having greater exposure to PE, had an overall increase in depressive symptoms. These findings demonstrate that PE can influence childhood mental
health, for the better or worse, and suggest that PE could provide a useful vehicle through which to deliver well-being programs, in which case,
teachers tasked with the delivery of PE might benefit from additional training to minimize any potential negative impact of PE on children's mental
health. These findings have important implications for educational policymakers and emphasize the need to acknowledge the psychological and
physiological differences between boys and girls when developing PE curricula. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Educational Psychology, : No Pagination
Specified
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative
Interventions (CAM), Physical activity, exercise
Dai,
Q., Hu, L., Feng, Z.
Difficulty in clinical antidepressant treatment leads to the pursuit of alternative treatments, such as
cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). CBT combined with regular antidepressants have indicated an optimal therapeutic effect in clinic. Attentional bias
is important in the occurrence and remission of depression, however, few studies have explored the effect of attentional bias modification (ABM) on
depression, and inconsistent results have been obtained due to the heterogeneity in the targeted populations, training tasks, strategies, and
materials. Hence, the current study aimed to explore the therapeutic effect of ABM on depression in clinical depression. Study I was designed to
explore the optimal training methods regarding task (dot-probe vs. cue-target), material (faces vs. self-referent words), and strategy (mixed ABM
toward positive and away from negative stimuli vs. positive ABM toward positive stimuli) in unselected undergraduates once daily for 10 days (N =
309). Study II was carried out to observe the effect of 10 days ABM toward positive and away from negative faces (based on Study I) on clinical
depression (N = 32). Depression level was assessed via a self-reporting questionnaire and a structured interview, while attentional bias was tested
by cue-target task and attention to positive and negative inventory (APNI). In unselected undergraduates (Study I), two strategies significantly
reduced the self-reporting depression scores: mixed ABM toward positive stimuli and away from negative stimuli with emotional faces, and positive ABM
toward positive materials only with self-referent words. In patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) (Study II), the mixed ABM with emotional
faces resulted in enhanced attentional bias toward happy materials in the cue-target task and APNI, which predicted a delayed depression reduction in
clinical depression at the one-month follow-up investigation. Our finding confirms the literature and broadens the knowledge with the evidence of the
optimal therapeutic effect of ABM combined with regular antidepressants in clinical depression. The findings that a quick enhancement in positive
attentional bias, predicting a later therapeutic effect on clinical depression reduction, indicate a potential mechanism that could underlie the
therapeutic process of ABM in depression. The findings that two training strategies are effective in depression reduction suggest that different
strategies should be utilized to treat different types of depression. This study offers a potential way to cure depression and could be further
practiced in clinic. Copyright © 2018
Journal of
Psychiatric Research, 109 : 145-155
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Attention/cognitive bias
modification
Vera, F.
M., Manzaneque, J. M., Rodriguez, F. M., Vadillo, M., Navajas, F., Heiniger, A.
I., Perez, V., Blanca, M. J.
Qigong is an ancient form of health maintenance, which is part of Traditional China
Medicine. Numerous beneficial mental and physical effects have been classically ascribed to this traditional psychosomatic method. The purpose of
this work has been to assess the effects of Taoist qigong practice on several hormonal parameters of the Hipotalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis and
specific measures of psychological well-being in healthy subjects. Forty-three healthy volunteers participated in the study, of whom 22 were randomly
allocated to the experimental group, and 21 were assigned to the control group. Experimental participants underwent a qigong training program for one
month. Blood samples for the quantification of hormonal parameters, and several instruments to assess anxiety and depression symptoms as well as
subjective sleep quality, were obtained before and after the program. Statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and
control groups, with the experimental group showing lower blood levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This study shows that Taoist qigong is
a psychosomatic method able to exert a modulatory action on ACTH levels in healthy subjects. We consider the need to continue exploring the
psychobiological modulation of this qigong method and its possible repercussion for human health care.
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 60(1) : 43-
49
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative
Interventions (CAM), Mind-body exercises (e.g. yoga, tai chi, qigong)
Weisz, J.
R., Kuppens, S., Ng, M. Y., Vaughn-Coaxum, R. A., Ugueto, A. M., Eckshtain, D., Corteselli, K.
A.
