Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy最新文献

Background: Social anxiety and paranoia are connected by a shared suspicion framework. Based on cognitive-behavioural approaches, there is evidence for treating social anxiety and psychosis. However, mechanisms underlying the relationship between social anxiety and paranoia remain unclear.

Aims: To investigate mediators between social anxiety and paranoia in schizophrenia such as negative social appraisals (i.e. stigma or shame; Hypothesis 1), and safety behaviours (i.e. anxious avoidance or in situ safety behaviours; Hypothesis 2).

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Asian out-patients with schizophrenia (January-April 2020). Data on social anxiety, paranoia, depression, shame, stigma, anxious avoidance, and in situ behaviours were collected. Associations between social anxiety and paranoia were investigated using linear regressions. Mediation analysis via 10,000 bias-corrected bootstrap samples with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was used to test the indirect effects (ab) of mediators.

Results: Participants (n=113, 59.3% male) with a mean age of 44.2 years were recruited. A linear relationship between social anxiety and paranoia was found. In multiple mediation analyses (co-varying for depression), stigma and shame (Hypothesis 1) did not show any significant indirect effects with ab=.004 (95%CI=-.013, .031) and -.003 (-.023, .017), respectively, whereas in situ behaviours (Hypothesis 2) showed a significant effect with ab=.110 (.038, .201) through the social anxiety-paranoia relationship.

Conclusions: Social anxiety and paranoia are positively correlated. In situ safety behaviours fully mediated the social anxiety and paranoia relationship. Targeted interventions focusing on safety behaviours could help reduce paranoia in psychosis. Symptom severity should be measured to help characterise the participants' characteristics.

Background: Future events can spring to mind unbidden in the form of involuntary mental images also known as 'flashforwards', which are deemed important for understanding and treating emotional distress. However, there has been little exploration of this form of imagery in youth, and even less so in those with high psychopathology vulnerabilities (e.g. due to developmental differences associated with neurodiversity or maltreatment).

Aims: We aimed to test whether flashforwards are heightened (e.g. more frequent and emotional) in autistic and maltreatment-exposed adolescents relative to typically developing adolescents. We also explored their associations with anxiety/depression symptoms.

Method: A survey including measures of flashforward imagery and mental health was completed by a group of adolescents (n=87) aged 10-16 (and one of their caregivers) who met one of the following criteria: (i) had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder; (ii) a history of maltreatment; or (ii) no autism/maltreatment.

Results: Flashforwards (i) were often of positive events and related to career, education and/or learning; with phenomenological properties (e.g. frequency and emotionality) that were (ii) not significantly different between groups; but nevertheless (iii) associated with symptoms of anxiety across groups (particularly for imagery emotionality), even after accounting for general trait (non-future) imagery vividness.

Conclusions: As a modifiable cognitive risk factor, flashforward imagery warrants further consideration for understanding and improving mental health in young people. This implication may extend to range of developmental backgrounds, including autism and maltreatment.

Background: The relevance of family relationships in the outcome of various disorders has been highlighted from different domains. Specifically, empirical studies on the relationship between the outcome of schizophrenia and various affective dimensions of family relationships have allowed the identification of particularly relevant aspects: criticism, hostility, and over-protection.

Aims: The present study aims to adapt and validate an abbreviated Spanish version of the Influential Relationship Questionnaire (IRQ), an instrument that measures the patient's own perception of the affective dimensions of family relationships.

Method: Participants were 188 patients (63.8% male) of the Public Health Service in Andalusia (Spain) with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or a related disorder. One hundred and thirty-six participants provided data related to both father and mother, and 52 only related to mother or father, so the analyses were carried out with a total of 324 questionnaires. Simultaneously, in 130 participants, the Perceived Criticism Scale was applied, and in 50 cases, relatives were asked to complete the Family Attitudes Scale.

Results: Principal component analysis allowed for the identification of four factors that explained 61.53% of the total variance (criticism, over-protection, restriction, and care). The values of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, as well as the omega coefficient, showed high consistency. The temporal reliability for an interval of 3 months was high. The correlations between the IRQ dimensions and the other variables included in the study were significant and in the expected direction.

Conclusions: The results support the reliability and validity of the abbreviated version of the IRQ.

Background: Parents of children with skin conditions can experience stress from the additional responsibilities of care. However, there is a lack of psychological interventions for families affected by a dermatological diagnosis.

Aims: To investigate (1) whether delivering the 'Living in the Present' mindfulness curriculum to parents of children with skin conditions reduced stress and increased both parental/child quality of life (QoL), and (2) determine intervention acceptability.

Method: Ten parents of children with eczema, ectodermal dysplasia, ichthyosis, and alopecia took part in a mindfulness-based intervention. Using mixed methods, a single-group experimental case design (SCED) was conducted and supplemented by thematic analysis of exit interviews. Parents completed idiographic measures of parenting stress, standardised measures of QoL, stress, mindfulness, and took part in exit interviews. Children also completed QoL measures.

Results: Tau-U analysis of idiographic measures revealed three parents showed some significant improvements in positive targets, and five parents showed some significant improvements in negative targets. Assessment of reliable change demonstrated that: one parent showed improvement in mindful parenting, three parents showed improvement in parenting stress, seven parents showed improvement in anxiety, three parents showed improvements in depression, six parents showed improvement in QoL, and four children showed improvement in QoL. However, two parents showed increased anxiety. Thematic analysis revealed positive changes to mood following mindfulness, although challenges were highlighted, including sustaining home practice.

Conclusion: Findings suggest this specific form of mindfulness intervention could be effective for parents of children with skin conditions; however, further robust studies are needed.

Background: Imagery-focused therapies within cognitive behavioural therapy are growing in interest and use for people with delusions.

