Brain Activation Associated With Response to Psychotherapies for Late-Life Depression: A Task-Based fMRI Study.

Background: The course of late-life depression is associated with functioning of multiple brain networks. Understanding the brain mechanisms associated with response to psychotherapy can inform treatment development and a personalized treatment approach. This study examined how activation of key regions of the salience network, default mode network and reward systems is associated with response to psychotherapies for late-life depression.

A first look at diversity gaps in psychotherapy research publications and representation.

Objective: There is a pervasive underrepresentation of researchers and clinicians from diverse backgrounds in psychology. This is the first study to focus on diversity gaps in Psychotherapy Research. We examine a gap in the representation of research from low-income countries and summarize barriers and solutions to increase diversity in the field.

Frontostriatal salience network expansion in individuals in depression.

Decades of neuroimaging studies have shown modest differences in brain structure and connectivity in depression, hindering mechanistic insights or the identification of risk factors for disease onset. Furthermore, whereas depression is episodic, few longitudinal neuroimaging studies exist, limiting understanding of mechanisms that drive mood-state transitions. The emerging field of precision functional mapping has used densely sampled longitudinal neuroimaging data to show behaviourally meaningful differences in brain network topography and connectivity between and in healthy individuals, but this approach has not been applied in depression.

Improved outcomes for depressed elder abuse victims with video-delivered psychotherapy during COVID-19.

Objective: There is a lack of evidence-based scalable therapies for elder abuse victims, with no current remotely delivered tailored psychotherapy. The purpose of this manuscript is to (a) examine the effectiveness of a brief therapy for depression for elder abuse victims, and (b) to compare remote intervention delivery via phone or video to the traditional in-person delivery.

Method: PROTECT, , is a brief therapy developed in collaboration with partners at the Department for the Aging (DFTA) of New York City.

To detrend, or not to detrend, that is the question? The effects of detrending on cross-lagged effects in panel models.

Intervention studies in psychology often focus on identifying mechanisms that explain change over time. Cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) are well suited to study mechanisms, but there is a controversy regarding the importance of detrending-defined here as separating longer-term time trends from cross-lagged effects-when modeling these change processes. The aim of this study was to present and test the arguments for and against detrending CLPMs in the presence of an intervention effect.

Improving social reward responsivity and social connectedness in psychotherapies for late-life depression: Engage & Connect as an example.

Psychotherapies are effective in reducing late-life depression. Yet, about half of patients remain depressed at treatment end. Advances in neuroscience can inform simplified interventions that target key brain networks impacted by depression.

Expansion of a frontostriatal salience network in individuals with depression.

Hundreds of neuroimaging studies spanning two decades have revealed differences in brain structure and functional connectivity in depression, but with modest effect sizes, complicating efforts to derive mechanistic pathophysiologic insights or develop biomarkers. Furthermore, although depression is a fundamentally episodic condition, few neuroimaging studies have taken a longitudinal approach, which is critical for understanding cause and effect and delineating mechanisms that drive mood state transitions over time. The emerging field of precision functional mapping using densely-sampled longitudinal neuroimaging data has revealed unexpected, functionally meaningful individual differences in brain network topology in healthy individuals, but these approaches have never been applied to individuals with depression.

Therapists' oxytocin response mediates the association between patients' negative emotions and psychotherapy outcomes.

Background: Existing literature suggests that patients' experiences of emotions, especially negative emotions, predict outcomes in psychotherapies for major depressive disorder. However, the specific mechanisms underlying this effect remain unclear. Based on studies pointing to the role of oxytocin (OT) in attachment relationships, we proposed and tested a mediation model where the therapists' hormonal responses, as represented by increases in their OT levels, mediates the association between negative emotions and symptomatic change.

Course of Subtypes of Late-Life Depression Identified by Bipartite Network Analysis During Psychosocial Interventions.

Importance: Approximately half of older adults with depression remain symptomatic at treatment end. Identifying discrete clinical profiles associated with treatment outcomes may guide development of personalized psychosocial interventions.

Objective: To identify clinical subtypes of late-life depression and examine their depression trajectory during psychosocial interventions in older adults with depression.

Efficacy and moderators of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data.

Background: Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) is frequently used to treat depression, but it is unclear which patients might benefit specifically. Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses can provide more precise effect estimates than conventional meta-analyses and identify patient-level moderators. This IPD meta-analysis examined the efficacy and moderators of STPP for depression compared to control conditions.

Strength-based methods - a narrative review and comparative multilevel meta-analysis of positive interventions in clinical settings.

Objective: In psychotherapy, strength-based methods (SBM) represent efforts to build on patients' strengths while addressing the deficits and challenges that led them to come to therapy. SBM are incorporated to some extent in all major psychotherapy approaches, but data on their unique contribution to psychotherapy efficacy is scarce.

Methods: First, we conducted a systematic review and narrative synthesis of eight process-outcome psychotherapy studies that investigated in-session SBM and their relation to immediate outcomes.

Functional Connectivity Mapping for rTMS Target Selection in Depression.

Objective: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) protocols increasingly use subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) functional connectivity to individualize treatment targets. However, the efficacy of this approach is unclear, with conflicting findings and varying effect sizes across studies. Here, the authors investigated the effect of the stimulation site's functional connectivity with the sgACC (sgACC-StimFC) on treatment outcome to rTMS in 295 patients with major depression.

The Association Between Political Climate and Trainees' Supervision Experiences and Needs.

This study examined whether political climate influenced trainees' clinical work, supervisory experiences, and supervisory alliance. Data were collected from 366 trainees in a nationwide survey. Most trainees believed the political atmosphere affected clients to some degree.

Research-Practice Partnership to Develop and Implement Routine Mental Health Symptom Tracking Tool Among Older Adults During COVID-19.

Objective: Older adults are disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, causing a mental health crisis in late life, due to physical restrictions (e.g., quarantine), limited access to services, and lower literacy and access to technology.

Proof of Concept of the Contribution of the Interaction between Trait-like and State-like Effects in Identifying Individual-Specific Mechanisms of Action in Biological Psychiatry.

Identifying individual-specific mechanisms of action may facilitate progress toward precision medicine. Most studies seeking to identify mechanisms of action collapse together two distinct components: pre-treatment trait-like characteristics differentiating between individuals and state-like characteristics changing within each individual over the course of treatment. We suggest a conceptual framework highlighting the importance of studying interactions between trait-like and state-like components in the development of moderated mediation models that can guide personalized targeted interventions.

How to model and interpret cross-lagged effects in psychotherapy mechanisms of change research: A comparison of multilevel and structural equation models.

Objective: Modeling cross-lagged effects in psychotherapy mechanisms of change studies is complex and requires careful attention to model selection and interpretation. However, there is a lack of field-specific guidelines. We aimed to (a) describe the estimation and interpretation of cross lagged effects using multilevel models (MLM) and random-intercept cross lagged panel model (RI-CLPM); (b) compare these models' performance and risk of bias using simulations and an applied research example to formulate recommendations for practice.

How does hostile resistance interfere with the benefits of cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder? The role of therapist adherence and working alliance.

Although clients' hostile behavior directed at therapists () predicts worse outcomes in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for panic disorder, the process by which this happens remains unknown. This study examines two putative mechanisms: working alliance and therapist adherence. Seventy-one adults with primary panic disorder received CBT in a larger trial.