Publications by authors named "Louisa Sylvia"

Depression is a prevalent mental health condition in the United States and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The treatment guidelines for depression recommends either psychotherapy, such as behavioral activation (BA), or a second-generation antidepressant as a first-line treatment for adult patients with depression. However, many individuals with depression do not experience improvement from first-line treatments or choose not to engage in them due to stigma, cost, difficulty with access, and/or side effects.

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Background: Nontraumatic painful upper-extremity conditions (NPUCs) are largely age-related degenerations that affect the majority of adults. Most patients with NPUCs do not seek medical care and adjust on their own. Among those who do seek care, approximately 20% report risky substance use, defined as a consumption pattern that increases the risk of harm to physical or psychosocial health.

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Regardless of baseline psychiatric symptom severity, individuals can improve from psychotherapy, including from low-intensity psychosocial treatments. We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized trial of low-intensity mindfulness interventions to explore if and how specific indices of baseline symptom severity were associated with well-being trajectories during treatment and follow-up. In the original study, participants ( = 4, 411) with physical and mental health conditions were randomly assigned to one of two low-intensity mindfulness interventions (eight-session mindfulness-based cognitive therapy or a three-session mindfulness intervention).

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The impact of childhood abuse on the presentation of bipolar disorder could be further elucidated by comparing the networks of affective symptoms among individuals with and with no history of childhood abuse. Data from 476 participants in the Clinical Health Outcomes Initiative in Comparative Effectiveness for Bipolar Disorder study were used to fit several regularised Gaussian Graphical Models. Differences in the presentation of depressive and manic symptoms were uncovered: only among participants with a history of childhood abuse, inadequacy and pessimism were central symptoms in the network of depressive symptoms, while racing thoughts was an important symptom in the network of manic symptoms.

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People may be more likely to exercise if they have self-efficacy for exercise (SEE). We conducted an exploratory analysis of SEE using data from a clinical trial designed to increase physical activity (N = 340). We evaluated correlates of baseline SEE and the relationship between baseline SEE and physical activity.

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Aim: Bipolar disorder (BD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are both serious psychiatric conditions that elevate the risk for harmful outcomes. Although these conditions represent distinct diagnostic entities, existing research suggests that approximately 20% of individuals with BD meet the criteria for comorbid BPD. Individuals with comorbid BD/BPD appear to have a markedly more severe and phenomenologically distinct clinical course when compared with those with BD alone.

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Introduction: Veterans are at risk for mental and physical health problems but may not seek traditional health care services. Wellness-based interventions, including exercise and nutrition, have been associated with improvements in physical and mental health among this population. This study explores the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of a 3-month health and fitness program for veterans.

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Importance: Bipolar disorder affects approximately 8 million adults in the US and approximately 40 million individuals worldwide.

Observations: Bipolar disorder is characterized by recurrent episodes of depression and mania or hypomania. Bipolar depressive episodes are similar to major depressive episodes.

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Background: Bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly co-occur, but no treatment guidelines exist for this population. Prolonged exposure (PE) is a well-established and efficacious treatment for PTSD, untested in patients with comorbid bipolar disorder. The current study evaluates the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of PE for patients with bipolar disorder and PTSD.

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Objective: Bipolar disorder (BD) is complicated by a dynamic, chronic course along with multiple comorbid psychiatric and medical conditions, making it challenging for clinicians to treat and patients to thrive. To efficiently manage the complexity of BD and help patients recover, we developed a Focused Integrated Team-based Treatment Program for Bipolar Disorder (FITT-BD). The purpose of this paper is to describe how we developed this clinic and the lessons we learned.

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Background: Bipolar disorder is among the top 10 causes of disability worldwide. The Short-Form Six-Dimension (SF-6D) is a frequently used measure of preference-based health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, this measure's psychometric performance has not been tested in outpatient patients with bipolar disorder.

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Introduction: Depressed individuals are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than those without depression. People with CVD have higher rates of depression than those without and have higher mortality rates if they have comorbid depression. While physical activity (PA) improves both, few people engage in enough.

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Background: The goals of this study were to introduce psychological well-being as an important subject of inquiry in bipolar disorder, to compare well-being in a cohort of patients with bipolar disorder with that of a normative sample, and to assess whether common measures of well-being and mood measure empirically distinct phenomena.

Methods: Participants were outpatients with bipolar I disorder in remission (N=37) from the Enhancing Emotion Regulation in Bipolar Disorder (EERBD) study and a matched community normative sample from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey (N=6297). The Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS) was used to measure psychological well-being.

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Background: Mindfulness can improve overall well-being by training individuals to focus on the present moment without judging their thoughts. However, it is unknown how much mindfulness practice and training are necessary to improve well-being.

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine whether a standard 8-session web-based mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program, compared with a brief 3-session mindfulness intervention, improved overall participant well-being.

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Background: Childhood trauma affects the course of mood disorders. Researchers are now considering childhood trauma as an influential factor in the treatment of mood disorders. However, the role of childhood trauma in the treatment of bipolar disorder remains understudied.

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Background: Despite growing interest in nutrition as a behavioral intervention to improve cognitive health in clinical populations, many providers find it challenging to provide specific nutritional recommendations. We aimed to review and synthesize current empirical research on this topic and provide considerations for healthcare providers working with adults who wish to optimize their cognition via dietary improvements.

Methods: We performed a narrative review of research published between January 2009 and May 2021 on 5 popular dietary interventions: the Mediterranean diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention Diet for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND), the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting.

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Objective: Patients with bipolar disorder treated with lithium often require additional antipsychotics or anticonvulsants. However, the comparative effectiveness and safety of these agents as add-on to lithium has not been studied.

Methods: This secondary analysis combined two similar 24-week trials on outpatients with bipolar disorder randomized to lithium (target serum level 0.

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Background: Patients with bipolar disorder have higher rates of cardiometabolic comorbidities and mortality. Although guidelines emphasize the importance of cardiovascular monitoring, few studies characterized the cardiometabolic risk profile during treatment and their relation to symptomatology and treatment response.

Methods: We analyzed data from two similar 24-weeks comparative effectiveness trials, with a combined sample of 770 participants randomized to two different lithium doses, quetiapine (300 mg/day), or standard treatment without lithium.

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Using network analysis, we estimated the structure of relations among manic and depressive symptoms, respectively, in 486 patients (59% women; age: M = 37, SD = 12.1) with bipolar disorder prior to their entering a clinical trial. We computed three types of networks: (a) Gaussian graphical models (GGMs) depicting regularized partial correlations, (b) regression-based GGMs depicting nonregularized partial correlations, and (c) directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) via a Bayesian hill-climbing algorithm.

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