With the development of empirically
supported treatments over the decades, have youth psychotherapies grown stronger? To investigate, we examined changes over time in treatment effects
for four frequently treated youth mental-health problems: anxiety, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and conduct
disorders. We used PubMed and PsycINFO to search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that were published between January 1960 and May 2017
involving youths between the ages of 4 and 18 years. We also searched reviews and meta-analyses of youth psychotherapy research, followed reference
trails in the reports we identified, and obtained additional studies identified by therapy researchers whom we contacted. We identified 453 RCTs
(31,933 participants) spanning 53 years (1963-2016). Effect sizes for the problem-relevant outcome measures were synthesized via multilevel meta-
analysis. We tracked temporal trends for each problem domain and then examined multiple study characteristics that might moderate those trends. Mean
effect size increased nonsignificantly for anxiety, decreased nonsignificantly for ADHD, and decreased significantly for depression and conduct
problems. Moderator analyses involving multiple study subgroups showed only a few exceptions to these surprising patterns. The findings suggest that
new approaches to treatment design and intervention science may be needed, especially for depression and conduct problems. We suggest intensifying
the search for mechanisms of change, making treatments more transdiagnostic and personalizable, embedding treatments within youth ecosystems,
adapting treatments to the social and technological changes that alter youth dysfunction and treatment needs, and resisting old habits that can make
treatments unduly skeuomorphic.
Perspectives on Psychological Science : A Journal of the
Association for Psychological Science, 14(2) : 216-237
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any)
Idsoe, T., Keles, S., Olseth, A. Ro, Ogden, T.
Background: The group-based CBT intervention, the Adolescent Coping
with Depression Course (ACDC), has previously been evaluated within a quasi-experimental design, showing reduction in depressive symptoms compared to
a benchmark of similar studies. The aim of our study was to investigate the effectiveness of ACDC within a randomized controlled (RCT) design.
Method(s): Thirty-five course/control leaders randomly assigned to provide ACDC or usual care (UC) recruited 133 adolescents allocated to ACDC and 95
to UC. ACDC participants received eight weekly sessions and two follow-up sessions about 3 and 6 weeks after the last session. UC participants
received usual care as implemented at the different sites. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression
Scale for adolescents (CES-D), perfectionism with the revised version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), and rumination with the revised
version of the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS). Attrition was considered missing at random (MAR) and handled with a full information maximum
likelihood (FIML) procedure. Result(s): Intention to treat analysis (ITT), including baseline scores and predictors of missing data as control or
auxiliary variables, showed a small to medium reduction in depressive symptoms for the ACDC group compared to UC (d = -.31). Changes in perfectionism
and rumination in favor of the intervention were also significant. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the findings from the ITT analyses. Conclusion(s):
The current study supports the effectiveness of this group-based CBT intervention. The intervention can hopefully result in clinically significant
reductions in symptoms associated with depression among adolescents. Trial registration: ISRCTN registry ISRCTN19700389. Registered 6 October 2015.
Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).
BMC Psychiatry, 19 (1) (no
pagination)(155) :
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention), Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Mahdi, M., Jhawar,
S., Bennett, S. D., Shafran, R.
Background: High rates of comorbidity among
children and adolescents with anxiety disorders are widely documented. To date the question of what happens to comorbid disorders upon treatment of
the primary anxiety disorder has received little attention and the optimal treatment strategy for cases with comorbidity remains to be determined.
Objective(s): This review examines the literature on the impact of disorder-specific CBT on comorbid mood and behavioral disorders in young people
with a primary anxiety disorder. Search Method(s): PsycINFO, EMBASE, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched using predefined
selection criteria. Two reviewers independently assessed the relevance of studies, obtained data using a data extraction form and undertook
methodological quality analysis. Result(s): Ten studies (1647 children in total) were included in the review. All studies demonstrated positive
outcomes for CBT focused on the primary anxiety disorder on untargeted comorbid mood and/or externalising disorders. Conclusion(s): Findings suggest
CBT focused on the primary anxiety disorder successfully reduces comorbid mood and/or behavioral diagnoses and symptoms of these co-occurring
clinical diagnoses. Therefore, the implementation of disorder-specific CBT for the primary disorder is a valid alternative to transdiagnostic
interventions and is recommended in cases of comorbidity in children and adolescents with a primary anxiety disorder. Copyright © 2019
Journal of Affective Disorders, 251 : 141-148
- Year: 2019
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)