Exploring the optimal factor structure of mind-wandering: Associations with neuroticism.

Mind-wandering is an essential cognitive process in which people engage for 30-50% of their waking day and is highly associated with neuroticism. The current study identified the factor structure of retrospective self-report items related to mind-wandering and perseverative cognition content and explored these associations with neuroticism. In an adult community sample (N = 309), items from the NYC Cognition Questionnaire, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire Short Form, and the Rumination Responses Brooding Subscale were entered into factor analyses to test the optimal factor structure of these items.

A parallel-arm, randomized trial of Behavioral Activation Therapy for anhedonia versus mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for adults with anhedonia.

Background: Anhedonia, deficits in motivation and pleasure, is a transdiagnostic symptom of psychopathology and negative prognostic marker.

Methods: In this randomized, parallel-arm clinical trial, a novel intervention, Behavioral Activation Treatment for Anhedonia (BATA), was compared to an individually administered Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in a transdiagnostic cohort of adults with clinically significant anhedonia (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers NCT02874534 and NCT04036136).

The effects of psychotherapy for anhedonia on subcortical brain volumes measured with ultra-high field MRI.

Background: Anhedonia is a transdiagnostic symptom often resistant to treatment. The identification of biomarkers sensitive to anhedonia treatment will aid in the evaluation of novel anhedonia interventions.

Methods: This is an exploratory analysis of changes in subcortical brain volumes accompanying psychotherapy in a transdiagnostic anhedonic sample using ultra-high field (7-Tesla) MRI.

Using latent profile analyses to classify subjects with anhedonia based on reward-related measures obtained in the FAST-MAS study.

Background: Growing evidence indicates that anhedonia is a multifaceted construct. This study examined the possibility of identifying subgroups of people with anhedonia using multiple reward-related measures to provide greater understanding the Research Domain Criteria's Positive Valence Systems Domain and pathways for developing treatments.

Methods: Latent profile analysis of baseline data from a study that examined the effects of a novel kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonist drug on measures and biomarkers associated with anhedonia was used to identify subgroups.

Identifying modifiable factors associated with psychological health in women experiencing infertility.

This study assessed the relationship between modifiable psychological variables and depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic growth in women experiencing infertility. U.S.

Striatal dopamine in anhedonia: A simultaneous [C]raclopride positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation.

Background: Anhedonia is hypothesized to be associated with blunted mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) functioning in samples with major depressive disorder. The purpose of this study was to examine linkages between striatal DA, reward circuitry functioning, anhedonia, and, in an exploratory fashion, self-reported stress, in a transdiagnostic anhedonic sample.

Methods: Participants with (n = 25) and without (n = 12) clinically impairing anhedonia completed a reward-processing task during simultaneous positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance (PET-MR) imaging with [C]raclopride, a DA D2/D3 receptor antagonist that selectively binds to striatal DA receptors.

Parsing within & between-person dynamics of therapy homework completion and clinical symptoms in two cognitive behavioral treatments for adults with anhedonia.

Objective: Homework is a key theoretical component of cognitive-behavioral therapies, however, the effects of homework on clinical outcomes have largely been evaluated between-persons rather than within-persons.

Methods: The effects of homework completion on treatment response were examined in a randomized trial comparing Behavioral Activation Treatment for Anhedonia (BATA, n = 38), a novel psychotherapy, to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT, n=35). The primary endpoint was consummatory reward sensitivity, measured weekly by the Snaith Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), up to 15 weeks.

Longitudinal associations between perceived stress and anhedonia during psychotherapy.

Background: Chronic stress alters reward sensitivity and contributes to the emergence of anhedonia. In clinical samples, the perception of stress is a strong predictor of anhedonia. While there is substantial evidence demonstrating psychotherapy reduces perceived stress, little is known regarding the effects of treatment-related decreases in perceived stress on anhedonia.

Emotion regulation difficulties link trait resilience and symptoms of depression and anxiety in psychiatric outpatients.

Background: Despite negative associations of trait resilience with depression and anxiety symptoms, the mechanisms by which resilience may buffer against these symptoms remain underexplored. This study investigated emotion regulation difficulties as a potential link in the relationship between trait resilience and depression and anxiety severity in psychiatric outpatients (N = 353).

Methods: Participants diagnosed with primary depression or anxiety disorders were evaluated prior to treatment initiation with the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale (CUDOS), and Clinically Useful Anxiety Outcome Scale (CUXOS).

Enhancing cognitive restructuring with concurrent fMRI-guided neurostimulation for emotional dysregulation-A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Transdiagnostic clinical emotional dysregulation is a key component of many mental health disorders and offers an avenue to address multiple disorders with one transdiagnostic treatment. In the current study, we pilot an intervention that combines a one-time teaching and practice of cognitive restructuring (CR) with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), targeted based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Methods: Thirty-seven clinical adults who self-reported high emotional dysregulation were enrolled in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Neural signatures of saliency-mapping in anhedonia: A narrative review.

