Using simple economic games to assess social orienting and prosocial behavior in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Deficits in socio-emotional reciprocity, in prosocial behavior and in developing social relationships are diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), usually assessed by self-report or observation. Simple social experiments developed by behavioral economists allow for quantification of ASD-related social behavior. In this study, we used such experiments to compare social-economic decision-making between ASD adolescents and neurotypical controls.

Analysis of recreational psychedelic substance use experiences classified by substance.

Rationale And Objectives: Differences among psychedelic substances regarding their subjective experiences are clinically and scientifically interesting. Quantitative linguistic analysis is a powerful tool to examine such differences. This study compared five psychedelic substance report groups and a non-psychedelic report group on quantitative linguistic markers of psychological states and processes derived from recreational use-based online experience reports.

Trauma Psycho Social Support Plus and EMDR therapy for children and adolescents in a post-conflict setting: Mental health training in Kurdistan.

Introduction: This paper describes the implementation of a pilot project in Kurdistan / Northern Iraq on the use of EMDR in children in post-conflict settings.

Methods: A 4-field scheme aimed at patient stabilisation was taught to social workers for the application with children and adolescents in Northern Iraq. If possible, the stabilisation was followed by procedures aimed at memory reprocessing or modification within the eightphase EMDR protocol and (in all cases) with further care.

Threat-related motivational disengagement: Integrating blunted cardiovascular reactivity to stress into the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat.

The biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat specifies a challenge-threat continuum where favorable demand-resource evaluations, efficient cardiovascular responses, and superior performance characterize challenge; and maladaptive outcomes like clinical depression characterize threat states. The model also specifies task engagement, operationalized as heart rate and ventricular contractility increases, as a prerequisite for challenge and threat states. The blunted cardiovascular reactivity to stress literature describes reductions of these increases and associates them with problems like clinical depression.

How Consistent Are Challenge and Threat Evaluations? A Generalizability Analysis.

Viewing stressful situations as more of a challenge than a threat (i.e., coping resources match or exceed situational demands) has been associated with better performance and long-term health.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Versus Treatment as Usual in the Treatment of Depression: A Randomized-Controlled Trial.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a well-established treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Recent research suggested that it may be effective in treating depressive disorders as well. The present study is part of a multicenter randomized-controlled trial, the EDEN study, in which a homogenous group of 30 patients was treated to test whether EMDR plus treatment as usual (TAU) would achieve superior results compared to TAU only in a psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic inpatient treatment setting.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in the treatment of depression: a matched pairs study in an inpatient setting.

Background: Depression is a severe mental disorder that challenges mental health systems worldwide as the success rates of all established treatments are limited. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a scientifically acknowledged psychotherapeutic treatment for PTSD. Given the recent research indicating that trauma and other adverse life experiences can be the basis of depression, the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of EMDR therapy with this disorder.

Behavioral and cognitive effects of tyrosine intake in healthy human adults.

The amino acid tyrosine is the precursor to the catecholamine neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. Increasing tyrosine uptake may positively influence catecholamine-related psychological functioning. We conducted a systematic review to examine the effects of tyrosine on behavior and cognition.