Emotion regulation to idiographic stimuli: Testing the Autobiographical Emotion Regulation Task.

Mounting evidence suggests that the ability to regulate emotion is crucial for psychological well-being. However, one important limitation of prior emotion regulation studies is that they rely on standardized stimuli low in personal relevance. To address this limitation, the current study employed a novel event-related potential (ERP) paradigm designed to investigate the late positive potential (LPP) as a measure of emotional reactivity and regulation to idiographic stimuli in 49 young adults.

Improvement in Depression is Associated with Improvement in Cognition in Late-Life Psychotic Depression.

Objective: To characterize cognitive function at baseline and investigate the relationship between change in cognition, depression, and psychosis after treatment among older adults with major depressive disorder with psychotic features.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a double-blind, randomized, controlled treatment trial at inpatient and outpatient settings at four academic health centers on "Young Old" (aged 60-71 years, N = 71) and "Older" (aged 72-86 years, N = 71) participants diagnosed with psychotic depression. Olanzapine plus sertraline or olanzapine plus placebo were given until week 12 or termination.

"Engage" Therapy: Behavioral Activation and Improvement of Late-Life Major Depression.

Objective: Engage is a treatment for late-life depression developed to match the skills of community clinicians based on the theory that dysfunction in the Research Domain Criteria Project positive valence systems is a critical mechanism of late-life depression. Accordingly, it uses "reward exposure" (engagement in meaningful, rewarding activities) as its principal intervention. This study tests the hypothesis that change in behavioral activation, an index of positive valence systems function, during successive treatment periods with Engage and during follow-up predicts depression at the end of each period.

Predictors of All-Cause Mortality in Patients With Severe COPD and Major Depression Admitted to a Rehabilitation Hospital.

Background: COPD is a major cause of all-cause mortality. We examined predictors of 1-year mortality in patients with severe COPD and major depression after inpatient treatment in a rehabilitation hospital.

Methods: We screened 898 consecutively admitted patients.

Psychiatric assessment and screening for the elderly in primary care: design, implementation, and preliminary results.

Introduction: We describe the design and implementation of a psychiatric collaborative care model in a University-based geriatric primary care practice. Initial results of screening for anxiety and depression are reported.

Methods And Materials: Screens for anxiety and depression were administered to practice patients.

Problem adaptation therapy for older adults with major depression and cognitive impairment: a randomized clinical trial.

Importance: Problem adaptation therapy (PATH) is a treatment for older adults with major depression, cognitive impairment (from mild cognitive deficits to moderate dementia), and disability. Antidepressants have limited efficacy in this population and psychosocial interventions are inadequately investigated.

Objective: To test the efficacy of 12-week PATH vs supportive therapy for cognitively impaired patients (ST-CI) in reducing depression and disability in 74 older adults with major depression, cognitive impairment, and disability.

Depression and anxiety in patients with COPD.

Under-recognised and untreated depression and anxiety symptoms have deleterious effects on physical functioning and social interaction increasing fatigue and healthcare utilisation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Depression and anxiety are challenging to identify and treat because their symptoms often overlap with those of COPD. The cause(s) of depression and anxiety symptoms are multifactorial and include behavioural, social and biological factors.

Comparing engage with PST in late-life major depression: a preliminary report.

Objective: The complexity of psychotherapies has been a barrier to community implementation. We used the Research Domain Criteria consensus as a guide to develop Engage, a streamlined, neurobiology-based psychotherapy for late-life depression that may match the skill set of practicing clinicians. This proof of concept study tested the hypotheses that Engage is bioequivalent to Problem Solving Therapy (PST) in reducing depressive symptoms, inducing remission, and ameliorating disability.

Apathy in late-life depression: common, persistent, and disabling.

Objective: The aims of this study were to examine: (1) the relationship between apathy and disability in late-life depression, and (2) the functional significance of improvement in apathy following escitalopram treatment in terms of its relationship to disability.

