A psycholinguistic investigation of biased semantic networks in contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background And Objectives: Increasing evidence confirms the significant involvement of disgust in contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder (C-OCD). More insights into the role of disgust within cognitive biases in OCD may illuminate the psychopathology and corresponding subdimensions or subtypes. The present study introduces a new approach adopted from psycholinguistic research to investigate biases in word association networks in C-OCD versus other OCD symptom dimensions (nC-OCD).

A self-guided Internet-based intervention for individuals with chronic pain and depressive symptoms: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Despite the existence of evidence-based therapy options for the treatment of chronic pain and comorbid depressive symptoms (e.g., CBT), many individuals remain untreated.

The magnitude of neurocognitive impairment is overestimated in depression: the role of motivation, debilitating momentary influences, and the overreliance on mean differences.

Background: Meta-analyses agree that depression is characterized by neurocognitive dysfunctions relative to nonclinical controls. These deficits allegedly stem from impairments in functionally corresponding brain areas. Increasingly, studies suggest that some performance deficits are in part caused by negative task-taking attitudes such as poor motivation or the presence of distracting symptoms.

Session-specific effects of the Metacognitive Group Training for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: significant results for thought control.

The investigation of the session-specific effects is central for the understanding of psychological interventions. For the present study, we investigated the session-specific effects of the Metacognitive Group Training for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (MCT-OCD), which was revised based on data of a pilot study. Thirty-four outpatients with OCD participated in the MCT-OCD once a week over 8 weeks.

Imaginal Retraining Reduces Cigarette Smoking: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Objectives: Smoking is a highly prevalent addictive behavior with severe and life-shortening health consequences. This is the first study to evaluate the efficacy of a newly developed imaginal variant of approach bias modification (ABM) (i.e.

Metacognitive Training for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: A high number of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not receive cognitive-behavioral therapy with exposure and response prevention, which is the most effective treatment for OCD. Therefore, Metacognitive Training for OCD (MCT-OCD) was developed, which is a structured group therapy aiming at the modification of dysfunctional (meta-)cognitive biases, beliefs and coping styles. It can be administered by less trained personnel, thus may reach a higher number of patients.

Long-term effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and residual symptoms after cognitive behavioral therapy: Twelve-month follow-up of a randomized controlled trial.

We examined the long-term efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) compared to a psychoeducation group as an active control condition in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with residual symptoms of OCD after cognitive behavioral therapy. A total of 125 patients were included in a bicentric, interviewer-blind, randomized, and actively controlled trial and were assigned to either an MBCT group (n = 61) or a psychoeducation group (n = 64). Patients' demographic characteristics and the results from our previous assessments have already been reported (Külz et al.

Assessment of Adult ADHD in Clinical Practice: Four Letters-40 Opinions.

Despite guidelines providing detailed recommendations for the assessment of ADHD in adults and increasing clinician awareness of the persistence of ADHD into adulthood, ADHD remains under diagnosed in many countries. A survey of 178 clinicians who regularly perform assessments for adult ADHD was conducted between February 2015 and 2016 to identify possible causes of underdiagnosis related to assessment practices. There was a lack of consensus among clinicians regarding which symptoms are relevant to adult ADHD.

Session-specific effects of the Metacognitive Training for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (MCT-OCD).

Most studies focus on overall treatment effects by assessing symptom severity before and after treatment, but few investigate session-specific effects of an intervention. The aim of the present study was to elucidate session-specific effects of a group therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that targets cognitive biases known as the Metacognitive Training for OCD (MCT-OCD). In an uncontrolled pilot trial, 44 inpatients with OCD participated in the MCT-OCD once a week over four weeks.

Imaginal retraining reduces alcohol craving in problem drinkers: A randomized controlled trial.

Background And Objectives: Retraining, a psychological intervention derived from the approach-avoidance paradigm, has yielded mixed results for the treatment of alcohol use disorder as well as other forms of addiction. The present study investigated the efficacy of an imaginal variant of retraining that allowed greater personalization of the content.

Methods: Within the framework of a randomized controlled trial (RCT), 84 individuals with self-reported alcohol-related problems were recruited over the Internet and allocated to either imaginal retraining (treatment manual dispatched as a pdf-file via email) or a wait-list control group (with care-as-usual).

"Association splitting" versus cognitive remediation in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

Studies have confirmed the efficacy of the cognitive intervention Association Splitting (AS) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when applied as a self-help technique. AS aims to alter symptom-provoking automated cognitive networks of OC-related stimuli by building new or strengthening established but weak neutral associations. The aim of this study was to investigate the acceptance and benefits of therapist-assisted AS as an add-on to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

We cannot change the past, but we can change its meaning. A randomized controlled trial on the effects of self-help imagery rescripting on depression.

Background: Imagery rescripting is a psychotherapeutic technique that aims to ameliorate negative emotions by altering (i.e., rescripting) inner representations of negative memories and images.

