Evaluating the Effects of a Self-Help Mobile Phone App on Worry and Rumination Experienced by Young Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Delivery of preventative interventions via mobile phone apps offers an effective and accessible way to address the global priority of improving the mental health of adolescents and young adults. A proven risk factor for anxiety and depression is elevated worry and rumination, also known as repetitive negative thinking (RNT).

Objective: This was a prevention mechanism trial that aimed to investigate whether an RNT-targeting self-help mobile phone app (MyMoodCoach) reduces worry and rumination in young adults residing in the United Kingdom.

Worry and rumination as a transdiagnostic target in young people: a co-produced systematic review and meta-analysis.

PROSPERO (CRD42023408899).

Can an intervention designed to reduce repetitive negative thinking alter the response to a psychosocial stressor? A randomized controlled study.

Prior research suggests that repetitive negative thinking (RNT) negatively impacts mental health by intensifying and prolonging emotional reactivity to stress. This study investigated whether an intervention designed to reduce RNT alters emotional reactivity. Young adults with high trait RNT (N = 79) were randomly allocated to an RNT-focused intervention (smartphone app-based, 10 days) or a waiting list before exposure to a standardized stressor.

A transdiagnostic group exercise intervention for mental health outpatients in Germany (ImPuls): results of a pragmatic, multisite, block-randomised, phase 3 controlled trial.

Background: Globally, mental health conditions pose a substantial burden of disease. Despite the availability of evidence-based pharmacological and psychological treatments, the symptoms of a substantial subgroup of patients do not respond to these interventions, and only a minority of patients have access to them. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of ImPuls, a 6-month transdiagnostic group exercise intervention, plus treatment-as-usual, compared with treatment-as-usual alone in outpatients with various mental disorders.

Skills training followed by either EMDR or narrative therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder in adult survivors of childhood abuse: a randomized controlled trial.

Individuals suffering from PTSD following childhood abuse represent a large subgroup of patients attending mental health services. The aim of phase-based treatment is to tailor treatment to the specific needs to childhood abuse survivors with PTSD with a Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) phase, in which emotion dysregulation and interpersonal problems are targeted, and a trauma-focused phase. The purpose of this study was to compare STAIR + Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) vs.

Sudden gains in routine clinical care: application of a permutation test for trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy.

Sudden gains, defined as large and stable improvements of psychopathological symptoms, are a ubiquitous phenomenon in psychotherapy. They have been shown to occur across several clinical contexts and to be associated with better short-term and long-term treatment outcome. However, the approach of sudden gains has been criticized for its tautological character: sudden gains are included in the computation of treatment outcomes, ultimately resulting in a circular conclusion.

Dynamic symptom associations in posttraumatic stress disorder: a network approach.

The current study aimed to investigate the within-day symptom dynamics in PTSD patients, specifically focusing on symptoms that most predict changes in other symptoms. The study included a baseline diagnostic assessment, followed by an assessment using the experience sampling method (ESM) via a smartphone. Participants answered questions related to their PTSD symptoms four times per day for 15 consecutive days (compliance rate 75%).

When does imagery rescripting become a double-edged sword? - Investigating the risk of memory distortion through imagery rescripting in an online Trauma film study.

Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) has proven effective in reducing involuntary emotional memories. However, it is unclear whether and when it may lead to reduced accuracy of voluntary memory. Although previous analogue studies suggest that ImRs does not pose a general risk regarding memory distortion, it can not be ruled out that ImRs could cause memory impairment under certain risk conditions.

Research Into Evidence-Based Psychological Interventions Needs a Stronger Focus on Replicability.

Background: It is a precondition for evidence-based practice that research is replicable in a wide variety of clinical settings. Current standards for identifying evidence-based psychological interventions and making recommendations for clinical practice in clinical guidelines include criteria that are relevant for replicability, but a better understanding as well refined definitions of replicability are needed enabling empirical research on this topic. Recent advances on this issue were made in the wider field of psychology and in other disciplines, which offers the opportunity to define and potentially increase replicability also in research on psychological interventions.

