Environmental Suppression Mediates the Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress and Cannabis Use Among Trauma-Exposed College Students.

Objective: Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress (PTS) are prominent risk factors for problematic substance use, but little research has evaluated the mechanisms that link PTS and substance use. Emerging research supports the utility of reward probability (i.e.

Trauma exposure among cannabis use disorder individuals was associated with a craving-correlated non-habituating amygdala response to aversive cues.

The relationship of cannabis-use disorder and trauma exposure at the level of the brain is not well-understood. Cue-reactivity paradigms have largely focused on characterizing aberrant subcortical function by averaging across the entire task. However, changes across the task, including a non-habituating amygdala response (NHAR), may be a useful biomarker for relapse vulnerability and other pathology.

Intervention Design and Trial Protocol: Mindfulness-based Exposure for PAP-associated Claustrophobia.

Positive airway pressure (PAP) associated claustrophobia is common among obstructive sleep apnea patients and plays a prominent role in low adherence and treatment failure. As there are no evidence-based interventions for PAP-associated claustrophobia, the objective of the present research is to pilot test Mindfulness-based Exposure for PAP-associated Claustrophobia, in sleep apnea adults that present with treatment non-adherence and claustrophobia. This approach combines Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction with exposure-based treatment components to target this treatment-associated claustrophobia.

Unseen scars: Cocaine patients with prior trauma evidence heightened resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the amygdala and limbic-striatal regions.

Background: Substance use disorder (SUD) patients with a history of trauma exhibit poorer treatment outcome, greater functional impairment and higher risk for relapse. Endorsement of prior trauma has, in several SUD populations, been linked to abnormal functional connectivity (FC) during task-based studies. We examined amygdala FC in the resting state (RS), testing for differences between cocaine patients with and without prior trauma.

The many facets of mindfulness and the prediction of change following mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).

Objectives: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) promotes numerous psychological benefits, but few studies have identified for whom MBSR is most effective. The current study tested the hypothesis that lower baseline mindfulness invites more "room to grow" and, thus, predicts greater improvement during MBSR.

Method: We examined three facets of mindfulness (awareness, acceptance, decentering) among 131 MBSR participants prior to enrollment, to test the hypothesis that lower baseline mindfulness predicts greater improvements in perceived stress, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) following MBSR.

Multi-site exploration of sex differences in brain reactivity to smoking cues: Consensus across sites and methodologies.

Background: Biological sex influences cigarette smoking behavior. More men than women smoke, but women have a harder time quitting. Sex differences in smoking cue (SC) reactivity may underlie such behavioral differences.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness and Acceptance Group Therapy for Residential Substance Use Patients.

Background: Substance use disorders are understood as a chronically relapsing condition that is difficult to treat. However, in recent years there have been promising developments in the treatment of substance use disorders, specifically with interventions based on mindfulness and acceptance and commitment therapy. Little research has examined whether these types of interventions may positively impact residential substance use treatment outcomes.

Experiential avoidance, distress tolerance, and substance use cravings among adults in residential treatment for substance use disorders.

Substance use cravings are a known predictor of relapse to substance use following treatment for a substance use disorder. Thus, research on factors that may be correlated with cravings, and could then be targeted in substance use treatment, is needed. Both distress tolerance and experiential avoidance, similar but distinct constructs, are independently associated with substance use cravings.

Caregivers' Advice and Children's Bystander Behaviors During Bullying Incidents.

Many bullying prevention programs take a bystander approach, which encourages children to intervene when they are bystanders to bullying incidents. Little is known about how caregivers' advice to children might promote or undermine the positive bystander behaviors targeted by these programs. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to investigate relations between caregivers' advice and children's bystander behavior during bullying situations.

Emotional, physical and sexual abuse are associated with a heightened limbic response to cocaine cues.

Drug-reward cues trigger motivational circuitry, a response linked to drug-seeking in animals and in humans. Adverse life events have been reported to increase sensitivity to drug rewards and to bolster drug reward signaling. Therefore, we hypothesized that cocaine-dependent individuals with prior emotional, physical and sexual abuse might have a heightened mesolimbic brain response to cues for drug reward in a new brief-cue probe.

