Recent years have seen major developments in psychotherapy research that suggest the need to address critical methodological issues. These recommendations, developed by an international group of ...researchers, do not replace those for randomized controlled trials, but rather supplement strategies that need to be taken into account when considering psychological treatments. The limitations of traditional taxonomy and assessment methods are outlined, with suggestions for consideration of staging methods. Active psychotherapy control groups are recommended, and adaptive and dismantling study designs offer important opportunities. The treatments that are used, and particularly their specific ingredients, need to be described in detail for both the experimental and the control groups. Assessment should be performed blind before and after treatment and at long-term follow-up. A combination of observer-and self-rated measures is recommended. Side effects of psychotherapy should be evaluated using appropriate methods. Finally, the number of participants who deteriorate after treatment should be noted according to the methods that were used to define response or remission.
A substantial part of the research on the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions on mood regulation is conducted in the laboratory. Nevertheless, a systematic review of the results is lacking. ...This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effects of mindfulness as an emotion regulation (ER) strategy when using mood induction procedures. A systematic search of databases was conducted and a total of 43 studies were included in the meta-analysis. We found a small significant overall effect size of mindfulness g= −0.15 (95% CI −0.30, −0.01, p = 0.04), which became non-significant after removing outliers (g=−0.15, p = 0.06). We also found high levels of heterogeneity which was not explained by the moderating variables analyzed. Thus, there is limited meta-analytic evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness strategies in down-regulating or preventing heightened or chronic effects of induced mood states in well-controlled laboratory settings. We propose that this could be partially due to some limitations in laboratory methodologies and suggest some guidelines to overcome them in future primary research.
•A meta-analysis on the efficacy of mindfulness to regulate induced negative moods.•43 studies were included in the quantitative analysis.•A significant small effect size showed that mindfulness was effective for regulation.•The effect disappeared when outliers were removed.•No moderator significantly explained the results.
Background: It has been suggested that resilience is best conceptualized as healthy and stable functioning in the face of a potentially traumatic event. However, most research on this field has ...focused on self-reported resilience, and other patterns of response when facing adversity, in cross-sectional designs.
Objective: Alternatively, we aimed to study changing patterns of psychological responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the general population, based on patterns of symptoms, and factors contributing to those patterns.
Method: A national representative sample of Spain (N = 1,628) responded to an internet-based survey at two assessment points, separated by 1 month (April and May 2020), during the official national confinement stage. Based upon whether participants exhibited absence/presence of distress (i.e., significant trauma-related, depression, or anxiety symptoms) at one or two of the assessment times, patterns of psychological responses were defined by categorizing individuals into one of the four categories: Resilience, Delayed distress, Recovered, and Sustained distress.
Results: Analyses of the levels of disturbance associated with the symptoms provided support to that four-fold distinction of patterns of responses. Furthermore, resilience responses were the most common psychological response to the pandemic. Multinomial regression analyses revealed that the main variables increasing the probability of resilience to COVID-19 were being male, older, having no history of mental health difficulties, higher levels of psychological well-being and high identification with all humanity. Also, having low scores in several variables (i.e., anxiety and economic threat due to COVID-19, substance use during the confinement, intolerance to uncertainty, death anxiety, loneliness, and suspiciousness) was a significant predictor of a resilient response to COVID-19.
Conclusion: Our findings are consistent with previous literature that conceptualizes resilience as a dynamic process. The clinical implications of significant predictors of the resilience and the rest of psychological patterns of response are discussed.
* National representative survey (N=1700) assessed twice during compulsory confinement. * Four patterns of response were identified and validated: resilience, sustained distress, delayed distress and recovered.* Resilience was the most common pattern (55.3% of the sample).
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In the midst of the COVID–19 epidemic, Spain was one of the countries with the highest number of infections and a high mortality rate. The threat of the virus and consequences of the pandemic have a ...discernible impact on the mental health of citizens. This study aims to (a) evaluate the levels of anxiety, depression and well-being in a large Spanish sample during the confinement, (b) identify potential predictor variables associated to experiencing both clinical levels of distress and well-being in a sample of 2,122 Spanish people. By using descriptive analyses and logistic regression results revealed high rates of depression, anxiety and well-being. Specifically, our findings revealed that high levels of anxiety about COVID–19, increased substance use and loneliness as the strongest predictors of distress, while gross annual incomes and loneliness were strongest predictors of well-being. Finding of the present study provide a better insight about psychological adjustment to a pandemic and allows us to identify which population groups are at risk of experiencing higher levels of distress and which factors contribute to greater well-being, which could help in the treatments and prevention in similar stressful and traumatic situations.