Association Splitting: A randomized controlled trial of a new method to reduce craving among inpatients with alcohol dependence.

Association Splitting, a novel cognitive intervention, was tested in patients with alcohol dependence as an add-on intervention in an initial randomized controlled trial. Preliminary support for Association Splitting has been found in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as in an online pilot study of patients with alcohol use disorders. The present variant sought to reduce craving by strengthening neutral associations with alcohol-related stimuli, thus, altering cognitive networks.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a very disabling condition with a chronic course, if left untreated. Though cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) with or without selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) is the method of choice, up to one third of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not respond to treatment in terms of at least 35% improvement of symptoms. Mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an 8-week group program that could help OCD patients with no or only partial response to CBT to reduce OC symptoms and develop a helpful attitude towards obsessions and compulsive urges.

Sustained and "sleeper" effects of group metacognitive training for schizophrenia: a randomized clinical trial.

Importance: Cognitive interventions increasingly complement psychopharmacological treatment to enhance symptomatic and functional outcome in schizophrenia. Metacognitive training (MCT) is targeted at cognitive biases involved in the pathogenesis of delusions.

Objective: To examine the long-term efficacy of group MCT for schizophrenia in order to explore whether previously established effects were sustained.

Further evidence for biased semantic networks in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): when knives are no longer associated with buttering bread but only with stabbing people.

Background And Objectives: Semantic network models suggest that individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) process words with multiple meanings (e.g., "knife") more likely in an OC-related (i.

Complementary group Metacognitive Training (MCT) reduces delusional ideation in schizophrenia.

Background: Symptom reduction under antipsychotic agents is incomplete for most schizophrenia patients. In order to enhance outcome, cognitive approaches are increasingly adopted as add-on interventions. The present study aimed to determine the efficacy of group Metacognitive Training (MCT), which targets cognitive biases putatively involved in the pathogenesis of delusions.

Interpersonal ambivalence in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: The social attitudes and interpersonal relationships of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are subject to a longstanding controversy. Whereas cognitive-behavioural researchers emphasize exaggerated pro-social attitudes in OCD like inflated responsibility and worry for other people (especially significant others), dynamic theories traditionally focus on anti-social attitudes such as latent aggression and hostility. In two recent studies, we gathered support not only for a co-existence of these seemingly opposing attitudes in OCD, but also for a functional connection: inflated responsibility in part appears to serve as a coping strategy (or “defense”) against negative interpersonal feelings.

Effects of obsessive-compulsive symptoms on neuropsychological test performance: complicating an already complicated story.

Theoretical models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) implicate neurocognitive dysfunction, particularly deficits in nonverbal memory and executive functioning, in the pathogenesis of the disorder. The opposite hypothesis (poor performance in neuropsychological test as an epiphenomenon of OCD symptoms) has rarely been contemplated although checking behavior, obsessional doubt, lack of motivation, and slowness as well as preoccupation with touching objects may result in secondary test impairment and mimic manifestations of neural dysfunction. A total of 60 patients with OCD and 30 healthy controls were tested with a multi-functional neuropsychological battery.

Incorrigibility, jumping to conclusions, and decision threshold in schizophrenia.

Introduction: Previous studies confirmed a bias against disconfirmatory evidence (BADE) for both delusional and delusion-neutral events in paranoid schizophrenia. In the present study, we examined a potential relationship between the BADE and delusional ideation.

Methods: Fifty-five patients with schizophrenia (32 with current delusions), 20 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and 30 healthy participants were presented written scenarios composed of three successive sentences which increasingly disambiguated the situation.

Generic and illness-specific quality of life in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and disabling disorder. It profoundly compromises various aspects of patients' everyday life, thus affecting their quality of life (QoL). Using generic instruments, several studies have confirmed severely impaired health-related QoL in patients diagnosed with OCD.

Different sides of the same coin? Intercorrelations of cognitive biases in schizophrenia.

Introduction: A number of cognitive biases have been associated with delusions in schizophrenia. It is yet unresolved whether these biases are independent or represent different sides of the same coin.

Methods: A total of 56 patients with schizophrenia underwent a comprehensive cognitive battery encompassing paradigms tapping cognitive biases with special relevance to schizophrenia (e.

Perseveration and not strategic deficits underlie delayed alternation impairment in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

The claim that the prefrontal cortex, particularly its orbito-frontal part, is involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is based upon evidence from neuroimaging as well as behavioral studies. Studies have repeatedly suggested problems with delayed alternation learning in OCD, an executive dysfunction that presumably involves the orbito-frontal cortex. However, it is unclear whether such impairment stems from perseveration or strategic deficits as these aspects are intertwined in the original task.

When cancer is associated with illness but no longer with animal or zodiac sign: investigation of biased semantic networks in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Building upon semantic network models, it is proposed that individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) process ambiguous words (e.g., homographs such as cancer) preferably in the context of the OC meaning (i.