In Vivo Assessment of Shear Wave Propagation in Pennate Muscles Using an Automatic Ultrasound Probe Alignment System.

Skeletal muscle mechanics can be assessed in vivo using shear wave elastography. However, the impact of pennation angle on shear wave velocity (SWV) remains unclear. This study aims to quantify the effect by automatically aligning the ultrasound probe with muscle fiber orientation.

Effects of imagery rescripting and imaginal exposure on voluntary memory.

Trauma-focused imagery-based interventions, such as Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) and Imaginal Exposure (ImE), are effective in reducing involuntary re-experiencing in PTSD. However, it has been suggested that they may impair voluntary memory. This study investigates whether ImRs and ImE distort voluntary memory of an analogue trauma.

Transdiagnostic analysis of adverse childhood experiences and their association with psychopathology-A TRANS-D conform study.

Transdiagnostic approaches challenge traditional psychiatric classification systems. Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) represent a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology with dose dependency. As different qualities of ACE typically co-occur, we identified ACE patterns to assess their power for predicting psychopathology compared to traditional diagnoses.

Effects of resilience and timing of adverse and adaptive experiences on interpersonal behavior: a transdiagnostic study in a clinical sample.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) have been linked to less prosocial behavior during social exclusion in vulnerable groups. However, little is known about the impact of the timing of ACE and the roles of protective factors. Therefore, this study investigated the association of the behavioral response to experimental partial social exclusion with adverse and adaptive experiences across age groups and resilience in clinical groups with persistent depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder, i.

Affective forecasting as an adaptive learning process.

Theories propose that human affective forecasting is an adaptive learning process guided by prediction errors. Although this learning process can be formally described by a Kalman filter, human forecasts are suggested to be biased and computationally suboptimal. We compared the accuracy of human affective forecasts to statistical forecasts made using a Kalman filter and explored the differences between these two processes.

Psychometric properties of the dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder scale: replication and extension in two German-speaking samples.

The fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) introduced the dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (D-PTSD). To assess this subtype, the Dissociative Subtype of PTSD Scale (DSPS), a 15-item self-report measure to identify lifetime and current dissociative symptoms of D-PTSD, was developed. However, so far, the scale has only been validated in war veterans.

Effects of Induced Mindfulness at Night on Repetitive Negative Thinking: Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

Background: Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a cognitive risk factor for various disorders. Although brief mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs; lasting 20-30 minutes or shorter) are effective tools to reduce RNT, the effect of a minimal (5-minute) MBI remains largely unknown.

Objective: We investigated the acute changes in RNT induced by a 10-day minimal MBI (body scan before sleeping) using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) administered during the MBI training phase.

Pharmacological memory modulation to augment trauma-focused psychotherapy for PTSD: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Trauma-focused psychotherapy (tf-PT) is the first-line treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Tf-PT focuses on processing and modulating trauma memories. Not all patients benefit, however, and there is room for improvement of efficacy.

Concept and study protocol of the process evaluation of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity in outpatients with heterogeneous mental disorders-the ImPuls study.

Background: Evidence suggests that patients suffering from different mental disorders benefit from exercise programs combined with behavior change techniques. Based on this evidence, we have developed an exercise program (ImPuls) specifically designed to provide an additional treatment option in the outpatient mental health care system. The implementation of such complex programs into the outpatient context requires research that goes beyond the evaluation of effectiveness, and includes process evaluation.

Do changes in dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions differentially predict PTSD symptom clusters?

Objective: In recent years, it has been suggested that the modification of dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions plays a central role as a mechanism of change in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Indeed, several studies have shown that changes in dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions precede and predict symptom change. However, these studies have investigated the influence on symptom severity-despite the well-known multidimensionality of PTSD.

Peripheral inflammation over the course of a cognitive behavioral intervention in PTSD.

Inflammation has an important predictive role for long-term health. This is also true when looking at the specific population of trauma survivors with PTSD. There are emerging findings showing that PTSD is related to reduced somatic health as well as evidence linking inflammation with disease outcomes in this group, such as heart diseases and early mortality, regardless of age, gender or conventional risk factors.