Nudging society toward more adaptive approaches to material possessions: Harnessing implicit approaches to reduce overconsumption and excessive saving.

Hoarding disorder (HD) represents a growing public health burden. Although excessive saving is the cardinal feature of this disorder, hoarding is also typically characterised by excessive acquisition of objects, either passively or actively. HD and a related clinical condition, compulsive buying-shopping disorder, are particularly challenging to prevent and treat within the context of consumer society, which is marked by growing acquiring tendencies.

Testing an Imagery Rescripting Exercise Targeting Fear of Self.

A feared possible self refers to the unwanted characteristics that a person may possess or develop. We tested an experimental paradigm to target fear of possible self using imagery rescripting. A student sample ( = 91), with moderate obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, engaged in written and audio-guided exercises to evoke episodic future mental imagery that represented their feared possible self.

Basic processes and clinical applications of mental imagery in worry: A systematic review.

Background: In this systematic review, we aimed to synthesise existing research on the phenomenology of mental imagery among high worriers compared to healthy individuals, and to characterise the nature and effectiveness of existing imagery-related interventions in treatment of worry.

Methods: PsycInfo, CENTRAL, EMBASE, Medline, Medline Epub, and PubMed were searched for studies examining the relationship between worry/GAD and mental imagery, or interventions using imagery in treatment of worry/GAD. We assessed study quality and used qualitative narrative synthesis to comprehensively map study results.

A phase II randomised controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in anorexia nervosa.

Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder (ED) with high mortality rates and limited response to existing treatments, prompting the need to identify effective agents and adjuncts. There is evidence for an emerging role for the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) in the pathophysiology of AN, with studies showing a perturbed oxytocinergic system in patients with AN. Preliminary evidence has demonstrated that intranasal OT (IN-OT) can produce anxiolytic effects in AN, as well as reducing concern about eating, and dysfunctional attentional biases related to the disorder.

Self-guided imagery rescripting for worry images: A preliminary experimental investigation.

Background: Mental images of feared events are overactive and intrusive in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Imagery rescripting involves integration of positive or neutral imagery and corrective information into images to facilitate emotional processing, reduce imagery intrusions, and re-structure underlying schema. Yet only one known study has applied the technique to treatment of worry.

Closing the Gap for Children with OCD: A Staged-Care Model of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Exposure and Response Prevention.

Childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is among the most prevalent and disabling mental health conditions affecting children and adolescents. Although the distress and burden associated with childhood OCD are well documented and empirically supported treatments are available, there remains an unacceptable "treatment gap" and "quality gap" in the provision of services for youth suffering from OCD. The treatment gap represents the large number of children who never receive mental health services for OCD, while the quality gap refers to the children and young people who do access services, but do not receive evidence-based, cognitive behavioural therapy with exposure and response prevention (CBT-ERP).

Evaluating the effects of a brief motivational interviewing protocol on excessive acquisition.

Background And Objectives: Individuals with hoarding disorder, especially those with problems around acquiring, typically demonstrate a lack of motivation and awareness of their problematic behaviours. Since acquiring behaviours are important targets in interventions for hoarding, effective strategies for increasing motivation in this population are required to enhance the acceptability and efficacy of these interventions.

Methods: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the ability of a brief online motivational intervention to reduce acquiring in a community sample of high acquirers (N = 159).

Pilot Mental Health, Methodologies, and Findings: A Systematic Review.

Pilots' mental health has received increased attention following Germanwings Flight 9525 in 2015, where the copilot intentionally crashed the aircraft into the French Alps, killing all on board. An investigation of this incident found that the pilot had a depressive disorder. This systematic review investigated peer reviewed studies of pilot mental health published since 1980.

Is it as good as being in person? The effectiveness of a modified clinician facilitated buried in treasures group for hoarding disorder using video teleconferencing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the use of video-teleconferencing (VTC) for psychological treatments but VTC effectiveness studies are sparse. We examined treatment outcomes for a modified Buried in Treasures (BIT) group program for hoarding disorder (HD) delivered via VTC. Participants were 10 individuals with HD.

Excessive reassurance seeking versus compulsive checking in OCD: Comparing implicit motivators and mechanisms.

Background And Objectives: Excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) in OCD increases following scenarios with high threat and personal responsibility, but the mechanism via which ERS addresses these concerns is unclear. We investigated whether reassurance following OCD-related threats facilitated temporary threat re-appraisal and/or transferred responsibility to others. We also examined the 'checking by proxy' theory of OCD ERS by comparing the functional mechanisms of reassurance and checking behaviour.

