The cortisol awakening response at admission to hospital predicts depression severity after discharge in major depressive disorder patients-A replication study.

The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is a non-invasive biomarker for hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) dysregulation, reflecting accumulated stress over time. In a previous study we reported that a blunted CAR before an inpatient treatment predicted self-reported depressive symptoms six weeks and six months after discharge [Eikeseth, F. F.

The cortisol awakening response at admission to hospital predicts depression severity after discharge in MDD patients.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation and altered cortisol awakening response (CAR), a non-invasive biomarker for HPA axis reactivity. We theorized that the CAR resembles the accumulated effects of depression over time, and may therefore predict depressive symptom severity once patients return home following inpatient treatment. Two studies are reported.

Bad Roots to Grow: Deficient Implicit Self-Evaluations in Chronic Depression With an Early Onset.

Objective: Implicit self-esteem, which is based on associative learning processes, is considered to be constituted earlier in life than explicit, verbalized self-esteem. While depressed individuals report negative explicit self-esteem, research has predominantly demonstrated equivalent levels of implicit self-esteem of depressed and healthy individuals. We further illuminate this finding by theorizing and empirically demonstrating that chronically depressed individuals show particularly low levels of implicit self-esteem when depression had an early onset.

Attachment Status Affects Heart Rate Responses to Experimental Ostracism in Inpatients with Depression.

Depression is assumed to be both a risk factor for rejection and a result of it, and as such constitutes an important factor in rejection research. Attachment theory has been applied to understand psychological disorders, such as depression, and can explain individual differences in responses to rejection. Research on autonomic nervous system activity to rejection experiences has been contradictory, with opposing strings of argumentation (activating vs.

Emotion suppression, not reappraisal, predicts psychotherapy outcome.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify whether trait emotion regulation strategies predict successful or unsuccessful psychotherapy outcomes in cognitive behaviour therapy.

Methods: Three emotion regulation strategies (reappraisal, suppression, and externalizing behaviour) were assessed in 358 in- and outpatients. Patients were then grouped by therapy outcome.

Does cognitive behavior therapy alter emotion regulation in inpatients with a depressive disorder?

Introduction: Emotion regulation plays an important role in the development and treatment of depression. The present study investigated whether the emotion regulation strategies, expressive suppression (ES) and cognitive reappraisal (CR) change in the course of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) of depressive inpatients. Furthermore, it also examined whether changes in CR and ES correlated with positive treatment outcomes.

Contrasting chronic with episodic depression: an analysis of distorted socio-emotional information processing in chronic depression.

Background: The specific features that differentiate chronic and episodic depression are widely unknown. This study compares the chronic and episodic form of depression with regard to two domains of socio-emotional information processing: Decoding of other people's emotional states (Theory of Mind) and the perception of own emotions (alexithymia).

Method: This study compares 30 chronically and 29 episodically depressed patients by tapping into Theory of Mind deficits with a multi-method approach and by assessing alexithymic deficits.

The Clinical Global Impression Scale and the influence of patient or staff perspective on outcome.

Background: Since its first publication, the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI) has become one of the most widely used assessment instruments in psychiatry. Although some conflicting data has been presented, studies investigating the CGI's validity have only rarely been conducted so far. It is unclear whether the improvement index CGI-I or a difference score of the severity index CGI-S (dif) is more valid in depicting clinical change.

Hypercaloric diets differing in fat composition have similar effects on serum leptin and weight gain in female subjects with anorexia nervosa.

Weight regain in subjects with anorexia nervosa is associated with an increase in serum leptin concentrations that is hypothesized to impair full weight restoration. As diets rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been described to lower serum leptin concentrations, we tested the hypothesis that consumption of a hypercaloric diet rich in n-3 PUFA is associated with an attenuated increase in serum leptin and a higher efficiency of body weight gain in subjects with anorexia nervosa. Twenty-five female subjects with anorexia nervosa were enrolled into this controlled dietary intervention study.