The effectiveness of a remote intensive trauma-focused treatment programme for PTSD.

Limited research has addressed the efficacy of remote intensive trauma-focused treatment programmes. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a remote intensive treatment programme in reducing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), general psychiatric symptoms, symptoms of depression, and the interference of PTSD symptoms in daily life among individuals diagnosed with PTSD. A cohort of 26 patients diagnosed with PTSD underwent a six-day remote treatment programme, which included prolonged exposure, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), physical activity, and psycho-education.

Case report: Intensive online trauma treatment combining prolonged exposure and EMDR 2.0 in a patient with severe and chronic PTSD.

Introduction: Short and intensive trauma treatment programs seem promising in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, little is known about the effects performing these types of intensive treatment programs online.

Method: At the Altrecht Academic Anxiety Centre, an in person intensive trauma focused treatment of six days (three consecutive days in two weeks) was altered into a fully online treatment.

The effects of an intensive outpatient treatment for PTSD.

Research has shown that combining different evidence-based PTSD treatments for patients with PTSD in an intensive inpatient format seems to be a promising approach to enhance efficiency and reduce generally high dropout rates. To assess the effectiveness of an intensive six-day outpatient trauma-focused treatment for patients with PTSD. Data from 146 patients (89.

Visual Schema Displacement Therapy versus Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy versus waitlist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: results of a randomized clinical trial.

Introduction: Visual Schema Displacement Therapy (VSDT) is a novel approach showing promise in mitigating distressing memories, akin to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the safety, feasibility, and effectiveness of VSDT in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), comparing it to EMDR therapy and a waitlist control condition (WLCC). It was hypothesized that the application of VSDT would be safe and PTSD symptoms significantly be reduced from both baseline to post-treatment and from baseline to follow-up in the VSDT and EMDR therapy conditions.

Skills training followed by either EMDR or narrative therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder in adult survivors of childhood abuse: a randomized controlled trial.

Individuals suffering from PTSD following childhood abuse represent a large subgroup of patients attending mental health services. The aim of phase-based treatment is to tailor treatment to the specific needs to childhood abuse survivors with PTSD with a Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) phase, in which emotion dysregulation and interpersonal problems are targeted, and a trauma-focused phase. The purpose of this study was to compare STAIR + Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) vs.

Group schema therapy for cluster-C personality disorders: A multicentre open pilot study.

Background: Group schema therapy (GST) is increasingly popular as a treatment for personality disorders (PDs), including Cluster-C PDs. Individual ST has proven to be effective for Cluster-C PD patients, while the evidence for GST is limited. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of GST for Cluster-C PD.

Cannabidiol in clinical and preclinical anxiety research. A systematic review into concentration-effect relations using the IB-de-risk tool.

Background: Preclinical research suggests that cannabidiol (CBD) may have therapeutic potential in pathological anxiety. Dosing guidelines to inform future human studies are however lacking.

Aim: We aimed to predict the therapeutic window for anxiety-reducing effects of CBD in humans based on preclinical models.

Cannabidiol enhancement of exposure therapy in treatment refractory patients with social anxiety disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia: A randomised controlled trial.

Preclinical research suggests that enhancing CB1 receptor agonism may improve fear extinction. In order to translate this knowledge into a clinical application we examined whether cannabidiol (CBD), a hydrolysis inhibitor of the endogenous CB1 receptor agonist anandamide (AEA), would enhance the effects of exposure therapy in treatment refractory patients with anxiety disorders. Patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia or social anxiety disorder were recruited for a double-blind parallel randomised controlled trial at three mental health care centres in the Netherlands.

The Effects of the Flash Technique Compared to Those of an Abbreviated Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy Protocol on the Emotionality and Vividness of Aversive Memories.

The Flash technique is a novel intervention aimed at rapidly decreasing the subjective disturbance of an aversive memory, thereby serving as a potential way of treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The protocol is used to stimulate clients to engage in positive imagery while being discouraged to actively recollect the targeted disturbing memory. Previous research into the Flash technique's efficacy shows promising results, yet controlled studies are lacking.

Acceptability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of blended cognitive-behavioural therapy (bCBT) versus face-to-face CBT (ftfCBT) for anxiety disorders in specialised mental health care: A 15-week randomised controlled trial with 1-year follow-up.

Background: Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and cause substantial economic burden. Blended cognitive-behavioural therapy (bCBT), which integrates Internet-based CBT and face-to-face CBT (ftfCBT), is an attractive and potentially cost-saving treatment alternative to conventional CBT for patients with anxiety disorders in specialised mental health care. However, little is known about the effectiveness of bCBT in routine care.

The effect of EMDR versus EMDR 2.0 on emotionality and vividness of aversive memories in a non-clinical sample.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a treatment meant to reduce vividness and emotionality of distressing memories. There is accumulating evidence that working memory taxation is the core of the working mechanism of EMDR therapy and that EMDR derives its effect by taxing the working memory (WM) with a dual task while actively keeping a disturbing memory in mind. From a theoretical stance, based upon assumptions derived from the WM theory, the effectiveness of EMDR therapy could be improved by several adaptations.

Trauma-focused treatments for depression. A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Trauma-focused treatments (TFTs) have demonstrated efficacy at decreasing depressive symptoms in individuals with PTSD. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of TFTs for individuals with depression as their primary concern.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted for RCTs published before October 2019 in Cochrane CENTRAL, Pubmed, EMBASE, PsycInfo, and additional sources.

The use of virtual reality in assessment and treatment of anxiety and related disorders.

