Project description:To investigate the comorbidity of adolescent depression and Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and their shared and unique cognitive-behavioral factors (i.e., self-esteem, dysfunctional attitudes, hopelessness, and coping), a large-scale school-based survey was conducted among 3147 Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong. Probable depression and IGD were screened using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale and DSM-5 IGD checklist, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to identify the associations between different condition statuses and cognitive-behavioral factors. Four groups were identified, including comorbidity group (having probable depression and IGD), IGD group (having probable IGD alone), depression group (probable depression alone), and healthy group (neither condition). Comorbidity group showed the worst cognitive-behavioral statuses, followed by depression group and then IGD group. Compared with healthy group, those with lower self-esteem and higher hopelessness and dysfunctional attitudes were more likely to be classified into depression group and comorbidity group, while maladaptive coping was positively associated with all three disorder groups. The results suggest that depression and IGD may share common cognitive-behavioral mechanisms (e.g., maladaptive coping) but also own their uniqueness regarding specific factors (e.g., hopelessness and self-esteem). A transdiagnostic intervention approach targeting the common factors may effectively address the comorbidity.
Project description:Study objectivesThis pilot study determined whether transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy for parasomnias (CBTp) reduces parasomnia and activity levels during sleep in a sample of adult sleep clinic outpatients. A secondary objective was to assess whether treatment produces improvements in daytime fatigue/sleepiness, perceived cognition, mood, and depression/anxiety/stress, as well as functional impairment in work and leisure activities.MethodsThis was a randomized controlled trial with CBTp and self-monitoring control conditions. Participants were 19 adults with a DSM 5 parasomnia disorder who received individual CBTp virtually from their homes. CBTp consisted of psychoeducation, sleep hygiene and safety instructions, relaxation training, parasomnia techniques, and relapse prevention in a 6-week manualized, structured program.ResultsUsing a repeated measures analysis of variance model, and relative to a self-monitoring control condition, results showed that CBTp produced statistically significant improvements in parasomnia frequency, severity, nocturnal activity, and sleep efficiency. There was a trend toward reduced sleep-onset latency and improved work and social adjustment. Of treated participants, 100% rated themselves as improved at study conclusion.ConclusionsImplications of these findings are that cognitive behavioral interventions for parasomnias are effective in lessening parasomnias. More investigation into this type of treatment is warranted.Clinical trial registrationRegistry: ClinicalTrials.gov; Name: Impact of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Parasomnias; URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04633668; Identifier: NCT04633668.CitationVincent N, Dirkse D, Giannouli E, McQuarrie A. Transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy for nightmares and parasomnias. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023;19(3):499-509.
Project description:Body mass has been considered one of the most critical organismal traits, and its role in many ecological processes has been widely studied. In hummingbirds, body mass has been linked to ecological features such as foraging performance, metabolic rates, and cost of flying, among others. We used an evolutionary approach to test whether body mass is a good predictor of two of the main ecological features of hummingbirds: their abundances and behavioral dominance. To determine whether a species was abundant and/or behaviorally dominant, we used information from the literature on 249 hummingbird species. For abundance, we classified a species as "plentiful" if it was described as the most abundant species in at least part of its geographic distribution, while we deemed a species to be "behaviorally dominant" when it was described as pugnacious (notably aggressive). We found that plentiful hummingbird species had intermediate body masses and were more phylogenetically related to each other than expected by chance. Conversely, behaviorally dominant species tended to have larger body masses and showed a random pattern of distribution in the phylogeny. Additionally, small-bodied hummingbird species were not considered plentiful by our definition and did not exhibit behavioral dominance. These results suggest a link between body mass, abundance, and behavioral dominance in hummingbirds. Our findings indicate the existence of a body mass range associated with the capacity of hummingbird species to be plentiful, behaviorally dominant, or to show both traits. The mechanisms behind these relationships are still unclear; however, our results provide support for the hypothesis that body mass is a supertrait that explains abundance and behavioral dominance in hummingbirds.
