Assessment of treatment expectations in people with suspected endometriosis: A psychometric analysis.

Background: Treatment expectations influence clinical outcomes in various physical and psychological conditions; however, no studies have explored their role in endometriosis treatment. It is necessary to understand how these expectations can be measured to study treatment expectations and their effects in clinical practice. This study aimed to psychometrically analyze and compare different treatment expectation measurements and describe treatment expectations in women with suspected endometriosis.

"I Was Almost in Disbelief" - Qualitative Analysis of Experiences and Expectations Among Psoriasis Patients Undergoing Biologic Treatment with Secukinumab.

Purpose: Psoriasis is a highly debilitating chronic inflammatory disease. Increased understanding of its pathophysiology has enabled development of targeted treatments such as biologics. Several medical treatments have been shown to be influenced by patients' experiences and expectations.

Informed Consent for Psychotherapy: The Moderating Role of Therapeutic Alliance, Prior Knowledge and Autonomous Motivation on Decision-Making and Treatment Expectation.

Background: Informed consent is an ethical prerequisite for psychotherapy. There are no routinely used standardized strategies for obtaining informed consent. A new optimized informed consent consultation (OIC) strengthened treatment-relevant aspects.

What helps and what hinders antidepressant discontinuation? Qualitative analysis of patients' experiences and expectations.

Background: Many patients with depressive disorders use antidepressants longer than clinically indicated. Long-term use of antidepressants is associated with high individual and societal costs. Patients often perceive antidepressant discontinuation as challenging.

Capacity to consent to psychotherapy: Reliability of the newly adapted German version of the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment for psychotherapy.

Background: Patients' capacity to consent to treatment (CCT) is a prerequisite for ethically sound informed consent in psychotherapy. The MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MacCAT-T) is a reliable instrument for assessing CCT. A German version was adapted to the psychotherapeutical context (MacCAT-PT) to investigate its reliability and possible influences of age, education and prior experience with psychotherapy on CCT in a mixed clinical sample.

Optimizing treatment expectations and decision making through informed consent for psychotherapy: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The objective of this research was to determine the efficacy and safety of an optimized informed consent (OIC) consultation for psychotherapy.

Method: We performed a randomized controlled superiority online trial involving 2 weeks of treatment and 3 months of follow-up. One hundred twenty-two adults with mental disorders confirmed by structured interview currently neither in out- nor inpatient psychotherapy (mean age: 32, gender identity: 51.

Psychological risk factors for Long COVID and their modification: study protocol of a three-arm, randomised controlled trial (SOMA.COV).

Background: Growing evidence suggests that in addition to pathophysiological, there are psychological risk factors involved in the development of Long COVID. Illness-related anxiety and dysfunctional symptom expectations seem to contribute to symptom persistence.

Aims: With regard to the development of effective therapies, our primary aim is to investigate whether symptoms of Long COVID can be improved by a targeted modification of illness-related anxiety and dysfunctional symptom expectations.

Study protocol: combined N-of-1 trials to assess open-label placebo treatment for antidepressant discontinuation symptoms [FAB-study].

Background: Antidepressant discontinuation is associated with a broad range of adverse effects. Debilitating discontinuation symptoms can impede the discontinuation process and contribute to unnecessary long-term use of antidepressants. Antidepressant trials reveal large placebo effects, indicating a potential use of open-label placebo (OLP) treatment to facilitate the discontinuation process.

Disentangling pharmacological and expectation effects in antidepressant discontinuation among patients with fully remitted major depressive disorder: study protocol of a randomized, open-hidden discontinuation trial.

Background: Antidepressants are established as an evidence-based, guideline-recommended treatment for Major Depressive Disorder. Prescriptions have markedly increased in past decades, with a specific surge in maintenance prescribing. Patients often remain on antidepressants longer than clinically necessary.

Expectations and Prior Experiences Associated With Adverse Effects of COVID-19 Vaccination.

Importance: Uptake of vaccination against COVID-19 is strongly affected by concerns about adverse effects. Research on nocebo effects suggests that these concerns can amplify symptom burden.

Objective: To investigate whether positive and negative expectations prior to COVID-19 vaccination are associated with systemic adverse effects.

The Treatment Expectation Questionnaire (TEX-Q): Validation of a generic multidimensional scale measuring patients' treatment expectations.

Background: Patients' expectations, as a central mechanism behind placebo and nocebo effects, are an important predictor of health outcomes. Yet, theoretically based generic assessment tools allowing for an integrated understanding of expectations across conditions and treatments are lacking. Based on the preliminary 35-item version, this study reports the development and validation of the Treatment Expectation Questionnaire (TEX-Q), a generic, multidimensional self-report scale measuring patients' expectations of medical and psychological treatments.

Do expectations determine postoperative disability in women with endometriosis? Study protocol for a clinical mixed-methods observational cohort study.

Introduction: Overall, 20%-30% of women with endometriosis report endometriosis-related disability after successful laparoscopy. This indicates a potential impact of psychological factors, such as expectations, on treatment outcomes. It is already known that expectations determine treatment outcomes in various health conditions, such as cardiologic or gynaecology.

