Content Specificity of Interpretation Bias Related to Social and Emotional Loneliness in Emerging Adulthood.

According to cognitive theories, loneliness is associated with biased cognitive processes. However, studies investigating interpretation bias (IB) related to feelings of loneliness are scarce. The current study aimed to investigate (a) whether emotional loneliness (perceived absence of intimacy) and social loneliness (perceived absence of satisfying connections) are associated with a negative IB while controlling for related psychosocial symptoms, and (b) whether these two types of loneliness show content-specific IB.

Temporal associations of emotional and social loneliness and psychosocial functioning in emerging adulthood.

Emerging adulthood is an important developmental phase often accompanied by peaks in loneliness, social anxiety, and depression. However, knowledge is lacking on how the relationships between emotional loneliness, social loneliness, social isolation, social anxiety and depression evolve over time. Gaining insight in these temporal relations is crucial for our understanding of how these problems arise and maintain each other across time.

Web-Based, Human-Guided, or Computer-Guided Transdiagnostic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in University Students With Anxiety and Depression: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Internet-based cognitive behavioral interventions (iCBTs) are efficacious treatments for depression and anxiety. However, it is unknown whether adding human guidance is feasible and beneficial within a large educational setting.

Objective: This study aims to potentially demonstrate the superiority of 2 variants of a transdiagnostic iCBT program (human-guided and computer-guided iCBT) over care as usual (CAU) in a large sample of university students and the superiority of human-guided iCBT over computer-guided iCBT.

The evaluation of religious and spirituality-based therapy compared to standard treatment in mental health care: A multi-level meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: Psychotherapies are increasingly incorporating spiritual and religious systems of belief and practice, which aligns with recent developments toward person-centered treatments. The main objective of this meta-analysis was to compare the efficacy of a religion and spiritually-based (R/S) therapy to non-R/S treatments.

Method: A multi-level meta-analysis was conducted to compare randomized controlled studies of the efficacy between R/S-based and regular treatments in mental health care setting.

COVID-19 and mental health among at-risk university students: A prospective study into risk and protective factors.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has confronted young adults with an unprecedented mental health challenge. Yet, prospective studies examining protective factors are limited.

Methods: In the present study, we focused on changes in mental health in a large sample (N = 685) of at-risk university students, which were measured before and during the pandemic.

Cognitive Alexithymia Mediates the Association Between Avoidant Attachment and Interpersonal Problems in Patients With Somatoform Disorder.

Patients with somatoform disorder (SFD) are characterized by the presence of chronic physical complaints that are not fully explained by a general medical condition or another mental disorder. Insecure attachment patterns are common in this patient group, which are often associated with interpersonal difficulties. In the present study, the mediational role of two types of alexithymia and negative affectivity (NA) was examined in the association between attachment styles and interpersonal problems in a group of 120 patients with SFD.

Insecure attachment strategies are associated with cognitive alexithymia in patients with severe somatoform disorder.

Objective: In light of interpersonal difficulties and their relation to alexithymia in patients with somatoform disorder, the primary aim of this study was to explore the association between two insecure attachment strategies (deactivation and hyperactivation strategies), and affective and cognitive alexithymia in a sample of 128 patients with severe somatoform disorder, over and above the levels of negative affectivity and personality pathology.

Method: In a cross-sectional study among patients with somatoform disorder, self-report data were obtained using measures for alexithymia (Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire), attachment (Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire), personality pathology (Inventory of Personality Organization), and negative affectivity (Dutch Short Form of the MMPI). We used hierarchical regression analyses to test main effects of attachment deactivation and hyperactivation strategies in the prediction of both cognitive and affective alexithymia, while controlling for the levels of negative affectivity and personality pathology.

Effectiveness of psychotherapy for severe somatoform disorder: meta-analysis.

Background: Patients with severe somatoform disorder (in secondary and tertiary care) typically experience functional impairment associated with physical symptoms and mental distress. Although psychotherapy is the preferred treatment, its effectiveness remains to be demonstrated.