Project description:Our ability to accurately predict development and outcome of early expression of psychosis is limited. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying psychopathology, a broader, transdiagnostic approach that acknowledges the complexity of mental illness is required. The upcoming network paradigm may be fruitful here. In this study, we applied a transdiagnostic network approach to psychosis. Data pertain to the third wave (second follow-up) of a sample of adolescents originally recruited at age 7-8 years. At baseline, N = 347 children with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and N = 347 control children were included. N = 293 of these N = 694 children participated in the second follow-up (mean age 18.9 years; 59% women). Participants completed the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). A specific type of network model, the Ising model, was applied to dichotomized CAPE and DASS items. Interconnections of experiences within the same domain were observed, as well as interconnections between experiences of multiple domains of psychopathology. Quantitative and qualitative differences in network architecture were found in networks of psychopathological experiences in individuals with or without AVH at age 7-8 years. Although adolescents with or without previous AVH did not differ in their current CAPE scores, differences in the interconnectedness of psychopathology items were still found, possibly mirroring a difference in psychosis liability. This study showed that it is possible to map transdiagnostic experiences of psychopathology as a network and that important information can be derived from this approach in comparison to regular approaches.
Project description:High co-morbidity and substantial overlap across psychiatric disorders encourage a transition in psychiatry research from categorical to dimensional approaches that integrate neuroscience and psychopathology. Converging evidence suggests that the cerebellum is involved in a wide range of cognitive functions and mental disorders. An important question thus centers on the extent to which cerebellar function can be linked to transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology. To address this question, we used a multivariate data-driven statistical technique (partial least squares) to identify latent dimensions linking human cerebellar connectome as assessed by functional MRI to a large set of clinical, cognitive, and trait measures across 198 participants, including healthy controls (n = 92) as well as patients diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (n = 35), bipolar disorder (n = 36), and schizophrenia (n = 35). Macroscale spatial gradients of connectivity at voxel level were used to characterize cerebellar connectome properties, which provide a low-dimensional representation of cerebellar connectivity, i.e., a sensorimotor-supramodal hierarchical organization. This multivariate analysis revealed significant correlated patterns of cerebellar connectivity gradients and behavioral measures that could be represented into four latent dimensions: general psychopathology, impulsivity and mood, internalizing symptoms and executive dysfunction. Each dimension was associated with a unique spatial pattern of cerebellar connectivity gradients across all participants. Multiple control analyses and 10-fold cross-validation confirmed the robustness and generalizability of the yielded four dimensions. These findings highlight the relevance of cerebellar connectivity as a necessity for the study and classification of transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology and call on researcher to pay more attention to the role of cerebellum in the dimensions of psychopathology, not just within the cerebral cortex.
Project description:PurposeThe hippocampus plays a central role in cognitive and affective processes and is commonly implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Our study aimed to identify and describe a hippocampal network model (HNM) using trans-diagnostic MRI data from the BrainMap® database. We used meta-analysis to test the network degeneration hypothesis (NDH) (Seeley et al., 2009) by identifying structural and functional covariance in this hippocampal network.MethodsTo generate our network model, we used BrainMap's VBM database to perform a region-to-whole-brain (RtWB) meta-analysis of 269 VBM experiments from 165 published studies across a range of 38 psychiatric and neurological diseases reporting hippocampal gray matter density alterations. This step identified 11 significant gray matter foci, or nodes. We subsequently used meta-analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) to define edges of structural covariance between nodes from VBM data as well as functional covariance using the functional task-activation database, also from BrainMap. Finally, we applied a correlation analysis using Pearson's r to assess the similarities and differences between the structural and functional covariance models.Key findingsOur hippocampal RtWB meta-analysis reported consistent and significant structural covariance in 11 key regions. The subsequent structural and functional MACMs showed a strong correlation between HNM nodes with a significant structural-functional covariance correlation of r = .377 (p = .000049).SignificanceThis novel method of studying network covariance using VBM and functional meta-analytic techniques allows for the identification of generalizable patterns of functional and structural abnormalities pertaining to the hippocampus. In accordance with the NDH, this framework could have major implications in studying and predicting spatial disease patterns using network-based assays.