Anhedonia is the loss of pleasure or motivation to engage in previously enjoyable activities, and is a transdiagnostic symptom associated with significant clinical impairment. Anhedonia is implicated in several different psychiatric disorders, presenting a promising opportunity for transdiagnostic treatment. Thus, developing targeted treatments for anhedonia is of critical importance for population mental health.

Multilevel growth curve analyses of behavioral activation for anhedonia (BATA) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy effects on anhedonia and resting-state functional connectivity: Interim results of a randomized trial.

Background: The neural mechanisms associated with anhedonia treatment response are poorly understood. Additionally, no study has investigated changes in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) accompanying psychosocial treatment for anhedonia.

Methods: We evaluated a novel psychotherapy, Behavioral Activation Therapy for Anhedonia (BATA, n = 38) relative to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT, n = 35) in a medication-free, transdiagnostic, anhedonic sample in a parallel randomized controlled trial.

Do interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive sensibility predict emotion regulation?

Introduction: Interoception refers to awareness, interpretation, and integration of sensations in the body. While interoceptive accuracy has long been regarded as a core component of emotional experience, less is known about the relationship of interoceptive accuracy and related facets of interoception to emotion regulation deficits. This study explores how interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive sensibility relate to emotion regulation in a non-clinical sample.

Do gender, anxiety, or sleep quality predict mindfulness-based stress reduction outcomes?

Although mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can improve health and well-being, less is known about factors that predict outcomes. This prospective observational study examined gender and baseline anxiety and sleep quality as predictors of change in emotion regulation and stress symptoms following an 8-week MBSR program. Women and men reported similar improvement in stress symptoms and cognitive reappraisal, whereas men improved more in emotion suppression.

A randomized proof-of-mechanism trial applying the 'fast-fail' approach to evaluating κ-opioid antagonism as a treatment for anhedonia.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) 'fast-fail' approach seeks to improve too-often-misleading early-phase drug development methods by incorporating biomarker-based proof-of-mechanism (POM) testing in phase 2a. This first comprehensive application of the fast-fail approach evaluated the potential of κ-opioid receptor (KOR) antagonism for treating anhedonia with a POM study determining whether robust target engagement favorably impacts the brain circuitry hypothesized to mediate clinical effects. Here we report the results from a multicenter, 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial in patients with anhedonia and a mood or anxiety disorder (selective KOR antagonist (JNJ-67953964, 10 mg; n = 45) and placebo (n = 44)).

Reward Network Modulation as a Mechanism of Change in Behavioral Activation.

Behavioral Activation (BA) is a contemporary third-wave psychosocial treatment approach that emphasizes helping individuals become more active in ways that are meaningful to them as a means of improving mood and quality of life. BA has been designated as a well-established, validated treatment for depression by the American Psychological Association following several decades of accumulated empirical support demonstrating that BA techniques successfully reduce depression symptoms and produce other desirable outcomes across a variety of populations and contexts. The purported mechanism of change underlying BA treatment lies in increasing activation, which in turn increases contact with positive reinforcement thereby reversing the cycle of depression.

Pretreatment brain connectivity during positive emotion upregulation predicts decreased anhedonia following behavioral activation therapy for depression.

Background: Neurobiological predictors of antidepressant response may help guide treatment selection and improve response rates to available treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD). Behavioral activation therapy for depression (BATD) is an evidence-based intervention designed to ameliorate core symptoms of MDD by promoting sustained engagement with value-guided, positively-reinforcing activities. The present study examined pre-treatment task-based functional brain connectivity as a predictor of antidepressant response to BATD.

Mindfulness Meditation Targets Transdiagnostic Symptoms Implicated in Stress-Related Disorders: Understanding Relationships between Changes in Mindfulness, Sleep Quality, and Physical Symptoms.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week meditation program known to improve anxiety, depression, and psychological well-being. Other health-related effects, such as sleep quality, are less well established, as are the psychological processes associated with therapeutic change. This prospective, observational study ( = 213) aimed to determine whether perseverative cognition, indicated by rumination and intrusive thoughts, and emotion regulation, measured by avoidance, thought suppression, emotion suppression, and cognitive reappraisal, partly accounted for the hypothesized relationship between changes in mindfulness and two health-related outcomes: sleep quality and stress-related physical symptoms.

Do beliefs about depression etiologies influence the type and severity of depression stigma? The case of Arab adolescents.

Purpose: Research has documented that holding certain etiological beliefs about depression can determine the level of stigma experienced by individuals with depression. To date, no studies have yet examined this relationship among adolescents. Using a sample of Arab adolescents, the purpose of this study was to describe adolescents' beliefs about the etiology of depression, and examine whether these beliefs influence the type and severity of depression stigma.

The prevalence of depressive symptoms among Arab adolescents: Findings from Jordan.

Background: The lack of research regarding the current profile of adolescent depression in the Arab countries in general, and Jordan in particular, makes it difficult to design, implement, and disseminate effective interventions to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adolescent depression in the region. The purpose of this study was to estimate a national prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Jordan, and to identify characteristics associated with severity of depression.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, nationally representative school survey was utilized.