"Let's see what happens:"-Women's experiences of open-label placebo treatment for menopausal hot flushes in a randomized controlled trial.

Open-label (honestly prescribed) placebos are an ethical way to evoke placebo effects in patients. As part of a mixed-methods study, we conducted in-depth interviews with eight menopausal women who underwent and benefitted from open-label placebo treatment in a randomized-controlled trial of hot flushes. Data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Informed consent for psychotherapy: Ethical illusion or clinical reality? A survey about psychotherapists' attitudes and practices in Germany.

Objective: This study aimed to assess clinicians' attitudes and their current clinical practices regarding informed consent for psychotherapy.

Method: A convenience sample of N = 530 clinicians in Germany (n = 418 licensed psychotherapists and n = 112 postgraduate psychotherapy trainees) took part in an online survey.

Results: Most clinicians (84%) reported obtaining informed consent for psychotherapy in their daily routine.

Optimized Informed Consent for Psychotherapy: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Informed consent is a legal and ethical prerequisite for psychotherapy. However, in clinical practice, consistent strategies to obtain informed consent are scarce. Inconsistencies exist regarding the overall validity of informed consent for psychotherapy as well as the disclosure of potential mechanisms and negative effects, the latter posing a moral dilemma between patient autonomy and nonmaleficence.

Persistence of gastrointestinal symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis: study protocol for a three-arm randomised controlled trial (SOMA.GUT-RCT).

Introduction: Ulcerative colitis (UC) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are distressing chronic diseases associated with abdominal pain and altered bowel habits of unknown aetiology. Results from previous studies indicate that, across both diseases, increased levels of illness-related anxiety and dysfunctional symptom expectations contribute to symptom persistence. Thus, comparing both disorders with regard to common and disease-specific factors in the persistence and modification of gastrointestinal symptoms seems justified.

[Psychosocial Support for People with Ulcerative Colitis and Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Feasibility Study on Need, Focus and Viability].

Objectives: Ulcerative colitis (UC) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are associated with high somatic symptom burden, reduced quality of life, and increased psychological distress. The subjective burden, the wish of many patients, and the involvement of psychological processes in symptom perception justify the development of psychosocial support services. We aimed to evaluate need, content and feasibility of such an offer.

Expectations, end-of-life fears and end-of-life communication among palliative patients with cancer and caregivers: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: During serious illness, open communication with caregivers can ensure high-quality care. Without end-of-life communication, caregivers may become surrogates and decision-makers without knowing the patient's preferences. However, expectations and fears may influence the initiation of communication.

Persistent SOMAtic symptoms ACROSS diseases - from risk factors to modification: scientific framework and overarching protocol of the interdisciplinary SOMACROSS research unit (RU 5211).

Introduction: Persistent somatic symptoms (PSS) are highly prevalent in all areas of medicine; they are disabling for patients and costly for society. The subjective symptom burden often correlates poorly with the underlying disease severity, and patients' needs for effective treatment are far from being met. Initial evidence indicates that, in addition to disease-specific pathophysiological processes, psychological factors such as expectations, somatosensory amplification and prior illness experiences contribute to symptom persistence in functional as well as in somatic diseases.

Informed consent in psychotherapy: a survey on attitudes among psychotherapists in Switzerland.

Background: The legal and ethical guidelines of psychological professional associations stipulate that informed consent by patients is an essential prerequisite for psychotherapy. Despite this awareness of the importance of informed consent, there is little empirical evidence on what psychotherapists' attitudes towards informed consent are and how informed consent is implemented in psychotherapeutic practice.

Methods: 155 psychotherapists in Switzerland completed an online survey assessing their attitudes regarding informed consent.

Informing About the Nocebo Effect Affects Patients' Need for Information About Antidepressants-An Experimental Online Study.

Understanding patients' informational needs and adapting drug-related information are the prerequisites for a contextualized informed consent. Current information practices might rather harm by inducing nocebo effects. To investigate whether informing about the nocebo effect using a short information sheet affects patients' need for information about antidepressants.

Side effects of the metacognitive training for depression compared to a cognitive remediation training in patients with depression.

Although awareness of side effects over the course of psychotherapy is growing, side effects are still not always reported. The purpose of the present study was to examine side effects in a randomized controlled trial comparing Metacognitive Training for Depression (D-MCT) and a cognitive remediation training in patients with depression. 84 patients were randomized to receive either D-MCT or cognitive remediation training (MyBrainTraining) for 8 weeks.

Open-label placebos for menopausal hot flushes: a randomized controlled trial.

This study investigated the efficacy of an open-label placebo (OLP) treatment for menopausal hot flushes. Women with at least five moderate or severe hot flushes per day were allocated to receive four weeks of OLP for twice a day or no-treatment. Intention-to-treat analyses included n = 100 women.

Frequencies and Predictors of Negative Effects in Routine Inpatient and Outpatient Psychotherapy: Two Observational Studies.

Negative effects of psychotherapy (NEP) include side effects, malpractice, and unethical behavior. Its setting-specific frequencies and predictors are mostly unknown. The two presented studies aim to investigate NEP and its predictors systematically across different treatment settings.