Nudging for improving mental health treatment-seeking.

Underutilization of mental health services is a complex problem that requires the investigation of new strategies to facilitate treatment-seeking. Nudging is a relatively new approach which has shown promise in promoting healthy behaviors in a variety of domains, though little work has investigated how nudges may be applied to the initiation of mental health treatment. In this paper, we review the limited work examining nudging related to treatment initiation and discuss findings from a study evaluating the impact of nudges on treatment-seeking.

Prospective exploration of the role of combined internalizing symptoms in self-reported memory among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: A growing literature suggests depression and anxiety increase risk of cognitive decline. However, few studies have examined their combined effects on cognition, among older adults, especially during periods of high stress.

Method: Based on a sample of community dwelling older adults ( = 576), we evaluated the effects of pre-pandemic anxiety and depressive symptoms, obtained in September 2018, to changes in self-reported memory (SRM) assessed 3 months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prevalence and correlates of cannabis use among individuals with DSM-5 social anxiety disorder: Findings from a nationally representative sample.

Cannabis use disorder (CUD) and frequency of use are highly related to social anxiety disorder (SAD). With updates to diagnostic criteria of psychiatric disorders and recent changes in cannabis laws, the present study sought to explore the relationships between cannabis use, CUD, and social anxiety in a large nationally representative sample of individuals with lifetime (N = 1255) and past-year SAD (N = 980). Notably, we found that at the symptom level, at least weekly cannabis use was significantly related to fear or avoidance of social situations interfering with relationships in both samples.

Tendency to laugh is a stable trait: findings from a round-robin conversation study.

People often laugh during conversation. Who is more responsible for the laughter, the person laughing or their partner for eliciting it? We used a round-robin design where participants ( = 66) engaged in 10 different conversations with 10 same-gender strangers and counted the instances of laughter for each person in each conversation. After each conversation, participants rated their perceived similarity with their partner and how much they enjoyed the conversation.

Correlates of treatment seeking in individuals with social anxiety disorder: Findings from a nationally representative sample.

Despite the availability of well-established and efficacious treatments for social anxiety disorder, most socially anxious individuals do not seek treatment and those who do often suffer for years before seeking treatment. A more comprehensive understanding of the factors related to treatment seeking for social anxiety disorder is needed. This study utilized the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (NESARC-III), a large representative U.

Brief, interoceptive exposure focused treatment for anxiety in mild cognitive impairment.

Anxiety is common in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Anxiety has also been identified as a risk factor for cognitive decline. Brief interventions targeting risk mechanisms of anxiety, such as anxiety sensitivity (AS), have been effective in reducing overall anxiety in a variety of populations.