Positive psychology has been the subject of passionate attacks. Its novelty, its scientific scope, its intentions and even the honesty of its followers have been questioned. Furthermore, by ...extension, the concern of psychology on a whole with human well-being has been placed in doubt. In this review, we offer an answer to some disproportionate criticism and make an overview of the existing overwhelming evidence derived from the active, robust research agenda on positive emotions and cognitions (e.g., optimism) and their relationship to health and psychological wellness. Psychology cannot ignore a growing general movement in social sciences and in political and economic discussion that places psychological well-being in the legitimate focus of attention. In this regard, positive psychology is contributing, with the best standard tools psychological research, to articulate and support a good part of the research in and promotion of those crucial issues. Finally, it is argued that, based on a true and respectful academic dialogue, psychology must inevitably and fluently integrate the focus on positive functioning for a more inclusive explanation of human nature.
Traditional factor analyses used to analyze the structure of psychological strengths have yielded different solutions, not always confirming the original structure of 24 strengths corresponding to ...six virtues as proposed by Peterson and Seligman in their initial model. In contrast with previous factorial approaches, this study used network analysis to explore the map of strengths, assessed with the VIA Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), in a large sample of individuals (N = 1,255,248) from the general population in the United States, Australia, Canada, and UK. The network analysis revealed four different communities (i.e., groups of strengths): Discernment, Interpersonal, Responsibility, and Energy. The strength most connected to other strengths was Gratitude, whereas Love of Learning was the least connected node. These results open a new way to conceptualize psychological strengths as a complex network of mutually interconnected strengths. These findings complement results from factor analyses that future research should replicate and validate.
SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spurred scientific production in diverse fields of knowledge, including mental health. Yet, the quality of current research may be challenged by the urgent need to provide ...immediate results to understand and alleviate the consequences of the pandemic. This study aims to examine compliance with basic methodological quality criteria and open scientific research practices on the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twenty-eight studies were identified through a systematic search. Most of them met the requirements related to reporting key methodological and statistical information. However, the widespread use of convenience samples and the lack of a priori power analysis, coupled with low compliance with open science recommendations, such as pre-registration of studies and availability of databases, raise concerns about the validity, generalisability, and reproducibility of the findings.
While the importance of offering rapid evidence-based responses to mitigate mental health problems stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic is undeniable, it should not be done at the expense of sacrificing scientific rigor. The results of this study may stimulate researchers and funding agencies to try to orchestrate efforts and resources and follow standard codes of good scientific practice.
•The quality of mental health research related to the COVID-19 pandemic may need to be revised.•Main quality problems affect the validity and generalisability of findings.•Open science practices are hardly followed in the literature examined.
The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) are self-report measures of major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder. The primary aim of this ...study was to test for differential item functioning (DIF) on the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 items based on age, sex (males and females), and country.
Data from nationally representative surveys in UK, Ireland, Spain, and Italy (combined N = 6,054) were used to fit confirmatory factor analytic and multiple-indictor multiple-causes models.
Spain and Italy had higher latent variable means than the UK and Ireland for both anxiety and depression, but there was no evidence for differential items functioning.
The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores were found to be unidimensional, reliable, and largely free of DIF in data from four large nationally representative samples of the general population in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Spain.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract Background and objectives Cognitive models propose that depression is caused by dysfunctional schemas that endure beyond the depressive episode, representing vulnerability factors for ...recurrence. However, research testing negative cognitions linked to dysfunctional schemas in formerly depressed individuals is still scarce. Furthermore, negative cognitions are presumed to be linked to biases in recalling negative self-referent information in formerly depressed individuals, but no studies have directly tested this association. In the present study, we evaluated differences between formerly and never-depressed individuals in several experimental indices of negative cognitions and their associations with the recall of emotional self-referent material. Methods Formerly ( n = 30) and never depressed individuals ( n = 40) completed measures of explicit (i.e., scrambled sentence test) and automatic (i.e., lexical decision task) processing to evaluate negative cognitions. Furthermore participants completed a self-referent incidental recall task to evaluate memory biases. Results Formerly compared to never depressed individuals showed greater negative cognitions at both explicit and automatic levels of processing. Results also showed greater recall of negative self-referent information in formerly compared to never-depressed individuals. Finally, individual differences in negative cognitions at both explicit and automatic levels of processing predicted greater recall of negative self-referent material in formerly depressed individuals. Limitations Analyses of the relationship between explicit and automatic processing indices and memory biases were correlational and the majority of participants in both groups were women. Conclusions Our findings provide evidence of negative cognitions in formerly depressed individuals at both automatic and explicit levels of processing that may confer a cognitive vulnerability to depression.
Abstract
Job loss is a stressful event that increases the risk of experiencing depression and anxiety, especially during the initial months of unemployment. This study examined differences in ...psychological symptoms and resilient functioning accounted by employment status. The results pointed out that recently unemployed compared to currently employed individuals had lower levels of perceived controllability and resilience as well as higher levels of depression and anxiety. Path analyses showed that lower controllability appraisals at wave 1 of recently unemployed compared to employed individuals, in turn, predicted a lower use of active coping and reappraisal at wave 2, with the latter further accounting for lower levels in resilience. Higher use of distraction further mediated the relation between employment status and higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. Our findings demonstrate the importance of controllability appraisals and coping strategies used to promote adaptive psychological functioning following job loss.
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