Growth curves of common factors in psychotherapy: Multilevel growth modelling and outcome analysis.

Objective: A large body of literature discusses change mechanisms underlying psychotherapy with an emphasis on common factors. The present study examined how different comprehensive common factors change over the course of therapy and whether this change was associated with clinical outcome at discharge.

Method: Three hundred forty-eight adults (mean age = 32.

[Empirical Conceptualization of Common Factors in Psychotherapy: Factor Structure of the WEB].

Objective: Our goal was to explore the association pattern of 26 common factors and thereby contribute conceptually to the debate on change mechanisms in psychotherapy with an empirically derived conception of superordinate common factors (global common factors). In addition, we tested reliability and validity aspects of a new instrument to assess common factors.

Method: The activation of common factors during in- and outpatient psychotherapy was assessed in 502 patients using a weekly process measure ('Wochenerfahrungsbogen', WEB).

Rey Visual Design Learning Test performance correlates with white matter structure.

Objective: Studies exploring relation of visual memory to white matter are extensively lacking. The Rey Visual Design Learning Test (RVDLT) is an elementary motion, colour and word independent visual memory test. It avoids a significant contribution from as many additional higher order visual brain functions as possible to visual performance, such as three-dimensional, colour, motion or word-dependent brain operations.

Relation of white matter anisotropy to visual memory in 17 healthy subjects.

We performed a Rey visual design learning test (RVDLT) in 17 subjects and measured intervoxel coherence (IC) by DTI as an indication of connectivity to investigate if visual memory performance would depend on white matter structure in healthy persons. IC considers the orientation of the adjacent voxels and has a better signal-to-noise ratio than the commonly used fractional anisotropy index. Voxel-based t-test analysis of the IC values was used to identify neighboring voxel clusters with significant differences between 7 low and 10 high test performers.