Aims: To examine the effectiveness of psychotherapy for severe somatoform disorder in secondary and tertiary care compared with treatment as usual (TAU) but not waiting-list conditions.

What is the best sequential treatment strategy in the treatment of depression? Adding pharmacotherapy to psychotherapy or vice versa?

Background: Insufficient response to monotreatment for depression is a common phenomenon in clinical practice. Even so, evidence indicating how to proceed in such cases is sparse.

Methods: This study looks at the second phase of a sequential treatment algorithm, in which 103 outpatients with moderately severe depression were initially randomized to either short-term supportive psychodynamic therapy (PDT) or antidepressants.

The impact of level of personality organization on treatment response: a systematic review.

This paper provides a systematic review of extant research concerning the association between level of personality organization (PO) and psychotherapy response. Psychotherapy studies that reported a quantifiable association between level of PO and treatment outcome were examined for eligibility. Based on stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria, we identified 18 studies from 13 original data sources.

The relationship between personality organization as assessed by theory-driven profiles of the Dutch Short Form of the MMPI and self-reported features of personality organization.

In this study, we investigated the relationships between features of personality organization (PO) as assessed by theory driven profiles of the Dutch Short Form of the MMPI (DSFM; Luteijn & Kok, 1985) and 2 self-report measures of personality pathology, that is, the Dutch Inventory of Personality Organization (Berghuis, Kamphuis, Boedijn, & Verheul, 2009) and the Dutch Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire-Revised (Vollema & Hoijtink, 2000), in a sample of 190 outpatient psychiatric patients. Results showed that the single scales of all 3 measures segregated into 2 theoretically expected and meaningful dimensions, that is, a dimension assessing severity of personality pathology and an introversion/extraversion dimension. Theory-driven combinations of single DSFM subscales as a measure of level of PO distinguished characteristics of patients at various levels of PO in theoretically predicted ways.

Structural personality organization as assessed with theory driven profile interpretation of the dutch short form of the MMPI predicts dropout and treatment response in brief cognitive behavioral group therapy for axis I disorders.

We investigated the validity of theory driven profile interpretation of the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) Dutch Short Form (DSFM; Eurelings-Bontekoe, Onnink, Williams, & Snellen, 2008) as a measure of personality organization (PO) in a naturalistic follow-up study among 576 psychiatric outpatients receiving brief cognitive behavioral group therapy. Results showed that this assessment method was useful in predicting dropout as well as treatment response. Patients with a latent psychotic PO profile and a manifest low-level borderline organization profile were 3 times more likely to drop out than patients with other PO profiles.

Patient preference compared with random allocation in short-term psychodynamic supportive psychotherapy with indicated addition of pharmacotherapy for depression.

Depressed patients randomized to psychotherapy were compared with those who had been chosen for psychotherapy in a treatment algorithm, including addition of an antidepressant in case of early nonresponse. There were no differences between randomized and by-preference patients at baseline in adherence and outcome. About half of the early nonresponders refused the additional medication.

Gender differences in clinical features of depressed outpatients: preliminary evidence for subtyping of depression?

Background: Gender differences in depression are usually associated with prevalence, severity, and sometimes with specific syndromes or subtypes. However, a lack of differentiation exists between these factors.

Aims: To disentangle depression severity and the specific items endorsed by men and women and thus explore the presence of gender-specific subtypes.

Psychiatric disorders and urbanization in Germany.

Background: Epidemiological studies over the last decade have supplied growing evidence of an association between urbanization and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders. Our aim was to examine the link between levels of urbanization and 12-month prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders in a nationwide German population study, controlling for other known risk factors such as gender, social class, marital status and the interaction variables of these factors with urbanization.

Methods: The Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI) was used to assess the prevalence of mental disorders (DSM-IV) in a representative sample of the German population (N = 4181, age: 18-65).