In recent years the development of new virtual environments has been qualitatively high and fast at the same time, but the dissemination of virtual reality (VR) in clinical practice is still scarce. The aim of this review is to give an insight into the state of the art of the use of VR as an assessment tool and treatment intervention in anxiety and related disorders as posttraumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Besides an overview into the efficacy of VR, a summary will be given on assumed working mechanisms in virtual reality exposure therapy and how this aligns with current theoretical models.

A randomized controlled dismantling study of Visual Schema Displacement Therapy (VSDT) vs an abbreviated EMDR protocol vs a non-active control condition in individuals with disturbing memories.

: Visual Schema Displacement Therapy (VSDT) is a novel therapy for the treatment of fears and trauma-related mental health problems including PTSD. VSDT proved to be effective in reducing emotionality of aversive memories in healthy individuals in two previous randomized controlled trials and outperformed both a non-active control condition (CC) and an abbreviated version of EMDR therapy, a well-established first-line treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. : In an effort to enhance the understanding concerning the efficacy of VSDT, and to determine its active components, a dismantling study was conducted in individuals with disturbing memories in which the effects of VSDT were tested against EMDR therapy, a non-active CC and three different VSDT-protocols, each excluding or altering a hypothesized active component.

PTSD treatment in times of COVID-19: A systematic review of the effects of online EMDR.

COVID-19 affects many societies by measures as "social distancing", forcing mental health care professionals to deliver treatments online or via telephone. In this context, online Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an emerging treatment for patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We performed a systematic review of studies investigating online EMDR for PTSD.

Reducing the Emotionality of Auditory Hallucination Memories in Patients Suffering From Auditory Hallucinations.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy targets emotionally disturbing visual memories of traumatic life events, and may be deployed as an efficacious treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. A key element of EMDR therapy is recalling an emotionally disturbing visual memory while simultaneously performing a dual task. Previous studies have shown that auditory emotional memories may also become less emotional as a consequence of dual tasking.

Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disorders in Open Community Versus Clinical Service Recruitment: Meta-Analysis.

Background: Ample studies have shown the effectiveness of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) for anxiety disorders. These studies recruited their participants mainly from the community and, to a lesser extent, from within routine care services. Little is known about whether different recruitment strategies lead to different treatment effects.

Cannabidiol enhancement of exposure therapy in treatment refractory patients with phobias: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Phobic anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders and are burdensome in terms of loss of quality of life and work productivity. Evidence-based treatments are relatively successful in the majority of patients, especially exposure therapy. However, a substantial subset of patients fails to achieve or stay in remission.

Perceptions of free will in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a quantitative analysis.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of free will in the repetitive behaviors of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and to explore their relation with core clinical characteristics.

Methods: Experiences of free will were assessed with the Symptomatology And Perceived Free will rating scale (SAPF) in 295 subjects with a lifetime diagnosis of OCD. Patients' scores on the SAPF were subjected to an explorative principal axis factor analysis (PAF).

Effects of "Visual Schema Displacement Therapy" (VSDT), an abbreviated EMDR protocol and a control condition on emotionality and vividness of aversive memories: Two critical analogue studies.

Background And Objectives: Visual Schema Displacement Therapy (VSDT) is a novel therapy which has been described as a treatment for stress and dysfunction caused by a traumatic event. Although its developers claim this therapy is quicker and more beneficial than other forms of trauma therapy, its effectiveness has not been tested.

Methods: We compared the efficacy of VSDT to an abbreviated EMDR protocol and a non-active control condition (CC) in two studies.

The Effect of modality specific interference on working memory in recalling aversive auditory and visual memories.

Both auditory and visual emotional memories can be made less emotional by loading working memory (WM) during memory recall. Taxing WM during recall can be (giving an auditory [visuospatial] load during recall of an auditory [visual] memory) or (an auditory load during visual recall or vice versa). We tested whether modality specific loading taxes WM to a larger extent than cross modal loading.

Replicability and Generalizability of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Networks: A Cross-Cultural Multisite Study of PTSD Symptoms in Four Trauma Patient Samples.

The growing literature conceptualizing mental disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as networks of interacting symptoms faces three key challenges. Prior studies predominantly used (a) small samples with low power for precise estimation, (b) nonclinical samples, and (c) single samples. This renders network structures in clinical data, and the extent to which networks replicate across data sets, unknown.

Cognitive control networks in OCD: A resting-state connectivity study in unmedicated patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their unaffected relatives.

Objectives: Executive network deficits are putative neurocognitive endophenotypes for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Yet, unlike alterations in fronto-striatal and limbic connectivity, connectivity in the fronto-parietal (FPN) and cingulo-opercular (CON) networks involved in cognitive control has received little attention.

Methods: The coherence of FPN, CON and fronto-limbic networks was investigated in 39 unmedicated OCD patients, 16 of their unaffected siblings and 36 healthy controls using resting-state functional-connectivity MRI and a seed-based analysis approach.

Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) as a treatment enhancer of eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are among the most incapacitating and costly of mental disorders. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), medication, and combination regimens, to which in AN personalised guidance on weight control is added, are moderately successful, leaving room for more effective treatment algorithms. An underlying deficit which the two disorders share is cognitive inflexibility, a trait that is likely to impede treatment engagement and reduce patients' ability to benefit from treatment.

The use of EMDR in positive verbal material: results from a patient study.

Background: According to the working memory (WM) theory of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), dual tasks that tax WM during memory recall reduce image vividness and emotionality of memory during future recalls when no dual task is carried out. There is some evidence that WM taxing also reduces vividness and emotionality of auditory or verbal imagery.

Objective: The present study tests the effect of eye movements (EM) on positive verbal material (verbal imagery), which is used in different parts of the EMDR protocol.