[The working alliance in inpatient treatment for personality disorders and its connection with patient characteristics: an exploratory study].

Background: The working alliance between therapist and patient has been investigated frequently, but much less is known about the working alliance in specific patient groups in specific settings.

Aim: To obtain insight into the characteristics of the working alliance in intensive inpatient psychotherapy involving patients with severe personality disorders, and to pay special attention to patient characteristics such as diagnosis and attachment.

Method: At the end of the first phase of treatment we collected, on the basis of questionnaires, information about the working alliance and attachment of 60 patients with a severe personality disorders who had received inpatient psychotherapy.

Consistency of reporting sexual and physical abuse during psychological treatment of personality disorder: an explorative study.

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of decreasing, consistent and increasing reports of sexual and physical abuse after 12 months of long-term psychological treatment of personality disorders, to investigate demographic and clinical characteristics predictive of inconsistency of reporting abuse, and to explore whether autobiographical memory may account for this inconsistency. In 229 clinical participants with an SCID II diagnosed personality disorder, 180 (78.6%) reported the same instances of invasive sexual and/or physical abuse on a trauma questionnaire (SPAQ) at baseline and follow-up, 25 (10.

Word use of outpatients with a personality disorder and concurrent or previous major depressive disorder.

In a recent study, Rude, Gortner, and Pennebaker (2004) found word use to be related to depression and vulnerability to depression in the essays of college students. We sought to replicate and extend these findings in a clinical sample. Written essays of 304 psychiatric outpatients with a personality disorder and a mixed psychiatric profile on DSM-IV axis-I and 108 healthy controls were examined with word count software.

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory in Cluster C personality disorders and the role of depression, worry, and experiential avoidance.

The study objective was to investigate whether, compared with nonclinical controls, participants with an avoidant, dependent, or obsessive-compulsive Cluster C personality disorder (PD) manifested reduced levels of memory specificity and whether the association of Cluster C PDs with memory specificity is mediated by repetitive negative thoughts and experiential avoidance. The Autobiographical Memory Test (R. J.

Effects of sad mood on autobiographical memory in older adults with and without lifetime depression.

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to determine whether reduced autobiographical memory specificity is also a marker for depression in older adults. To answer this question two experiments and a prospective longitudinal clinical study were executed with the autobiographical memory task (AMT) as measure for memory specificity. The objective of the 1st experimental study was to assess the influence of a negative mood induction versus the effect of multiple testing in a neutral condition in 58 never depressed (ND) elderly.

Different flying histories in flying phobics: association with psychopathology and treatment outcome.

Introduction: Passengers experiencing fear of flying can threaten the safety of a flight, its passengers, and crew. In the present study we investigated the effect of different flying histories on the nature and treatment of fear of flying and attempted to determine the following: 1) the prevalence of different flying histories in a sample of self-referred flying phobics; 2) the demographic and psychopathologic characteristics of flying phobics differing with respect to flying history; and 3) the predictive value of different flying histories for treatment outcome.

Methods: Of 2001 self-referred adults who applied for a flying treatment program, 85.

Predictors of response to the 'Coping with Depression' course for older adults. A field study.

This field study explored the prognostic factors of the immediate and long-term effects of the Coping with Depression course for older adults (CWD). With the aim of both indicated as well as secondary prevention, the course is provided by the prevention departments of the community mental health care system in the Netherlands. A total of 317 course participants (age 55-85 years; 69% female) took part in this study; 41% had a major depressive disorder (MDD).

Effectiveness of the Coping With Depression (CWD) course for older adults provided by the community-based mental health care system in the Netherlands: a randomized controlled field trial.

Background: The Dutch version of the Coping With Depression (CWD) course for older adults has been implemented in the prevention arm of the community-based mental health care system in the Netherlands. The study group included older adults with subclinical depression as well as those with a major depressive disorder; all were enrolled into the course by mental health care professionals. The effectiveness (immediate and long-term) of the course for this heterogeneous population was studied in an effectiveness trial.

The criterion validity of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in a sample of self-referred elders with depressive symptomatology.

Background: The criterion validity of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D) was assessed in a group of elderly Dutch community-residents who were self-referred to a prevention program for depression.

Methods: Paper-and-pencil administration of the CES-D to 318 elders (55-85 years). Criterion validity was evaluated with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), a clinical diagnostic interview based on DSM-IV.

Personality disorders in the elderly compared to four younger age groups: a cross-sectional study of community residents and mental health patients.

The notion is expressed in the DSM-IV that some personality disorders (PDs) tend to remit with age whereas other types do not. This notion is supported by the literature and the study reported here. Studies published between 1951 and 2000 show that (1) in old age, PDs are prevalent both in normal subjects and to a greater extent in the mentally ill; (2) the evidence for general age-relatedness of PDs is scarce and contradictory; (3) there is evidence for specific age-relatedness of PDs in old age.