Aims: This review aimed to examine the outcomes of imagery-focused interventions in people with delusions.

Method: PsycINFO, PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, EMBASE and CINAHL were systematically searched for studies that included a clinical population with psychosis and delusions who experienced mental imagery. The review was informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and quality appraisal of all included papers was completed using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool. Information from included texts was extracted and collated in Excel, which informed the narrative synthesis of results.

Results: Of 2,736 studies identified, eight were eligible for inclusion and rated for quality with an average score of 70.63%. These studies largely supported their aims in reducing levels of distress and intrusiveness of imagery. Four of the eight studies used case series designs, two were randomised controlled trials, and two reported single case studies. It appears that interventions targeting mental imagery were acceptable and well tolerated within a population of people experiencing psychosis and delusions.

Conclusions: Some therapeutic improvement was reported, although the studies consisted of mainly small sample sizes. Clinical implications include that people with a diagnosis of psychosis can engage with imagery-focused therapeutic interventions with limited adverse events. Future research is needed to tackle existing weaknesses of design and explore the outcomes of imagery interventions within this population in larger samples, under more rigorous methodologies.

Background: Mainstream cognitive behavioural theory stipulates that clinically significant health anxiety persists over time at least partially due to negatively reinforced health-related behaviours, but there exists no broad and psychometrically valid measure of such behaviours.

Aims: To draft and evaluate a new self-report scale - the Health Anxiety Behavior Inventory (HABI) - for the measurement of negatively reinforced health anxiety behaviours.

Method: We drafted the HABI from a pool of 20 candidate items administered in a clinical trial at screening, and before and after cognitive behaviour therapy (n=204). A psychometric evaluation focused on factor structure, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, test-retest reliability, and sensitivity to change.

Results: Based on factor analysis, the HABI was completed as a 12-item instrument with a four-dimensional factor structure corresponding to the following scales: (i) bodily preoccupation and checking, (ii) information- and reassurance-seeking, (iii) prevention and planning, and (iv) overt avoidance. Factor inter-correlations were modest. The internal consistency (α=.73-.87) and 2-week test-retest reliability (r=.75-.90) of the scales was adequate. The bodily preoccupation and checking, and information- and reassurance-seeking scales were most strongly correlated with the cognitive and emotional components of health anxiety (r=0.41, 0.48), and to a lower extent correlated to depressive symptoms and disability. Change scores in all HABI scales correlated with improvement in the cognitive and emotional components of health anxiety during cognitive behaviour therapy.

Conclusions: The HABI appears to reliably measure negatively reinforced behaviours commonly seen in clinically significant health anxiety, and might be clinically useful in the treatment of health anxiety.

Background: Mental imagery plays a key role in the onset and maintenance of psychological disorders, and has become the target of psychological interventions for the treatment of several anxiety-related conditions. However, there are currently no transdiagnostic measures designed to assess the varied dimensions of mental imagery relevant to psychopathology.

Aim: To develop and validate a new measure assessing the experiences and appraisals of negative mental imagery.

Method: The initial item pool was generated through a comprehensive literature review and interviews with subject-matter experts. An online community sample provided data for the exploratory (n=345) and confirmatory (n=325) factor analyses.

Results: The new 16-item Negative Mental Imagery Questionnaire demonstrated four subscales (Intrusiveness, Controllability, Beliefs about Mental Imagery, and Realness). Reliability and validity were good to excellent for both the full- and sub-scales.

Conclusions: Appraisals of mental imagery captured by the new measure are consistent with previous research on mental imagery and psychopathology.

Background: Several psychological models of bipolar disorder propose that certain types of appraisals can lead to increases in manic symptoms.

Aims: We tested whether the belief that being 'high' is a natural part of one's personality and correlates with manic symptoms 4 months later when controlling for manic symptoms at baseline.

Method: This was a prospective 4-month follow-up design using self-report measures. Forty people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder completed a measure of manic symptoms, a measure of appraisals associated with bipolar disorder, and a single-item measure, 'To what extent do you feel like being "high" is a natural part of your personality?', at baseline and follow-up.

Results: The single-item measure showed modest stability over time and construct validity in its correlation with a standardised measure of appraisals in bipolar disorder. As predicted, the single-item measure correlated with manic symptoms at follow-up when controlling for manic symptoms at baseline.

Conclusions: The belief that being 'high' is a natural part of one's personality is a potential predictor of manic symptoms. Further research needs to study the potential mediating mechanisms such as activating behaviours, and control for indicators of the bipolar endophenotype.

Perfectionism dimensions, including perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, have a significant positive association with psychopathology. Clinical perfectionism is defined as when an individual’s self-esteem is excessively reliant on meeting high standards despite negative consequences. Numerous studies have found that higher perfectionistic concerns correlate with lower self-esteem; however, evidence for the association with perfectionistic strivings has been mixed.

The focus of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to inform theoretical understanding of the relationships between perfectionism dimensions and self-esteem in adults.

A systematic literature search was conducted in Medline, PsycINFO, PsychARTICLES, ProQuest Central, and Scopus on 31 May 2023.

There were 83 articles included, with 32,304 participants (Mage=∼24.66 years). There was a significant negative moderate pooled association between self-esteem and perfectionistic concerns, r=–.42, 95% CI [–0.47 to –0.38]. A significant negligible positive pooled association was found between self-esteem and perfectionistic strivings, r=.06, 95% CI [0.01 to 0.11]. Results indicate higher perfectionistic concerns is associated with lower self-esteem, providing indirect support for the cognitive-behavioural model of clinical perfectionism.

Future research should compare cognitive behaviour therapy for perfectionism to treatments for low self-esteem on outcomes of perfectionistic concerns and psychopathology.