Publications by authors named "Judith Laposa"
Article Synopsis
- A study looked at how personality and thinking patterns relate to different obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) and similar issues.
- Researchers compared 239 patients with OCD and related disorders to 100 healthy individuals.
- They found that patients had higher levels of anxiety and lower levels of being outgoing and organized, with some unique differences between the types of disorders.
Article Synopsis
- Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects about 250 million people globally, highlighting the need for effective treatment strategies that consider factors like chronotype (individual preference for morning or evening activities) and the timing of therapy sessions.
- A study involving 227 outpatients diagnosed with MDD examined how their chronotype and the time of day they received cognitive behavioral therapy influenced their post-treatment depression severity.
- Findings showed increases in morningness for those in the afternoon and evening therapy groups, with a significant connection between changes in morningness and depression severity for the afternoon group, although the lack of a control group limits the study's conclusions.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated how treatment affects neurocognitive performance in individuals with OCD, focusing on symptom changes and the role of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism as a genetic factor.
- Participants (N = 125) received various treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and physical exercise, with assessments done before and after treatment to measure OCD symptoms and neurocognitive abilities.
- Results showed that while OCD symptoms improved with treatment, neurocognitive performance also enhanced independently of the BDNF genotype, indicating a strong link between symptom relief and cognitive function improvement.
Background: As an established treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is now implemented and assessed in internet-based formats that, when combined with smartphone apps, enable secure text messaging. As an adjunct to such internet-based CBT (ICBT) approaches, text messaging has been associated with increased adherence and therapeutic alliance.
Objective: This study analyzed data from the intervention arm of a randomized control trial evaluating 24-week ICBT for MDD (intervention arm) against standard-care psychiatry (waitlist control).
Article Synopsis
- Symptom provocation plays a crucial role in psychiatric research and treatment by activating specific brain circuits related to mental disorders, aiding in identifying therapeutic targets, especially in conditions like OCD.
- The framework discussed involves rapid switching between different psychiatric symptom states to derive neurophysiological measures from EEG, allowing researchers to isolate active neural circuits during symptomatic expression.
- The challenge lies in reliably transitioning back to a baseline state after provocation, which is easier with controlled conditions but more complex with psychiatric symptoms, prompting a review of various methods for achieving this return.
Article Synopsis
- The research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of aerobic exercise and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) on reducing OCD symptoms, particularly for those who don't respond well to CBT alone.
- A total of 125 participants were divided into four groups: a waitlist control, an exercise group, a CBT group, and a group combining CBT with exercise, with OCD symptoms measured at different points during the study.
- Results showed that both CBT and its combination with exercise led to more significant reductions in OCD symptoms compared to exercise alone, indicating that the frequency of exercise plays a crucial role in symptom improvement.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the effects of a brief virtual coping intervention on the mental health of Canadian healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the lack of research on psychological support for this group.
- The intervention was well-received, leading to significant improvements in anxiety, depression, perceived stress, insomnia, and fear of COVID-19, with some benefits also noted in work/social impairment.
- Findings suggest that these improvements were largely independent of factors like age, gender, or prior mental health treatment, indicating that the intervention was effective across various HCW profiles.
Background: Rumination is strongly associated with depressive symptom severity and course. However, changes in rumination during outpatient cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and their links to baseline features such as distress tolerance and clinical outcomes, have received limited attention.
Methods: 278 outpatients with depression received group or individual CBT.
Article Synopsis
- Current OCD treatments show limited efficacy, highlighting the need for new psychotherapies and digital solutions for better accessibility and personalized care.
- Emerging 'third wave' therapies like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy offer promising results, but further research is needed to establish their effectiveness and clarify roles in treatment.
- Advances in biomarkers (clinical, genetic, neuroimaging) suggest a shift towards personalized treatment strategies, as well as the potential incorporation of digital technologies to enhance therapy outcomes for OCD.
Article Synopsis
- Video feedback after video-taped exposure in group cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder shows improvements in self-perception and anxiety levels.
- In a study with 67 participants, significant reductions in anxiety and enhanced performance were observed after both self-viewing the tape and receiving feedback from group members and therapists.
- Results indicated that group feedback provided additional benefits beyond just viewing the video alone, leading to better evaluations of performance and social concerns among participants.
Article Synopsis
- Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is important in understanding generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), but research on how it relates to GAD symptoms over time during treatment is limited.
- A study involving 90 individuals undergoing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) found that IU and worry severity were linked concurrently but not predictively, suggesting that IU can influence worry at the same time rather than leading to future worry.
- The results indicated that as treatment progressed, the association between IU (especially the inhibitory dimension) and worry severity strengthened, although it remains unclear whether IU causes increased worry or vice versa.
Article Synopsis
- * Conducted with 165 individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, the research found that higher levels of intolerance of uncertainty are linked to more negative interpretations of positive social interactions.