Risking Everything in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: An Analogue Decision-Making Study.

An experiment examined decision-making processes among nonclinical participants with low or high levels of OCD symptomatology (N = 303). To better simulate the decision environments that are most likely to be problematic for clients with OCD, we employed decision tasks that incorporated "black swan" options that have a very low probability but involve substantial loss. When faced with a choice between a safer option that involved no risk of loss or a riskier alternative with a very low probability of substantial loss, most participants chose the safer option regardless of OCD symptom level.

Interpersonal attachment, early family environment, and trauma in hoarding: A systematic review.

The formation of intense emotional attachments to objects, difficulty parting with possessions, and the extreme accumulation of clutter are key features of Hoarding Disorder (HD). Although substantial literature implicates processes such as dysfunctional beliefs and maladaptive emotional cycles in HD, little is known about the vulnerability factors that lead to their development and hoarding symptomatology. The current review sought to systematically collate and integrate findings from studies investigating the relationship between hoarding symptoms and three proposed vulnerability factors: i) interpersonal attachment, ii) early family environment, and iii) traumatic or adverse life events.

The psychological effects of blind and open weighing in women with a high drive for thinness: A mixed method inquiry.

Regular weighing is a routine component of public health interventions but concerns have been raised about possible negative psychological consequences. Blind weighing is an alternative form of weighing that is commonly used in clinical contexts, and that is thought to decrease weighing anxiety and engagement with disordered eating behaviours. In this study, normal weight female participants who indicated a high drive for thinness (N = 53) were randomly assigned to receive bi-weekly open or blind weighing for three weeks.

The impact of modifying obsessive-compulsive beliefs about perfectionism.

Background And Objectives: Cognitive-behavioural models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that maladaptive beliefs about perfectionism play a key role in the development and maintenance of OCD. Cognitive-bias modification for interpretation bias (CBM-I) is an experimental procedure that can test this proposed causal relation.

Methods: As such, the current study investigated whether multiple CBM-I sessions administered in different contexts can modify perfectionism biases.

Internet-delivered exposure therapy versus internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder: A pilot randomized controlled trial.

Aim: To compare the efficacy and acceptability of internet-delivered exposure therapy for panic disorder, to multi-component internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) that included controlled breathing, cognitive restructuring and exposure.

Methods: Participants with panic disorder, with or without agoraphobia, were randomized to internet-delivered exposure therapy (n = 35) or iCBT (n = 34). Both programs were clinician guided, with six lessons delivered over eight weeks.

How technology can enhance treatment: A scoping review of clinical interventions for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders.

Objectives: Researchers are increasingly investigating how technology could be used to improve the efficacy of treatment for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum disorders. A broad range of technologies, disorders and therapeutic processes have been examined in the literature. This review summarizes the evidence for using technology in clinical interventions for anxiety and OC-spectrum disorders and highlights research gaps that should be addressed to improve the evidence base.

Reappraisal of disgust: Self-report and behavioural assessment of individuals with moderate to high contamination fears.

Previous research has linked certain psychological disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), to the experience of disgust and how it is interpreted/appraised. Therefore, the present study examined whether targeting primary and secondary disgust appraisals (i.e.

Imagery-enhanced verbally-based group cognitive behavior therapy for social anxiety disorder: a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is effective for most patients with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) but a substantial proportion fails to remit. Experimental and clinical research suggests that enhancing CBT using imagery-based techniques could improve outcomes. It was hypothesized that imagery-enhanced CBT (IE-CBT) would be superior to verbally-based CBT (VB-CBT) on pre-registered outcomes.

Object attachment in hoarding disorder and its role in a compensatory process.

Hoarding disorder (HD) is characterised by compulsive acquisition and extreme difficulty discarding possessions, resulting in clutter that substantially impacts upon functioning. Heightened object attachment is a central feature of HD according to prominent theoretical models. We review current research on the nature and function of object attachment in HD.

Object attachment and emotions in hoarding disorder.

Background And Aims: Object attachment is a core feature of hoarding disorder (HD), but it also occurs in people without HD. It is therefore critical to clarify differences between normal and abnormal object attachment. Although previous studies show that HD is associated with high emotional reactivity, no study to date has examined the nature and intensity of discrete emotions in people with and without HD in relation to object attachment.