Project description:Dominance status has extensive effects on physical and mental health, and an individual's relative position can be shaped by experiential factors. A variety of considerations suggest that the experience of behavioral control over stressors should produce winning in dominance tests and that winning should blunt the impact of later stressors, as does prior control. To investigate the interplay between competitive success and stressor control, we first examined the impact of stressor controllability on subsequent performance in a warm spot competition test modified for rats. Prior experience of controllable, but not physically identical uncontrollable, stress increased later effortful behavior and occupation of the warm spot. Controllable stress subjects consistently ranked higher than did uncontrollable stress subjects. Pharmacological inactivation of the prelimbic (PL) cortex during behavioral control prevented later facilitation of dominance. Next, we explored whether repeated winning experiences produced later resistance against the typical sequelae of uncontrollable stress. To establish dominance status, triads of rats were given five sessions of warm spot competition. The development of stable dominance was prevented by reversible inactivation of the PL or NMDA receptor blockade in the dorsomedial striatum. Stable winning blunted the later stress-induced increase in dorsal raphe nucleus serotonergic activity, as well as prevented uncontrollable stress-induced social avoidance. In contrast, endocrine and neuroimmune responses to uncontrollable stress were unaffected, indicating a selective impact of prior dominance. Together, these data demonstrate that instrumental control over stress promotes later dominance, but also reveal that winning experiences buffer against the neural and behavioral outcomes of future adversity.
Project description:Assertiveness training has been an essential component in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), for example, in the treatment of social anxiety and in dialectical behavioral therapy. However, the assertiveness construct has garnered little attention in recent clinical research. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of an eight-week transdiagnostic stand-alone internet-based CBT intervention specifically aimed at increasing levels of assertive behavior. Following inclusion, we randomized N = 210 participants into three groups: therapist-guided self-help, unguided self-help, and a wait-list control condition. After a one-year follow-up, we employed a linear mixed model to estimate the effects at both post-test and follow-up for the primary outcome measures of assertiveness, Adaptive and Aggressive Assertiveness Scales, the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, and secondary outcome measures of anxiety, depression, and general well-being. We also assessed reliable clinical change. Compared to the wait list at the post-treatment, estimated between-group effect sizes on self-rated adaptive assertiveness were statistically equivalent for the two treatment groups both at the post and at the one-year follow-up time points, ranging from ES = 0.95 to 1.73, with reliable clinical recovery proportions from 19 % to 36 %. The increase in aggressive assertiveness ranged from ES = 0.62 to 0.90 compared to the wait-list condition at post. For social anxiety symptoms, the effects compared to the wait list at post-treatment ranged from ES = 0.67 to 0.93, with a reliable clinical recovery rate from 16 % to 26 %. For self-assessed well-being, the effects compared to the wait list at post ranged from ES = 0.70 to 1.05. No effects were observed for generalized anxiety, although within-group evidence was found for a medium effect on depression one year after treatment. Overall, the two treatment conditions produced similar effects. In general, participation increased healthy assertive expressions regardless of treatment condition, all the while reducing self-assessed social anxiety and, over time, possibly also depression. Participation also improved general well-being. The findings demonstrate that the assertiveness construct can be a suitable target for intervention, with reductions of both psychiatric symptoms and non-syndromal problems in daily life. The study was preregistered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04240249).
Project description:Aversive reactivity to negative affect has been described as a transdiagnostic mechanism that links distal temperamental vulnerabilities to clinically relevant behaviors. However, the abundance of constructs reflecting aversive reactivity has resulted in a proliferation of models that may ultimately be redundant. We performed a circumscribed review of studies measuring associations between six constructs - anxiety sensitivity, experiential avoidance, distress intolerance, intolerance of uncertainty, thought-action fusion, and negative urgency - and ten relevant coping behaviors. Results suggested that most constructs were measured in relation to a limited number of coping behaviors. Additionally, constructs were most often measured in isolation, rather than with similar constructs. Implications and suggestions for future research and treatment are discussed.
Project description:BackgroundWorking memory (WM) is an executive ability that allows one to hold and manipulate information for a short period of time. Schizophrenia and mood disorders are severe psychiatric conditions with overlapping genetic and clinical symptoms. Whilst WM has been suggested as meeting the criteria for being an endophenotype for schizophrenia and mood disorders, it still unclear whether they share overlapping neural circuitry.ObjectiveThe n-back task has been widely used to measure WM capacity, such as maintenance, flexible updating, and interference control. Here we compiled studies that included psychiatric populations, i.e., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.MethodsWe performed a coordinate-based meta-analysis that combined 34 BOLD-fMRI studies comparing activity associated with n-back working memory between psychiatric patients and healthy controls. We specifically focused our search using the n-back task to diminish study heterogeneity.ResultsAll patient groups showed blunted activity in the striatum, anterior insula and frontal lobe. The same brain networks related to WM were compromised in schizophrenia, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.ConclusionOur findings support the suggestion of commonal functional abnormalities across schizophrenia and mood disorders related to WM.