- * The results show that the specific subtype of intolerance related to inhibitory behaviors significantly mediates this relationship, and the findings were consistent across individuals with and without additional mood disorders.
Background: The incidence of mental health disorders in Canada is increasing with costs of CAD $51 billion (US $40 billion) per year. Depression is the most prevalent cause of disability while cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the best validated behavioral depression treatment. CBT, when combined with mindfulness meditation (CBT-M), has strong evidence for increased efficacy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study examined whether 'personality vulnerability' (i.e., self-critical perfectionism or dependency) predicts the trajectory of change, as well as variability and instability (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the top treatment for OCD, but mindfulness methods are also showing promise in reducing symptoms.
- A study involving 71 participants diagnosed with OCD compared mindfulness meditation using a consumer EEG device called "Muse" for eight weeks against a waitlist control group.
- Results indicated that those using Muse had enhanced mindfulness (specifically "Non-Reactivity") and reduced mind wandering, which correlated with a decrease in OCD symptoms.
Article Synopsis
- The study analyzed the relationship between anxiety sensitivity, gender, and treatment outcomes in 278 patients undergoing 14 weeks of cognitive-behavioral group therapy for depression.
- It found that people with cognitive concerns about anxiety experienced greater improvements in their depression towards the end of treatment, while gender did not influence this change.
- Additionally, identifying as a woman and having greater physical anxiety concerns were linked to lower session completion rates, indicating a need for tailored approaches in treatment for different anxiety sensitivity dimensions and demographic factors.
Unlabelled: Excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) has been hypothesized as an important maintenance factor in depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The present study examined the types of ERS in depression and OCD, the effects of CBT on ERS, predictors of ERS reduction, and the relation between ERS reduction and symptom change.
Method: Treatment-seeking participants diagnosed with a depressive disorder (N = 361) or OCD (N = 156) completed the Reassurance Seeking Scale (RSS) and symptom measures before and following CBT treatment.
At the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Integrated Day Treatment (IDT) program, each patient attends either a morning stream or an afternoon stream, but not both. We examined whether subjective chronotype, or the time of day an individual prefers to be most active and alert, predicted treatment outcomes differentially in depressed patients attending the morning vs. afternoon IDT streams.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Reassurance seeking is linked to maintaining anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, which the study aimed to analyze in the context of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
- The research involved 738 participants with various anxiety disorders who completed a Reassurance Seeking Scale before and after undergoing CBT treatment.
- The findings showed that reassurance seeking has three key factors and correlates with anxiety and depression; reducing reassurance seeking through CBT is connected to better clinical outcomes.
Does intolerance of uncertainty mediate improvement in anger during group CBT for GAD? A preliminary investigation.
Behav Cogn Psychother
September 2019
Article Synopsis
- Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) experience higher levels of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anger, with IU playing a key role in how GAD symptoms influence anger.
- A pilot study aimed to see if group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) could reduce anger in people with GAD and whether reductions in IU would lead to improvements in anger.
- Results showed that while worry and IU, along with feelings of anger, decreased after CBT, the ability to control anger did not improve, highlighting the mediating role of IU in reducing both internal and outward expressions of anger.
Article Synopsis
- - The study explores how obsessive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (compulsions) change during cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by analyzing different potential relationships between the two.
- - Researchers tested four models: no coupling, goal directed (obsessions affect compulsions), habit driven (compulsions affect obsessions), and reciprocal, using data from 84 participants over 12 weeks of CBT.
- - Findings suggest that obsessions influence changes in compulsions, supporting the goal directed CBT model, which enhances our understanding of how these symptoms interact during treatment.
Article Synopsis
- Distress tolerance (DT) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) are key factors that influence how severe symptoms are in various anxiety disorders.
- The study investigates how the combination of low DT and high IU affects the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD).
- Findings indicate that participants with lower DT and higher IU experienced more severe SAD symptoms throughout the 12-week therapy, highlighting important considerations for treating anxiety disorders.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigates the relationship between mindfulness and psychological symptoms in patients with anxiety and obsessional disorders, focusing on those seeking treatment.
- It uses the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) to analyze how its five components—Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Nonreactivity, and Nonjudging—correlate with treatment outcomes in patients with OCD, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.
- The results revealed that while both four and five-factor models of mindfulness fit the data well, a single-factor model did not, indicating that different facets of mindfulness may play distinct roles in symptom improvement across various anxiety diagnoses during cognitive behavioral therapy.
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates how fears of causing discomfort to others, measured by the Social Anxiety-Fear of Causing Discomfort to Others (SA-DOS), are specific to patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) compared to those with other anxiety disorders, OCD, and major depressive disorder (MDD).
- - Results from a large sample revealed that individuals with SAD experience significantly higher SA-DOS scores than those with generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders, but not compared to the MDD group.
- - Cognitive behavioural group therapy (CBGT) significantly reduced SA-DOS scores in SAD patients, with a particular focus on the importance of the need for approval (NFA) as a predictor of treatment response.