What is underneath all that stuff? A Q-methodological exploration of profiles of beliefs and vulnerabilities in hoarding disorder.

Background: Hoarding disorder (HD) can be understood through the cognitive behavioural model in the context of vulnerability factors (for example, personality traits, co-morbidities, traumatic life events) and beliefs about possessions (for example, identity, emotional attachment, memory, utility). Less is known about the strength of these hypothesised beliefs, or how they interact within the hoarding population, with researchers suggesting that specifying beliefs would improve treatment outcomes.

Aim: The current study explored beliefs in HD, utilising Q-methodology to explore both categories of beliefs and the interactions between these.

The roles of intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety sensitivity and distress tolerance in hoarding disorder compared with OCD and healthy controls.

Background: It is suggested that the different psychological vulnerability factors of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), anxiety sensitivity (AS) and distress tolerance (DT) may be in important in hoarding disorder (HD). However, the extent to which these factors are specific to HD compared with other disorders remains unclear.

Aims: The current study aimed to investigate differences in IU, AS and DT in three groups: HD (=66), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD; =59) and healthy controls (HCs; =63).

A multi-method comparison of autobiographical memory impairments amongst younger and older adults.

Research indicates that, compared to younger adults, older adults have difficulty recalling memories of specific past events (those lasting less than 24 h) and this difficulty is associated with depression. These studies are largely confined to a single measure of specific memory recall and there are conflicting findings when alternative measures are used. This investigation provides the first comparison of memory specificity between younger and older adults using several different measures.

The Role of Intrusive Imagery in Hoarding Disorder.

Despite the incidence of trauma in the histories of people with Hoarding Disorder (HD), reexperiencing symptoms, namely intrusive images, have not been investigated in the condition. To address this, 27 individuals who met DSM-5 criteria for HD and 28 community controls (CCs) were interviewed about (a) their everyday experiences of intrusive imagery, and (b) the unexpected images they experience when discarding high- and low-value possessions. Compared to CCs, everyday images described by the HD group were more frequent, had a greater negative valence, and were associated with greater interference in everyday life and attempts to avoid the imagery.

Older adult hoarders' experiences of being helped by volunteers and volunteers' experiences of helping.

Background: There is limited research into the experiences of receiving and providing help in the context of hoarding disorder.

Aims: The present study aimed to explore the experiences of older people with hoarding difficulties receiving help and volunteers providing support to people with hoarding problems.

Method: Qualitative methods were adopted to investigate the lived experience of participants.

The phenomenology of self-critical thinking in people with depression, eating disorders, and in healthy individuals.

Objectives: To explore the phenomenology of self-criticism, and the relationship with constructs such as rumination and perfectionism.

Design: The study followed a three-group (Depression, n = 26; Eating Disorder, n = 26; Non-clinical, n = 26) mixed methods design.

Method: Participants completed a set of questionnaires and were interviewed about the occurrence, impact, and content of self-critical thinking, along with their beliefs about self-criticism.

Self-Critical Thinking and Overgeneralization in Depression and Eating Disorders: An Experimental Study.

Background: Self-critical thinking is common across psychological disorders. This study hypothesized that it may play an important role in 'overgeneralization', the process of drawing general implications from an isolated negative experience.

Aims: To explore the impact of two experimental tasks designed to elicit self-critical thoughts on the endorsement of general negative self-views of clinical and non-clinical populations.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Health Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Health anxiety (HA), or hypochondriasis, is a psychological problem characterized by a preoccupation with the belief that one is physically unwell. A 2007 Cochrane review (Thomson and Page, 2007) found cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to be an effective intervention for individuals with HA. Similar findings were reported in a recent meta-analysis (Olatunji et al.

The Termination of Checking and the Role of Just Right Feelings: A Study of Obsessional Checkers Compared with Anxious and Non-clinical Controls.

Background: Repeated checking in OCD can be understood from a cognitive perspective as the motivated need to achieve certainty about the outcome of a potentially risky action, leading to the application of Elevated Evidence Requirements (EER) and overuse of subjective criteria.

Method: Twenty-four obsessional checkers, 22 anxious controls, and 26 non-clinical controls were interviewed about and rated recent episodes where they felt (a) they needed to check and (b) checked mainly out of habit (i.e.

Intrusive memories and images in bipolar disorder.

Modifying intrusive memories and images is a powerful intervention in depression and anxiety disorders, but little is known about the presence of these intrusions in bipolar disorder. A semi-structured interview was administered to 29 euthymic patients with bipolar disorder, requiring them to report the intrusive memories and images recalled from their most recent episode of euthymia, depression and hypomania. Euthymia was characterised by intrusive memories of the past, which were less distressing than the memories experienced in depressed states.

Intrusive images in psychological disorders: characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications.

Involuntary images and visual memories are prominent in many types of psychopathology. Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, and psychosis frequently report repeated visual intrusions corresponding to a small number of real or imaginary events, usually extremely vivid, detailed, and with highly distressing content. Both memory and imagery appear to rely on common networks involving medial prefrontal regions, posterior regions in the medial and lateral parietal cortices, the lateral temporal cortex, and the medial temporal lobe.