Trying to name what doesn't change: Neural nonresponse to Cognitive Therapy for depression.

Background: Theoretical models of neural mechanisms underlying Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for major depressive disorder (MDD) propose that psychotherapy changes neural functioning of prefrontal cortical structures associated with cognitive-control processes (DeRubeis, Siegle, & Hollon, ); however, MDD is persistent and characterized by long-lasting vulnerabilities to recurrence after intervention, suggesting that underlying neural mechanisms of MDD remain despite treatment. It follows that identification of treatment-resistant aberrant neural processes in MDD may inform clinical and research efforts targeting sustained remission. Thus, we sought to identify brain regions showing aberrant neural functioning in MDD that either (1) fail to exhibit substantive change (nonresponse) or (2) exhibit functional changes (response) following CBT.

Cingulate prediction of response to antidepressant and cognitive behavioral therapies for depression: Meta-analysis and empirical application.

We sought to identify baseline (pre-treatment) neural markers associated with treatment response in major depressive disorder (MDD), specific to treatment type, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or pharmacotherapy (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; SSRI). We conducted a meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies to identify neural prognostic indicators of response to CBT or SSRI. To verify the regions derived from literature, the meta-analytic regions were used to predict clinical change in a verification sample of participants with MDD who received either CBT (n = 60) or an SSRI (n = 19) as part of prior clinical trials.

What does "staying well" after depression mean? Chronic low grade symptomatology after treatment for depression is common.

Background: Persistent low grade depression symptoms are common and impairing in major depressive disorder (MDD) yet rarely reported in treatment follow-up studies (Judd et al., 1998a; Kennedy et al., 2004), suggesting that extant sustained remission rates may not reflect this important clinical feature.

Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Adolescent Social Anxiety: A Unique Convergence of Factors.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a debilitating and often chronic psychiatric disorder that typically onsets during early adolescence. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), the current "gold-standard" treatment for SAD, tends to focus on threat- and fear-based systems hypothesized to maintain the disorder. Despite this targeted approach, SAD ranks among the least responsive anxiety disorders to CBT in adolescent samples, with a considerable proportion of individuals still reporting clinically significant symptoms following treatment, suggesting that the CBT-family of interventions may not fully target precipitating or maintaining factors of the disorder.

Maternal Affect During a Challenging Mother-Child Interaction: The Effects of Broad Autism Phenotype and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Reactivity in Mothers of Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is proposed to index cognitive and behavioral inflexibility. Broad autism phenotype (BAP) traits are prevalent in family members of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study investigated whether RSA and BAP traits in mothers of typically developing (TD) children and mothers of children with ASD influence maternal affect.

How Do Graduate Teaching Assistants Perceive and Understand Their Autistic College Students?

Background: As autistic college students increase in number, it is important to identify how to best support them. Beyond the increased academic demands of higher education, many autistic young adults struggle with social interactions, time management, emotion regulation, and routine changes. Having an accurate understanding of Graduate Teaching Assistants' (GTAs') knowledge of neurodiverse learners could inform improvements to GTA training programs.

Sensitivity shift theory: A developmental model of positive affect and motivational deficits in social anxiety disorder.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common and impairing condition that emerges in early adolescence, confers significant interpersonal disability and often persists into adulthood. Prevailing interventions for socially anxious youth are largely based on cognitive-behavioral models originally developed in adult samples, but produce only modest rates of remission in adolescents. The purposes of this review are to examine plausible explanations for these modest rates of treatment response and to critically evaluate the relevance of developmental mechanisms related to reward circuitry function.

Attention Bias Modification Treatment for Adolescents With Social Anxiety Disorder.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) tends to emerge during the early teenage years and is particularly refractory to change even when standard evidence-based CBT treatments are delivered. Efforts have been made to develop novel, mechanistic-driven interventions for this disorder. In the present study, we examined Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) for youth with SAD.

Gender differences in restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests in youth with autism.

Previous work has found gender differences in restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests (RRBI) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Compared to girls, affected boys have increased stereotyped and restricted behaviors; however much less is known about gender differences in other areas of RRBI. This study aims to identify whether specific RRBI (i.

A Pilot Study of the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Positive Affect and Social Anxiety Symptoms.

Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is efficacious in reducing residual depressive symptoms and preventing future depressive episodes (Kuyken et al., 2016). One potential treatment effect of MBCT may be improvement of positive affect (PA), due to improved awareness of daily positive events (Geschwind et al.

Spatiotemporal dissociation of brain activity underlying threat and reward in social anxiety disorder.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) involves abnormalities in social motivation, which may be independent of well-documented differences in fear and arousal systems. Yet, the neurobiology underlying motivational difficulties in SAD is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to spatiotemporally dissociate reward circuitry dysfunction from alterations in fear and arousal-related neural activity during anticipation and notification of social and non-social reward and punishment.

A Pilot Study of an Adaptive, Idiographic, and Multi-Component Attention Bias Modification Program for Social Anxiety Disorder.

An attentional bias toward threat may be one mechanism underlying clinical anxiety. Attention bias modification (ABM) aims to reduce symptoms of anxiety disorders by directly modifying this deficit. However, existing ABM training programs have not consistently modified attentional bias and may not reflect optimal learning needs of participants (i.

One session treatment for specific phobias in children: Comorbid anxiety disorders and treatment outcome.

Background And Objectives: One-Session Treatment (OST) for specific phobias has been shown to be effective in reducing phobia severity; however, the effect of different types of co-occurring anxiety disorders on OST outcomes is unknown. The present study examined (1) the effects of co-occurring generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), or another non-targeted specific phobia (OSP) on the efficacy of OST for specific phobias, and (2) the effects of OST on these co-occurring disorders following treatment.

Methods: Three groups of 18 youth (7-15 years) with a specific phobia and comorbid GAD, SAD, or OSP were matched on age, gender, and phobia type.

Intolerance for approach of ambiguity in social anxiety disorder.

Previous research has utilised the approach-avoidance task (AAT) to measure approach and avoidance action tendencies in socially anxious individuals. "Neutral" social stimuli may be perceived as ambiguous and hence threatening to socially anxious individuals, however it is unclear whether this results in difficulty approaching ambiguous ("neutral") versus unambiguous threat (e.g.