Methods: Subjects were 71 non-demented elderly with non-psychotic major depression. After a 2-week single-blind placebo period, subjects who had Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) ≥ 18 received escitalopram 10 mg daily for 12 weeks.

Neuroanatomical correlates of apathy in late-life depression and antidepressant treatment response.

Background: Apathy is a prominent feature of geriatric depression that predicts poor clinical outcomes and hinders depression treatment. Yet little is known about the neurobiology and treatment of apathy in late-life depression. This study examined apathy prevalence in a clinical sample of depressed elderly, response of apathy to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment, and neuroanatomical correlates that distinguished responders from non-responders and healthy controls.

The salience network in the apathy of late-life depression.

Objective: Apathy is prevalent in late-life depression and predicts poor response to antidepressants, chronicity of depression, disability, and greater burden to caregivers. However, little is known about its neurobiology. Salience processing provides motivational context to stimuli.

Problem-Solving Therapy in the Elderly.

We systematically reviewed randomized clinical trials of problem-solving therapy (PST) in older adults. Our results indicate that PST led to greater reduction in depressive symptoms of late-life major depression than supportive therapy (ST) and reminiscence therapy. PST resulted in reductions in depression comparable with those of paroxetine and placebo in patients with minor depression and dysthymia, although paroxetine led to greater reductions than placebo.

Executive functioning complaints and escitalopram treatment response in late-life depression.

Objective: Executive dysfunction may play a key role in the pathophysiology of late-life depression. Executive dysfunction can be assessed with cognitive tests and subjective report of difficulties with executive skills. The present study investigated the association between subjective report of executive functioning complaints and time to escitalopram treatment response in older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD).

A model for streamlining psychotherapy in the RDoC era: the example of 'Engage'.

A critical task for psychotherapy research is to create treatments that can be used by community clinicians. Streamlining of psychotherapies is a necessary first step for this purpose. We suggest that neurobiological knowledge has reached the point of providing biologically meaningful behavioral targets, thus guiding the development of effective, simplified psychotherapies.

Functional connectivity in apathy of late-life depression: a preliminary study.

Background: Apathy is common in late-life depression and is associated with disability and poor antidepressant response. This study examined whether resting functional connectivity (FC) of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) with other structures can distinguish apathetic depressed older patients from non-apathetic depressed patients and normal subjects.

Methods: Twenty-six non-demented, non-MCI older adults were studied.

A community treatment intervention advancing active treatment in the elderly (ACTIVATE): a pilot study.

A growing population of older adults receive treatment for depression but remain symptomatic. We report on a feasibility pilot study of an intervention (ACTIVATE) to improve depression care by encouraging the older person to take a step to intensify the existing treatment. Older adults (N = 43) receiving home-meal service and in depression treatment, but still symptomatic, participated in the ACTIVATE intervention.

The prognostic significance of subsyndromal symptoms emerging after remission of late-life depression.

Background: Attainment of remission is viewed as the optimal outcome of acute antidepressant treatment. However, some patients experience subsyndromal symptoms after they achieve remission. This study examines the prognostic significance of subsyndromal symptoms occurring during the first 6 months after remission of late-life depression.

Functional connectivity in the cognitive control network and the default mode network in late-life depression.

Background: Abnormalities have been identified in the Cognitive Control Network (CCN) and the Default Mode Network (DMN) during episodes of late-life depression. This study examined whether functional connectivity at rest (FC) within these networks characterizes late-life depression and predicts antidepressant response.

Methods: 26 non-demented, non-MCI older adults were studied.

Ecosystem focused therapy in poststroke depression: a preliminary study.

Objective: Poststroke depression (PSD) occurs in the context of abrupt, often catastrophic disability that finds the patient and his or her family unprepared. We developed the ecosystem focused therapy (EFT), a systematic intervention aimed to increase the PSD patient's and his or her ecosystem's abilities to address the "psychosocial storm" of PSD and utilize available treatments effectively and efficiently. This is a preliminary study of its efficacy.