The relationship between mindfulness and compulsive sexual behavior in a sample of men in treatment for substance use disorders.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are a serious worldwide problem. Despite years of research on the treatment of SUDs, relapse remains high. One factor that may complicate SUDs treatment for some patients is compulsive sexual behavior.

Dimensions of distress tolerance and the moderating effects on mindfulness-based stress reduction.

Background And Objectives: This study examined the relationship between distress tolerance and psychosocial changes among individuals participating in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). The objective of the analysis was to discern whether individuals with lower distress tolerance measured before MBSR showed larger reductions in perceived stress following MBSR.

Design And Methods: Data were collected from a sample of convenience (n = 372) using a quasi-experimental design.

Dispositional mindfulness, spirituality, and substance use in predicting depressive symptoms in a treatment-seeking sample.

Objective: It is imperative that research identifies factors related to depression among individuals in substance use treatment, as depression is associated with substance use relapse. Dispositional mindfulness and spirituality may bear an important role in the relationship between depression and substance use.

Method: Using preexisting patient medical records (N = 105), the current study investigated dispositional mindfulness and spirituality in relation to depressive symptom clusters (affective, cognitive, and physiological) among men in residential substance use treatment.

Functional neuroimaging of personally-relevant stimuli in a paediatric case of impaired awareness.

Background: Functional neuroimaging studies have observed preserved neural activation to personally relevant stimuli in patients within the disorders of consciousness (DOC) spectrum. As the majority of studies have focused on adult DOC patients, little is known about preserved activation in the developing brain of children with impaired consciousness.

Case Study: The aim of this study is to use fMRI to measure preserved neural activation to personally relevant stimuli (subject's own name and familiar voice) in a paediatric patient who sustained a traumatic brain injury and anoxic-ischaemia following a motor vehicle accident at 18 months of age rendering her probable for minimally conscious state.

Pragmatic psychodynamic psychotherapy for a patient with depression and breast cancer: functional MRI evaluation of treatment effects.

Time-limited psychodynamic psychotherapy is garnering empirical support as an intervention for clinical depression. However, research is needed to examine the efficacy of psychodynamic approaches among patients presenting with diverse psychiatric and medical problems. This case study examined the efficacy of eight sessions of pragmatic psychodynamic psychotherapy (PPP) in treating a woman with major depression and breast cancer.

Outcomes of Prolonged Exposure therapy for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Prolonged Exposure (PE) is an evidenced-based psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that is being disseminated nationally within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with promising initial results.

Neural Changes following Behavioral Activation for a Depressed Breast Cancer Patient: A Functional MRI Case Study.

Functional neuroimaging is an innovative but at this stage underutilized method to assess the efficacy of psychotherapy for depression. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in this case study to examine changes in brain activity in a depressed breast cancer patient receiving an 8-session Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD), based on the work of Hopko and Lejuez (2007). A music listening paradigm was used during fMRI brain scans to assess reward responsiveness at pre- and posttreatment.

Brief behavioral activation and problem-solving therapy for depressed breast cancer patients: randomized trial.

Objective: Major depression is the most common psychiatric disorder among breast cancer patients and is associated with substantial impairment. Although some research has explored the utility of psychotherapy with breast cancer patients, only 2 small trials have investigated the potential benefits of behavior therapy among patients with well-diagnosed depression.

Method: In a primarily Caucasian, well-educated sample of women (age = 55.

The reward probability index: design and validation of a scale measuring access to environmental reward.

Behavioral models of depression implicate decreased response-contingent positive reinforcement (RCPR) as critical toward the development and maintenance of depression (Lewinsohn, 1974). Given the absence of a psychometrically sound self-report measure of RCPR, the Reward Probability Index (RPI) was developed to measure access to environmental reward and to approximate actual RCPR. In Study 1 (n=269), exploratory factor analysis supported a 20-item two-factor model (Reward Probability, Environmental Suppressors) with strong internal consistency (α=.