A single case series of imagery rescripting of intrusive autobiographical memories in depression.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Intrusive memories are a common feature of depression, thought to be related to the onset and maintenance of the disorder. Intrusive memories have been successfully targeted in posttraumatic stress disorder through imagery rescripting. Yet there is limited evidence for the effectiveness of this technique in depression. We examined whether 12 weekly sessions of imagery rescripting was associated with reductions in depression, rumination and intrusive memories in a sample of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Fifteen clinically depressed participants completed 12 weeks of imagery rescripting treatment while completing daily measures of depression symptoms, rumination and intrusive memory frequency. RESULTS: There were significant reductions on pre-post treatment and daily assessment measures of depression symptoms, rumination and intrusive memories. Reductions in depression symptoms represented a large effect size, while 13 participants (87%) showed reliable improvement and 12 participants (80%) demonstrated clinically significant improvement and no longer met diagnostic criteria for MDD. LIMITATIONS: The sample size was small, however the intensive daily assessment protocol ensured the viability of within-person analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Imagery rescripting as a stand-alone intervention appears to be effective at reducing depression symptoms. Additionally, the treatment was well tolerated by clients and observed to overcome several traditional treatment barriers in this population.

The impact of personality disorders and personality traits on psychotherapy treatment outcome of eating disorders: A systematic review.

A significant proportion of those with eating disorders (EDs) do not respond to first-line treatments. This systematic review was conducted to identify whether personality disorders (PDs)/traits predict or moderate ED treatment outcomes and whether these outcomes were differentially influenced by ED or PD diagnostic subtypes, or treatment approach. A comprehensive systematic literature search was conducted using the PRISMA guidelines. A total of seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs) plus four follow-up studies were reviewed investigating the impact of PD and PD traits on treatment outcomes for EDs. The majority indicated that PD had some impact on treatment outcomes. Outcome measures and time-point measurements varied across studies. Included studies suggested that bulimia nervosa treatment outcomes were not hindered by co-morbidity of borderline PD; however, psychiatric impairment remained high at post-treatment and follow-up. Cluster C PDs were found to negatively impact treatment outcomes for binge ED and attrition rates for anorexia nervosa. Included studies suggested that interventions that addressed aspects of personality pathology showed greater main effects for ED treatment outcomes. There is an urgent need for future RCTs on ED treatments to include routine measures of core personality features to allow their impacts to be more thoroughly examined and for psychotherapies to be tailored accordingly.

Spatial working memory, not IQ or executive function, discriminates early psychosis and clinically vulnerable creative individuals.

AIM: While associations between creativity and psychopathology have been well researched, the specific cognitive processes that distinguish highly creative from those with psychopathology warrant further investigation. This study will examine whether IQ, executive function, cognitive inhibition or spatial working memory differentiate individuals with early psychosis, clinically vulnerable creative individuals, creative controls and non-creative controls. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 110 participants: early psychosis (n = 21); clinically vulnerable creative controls (n = 25); creative controls (n = 30) and non-creative control (n = 34). The Diagnostic Interview for Psychosis assessed early psychosis participants and the Mini Neuropsychiatric Interview was used to screen for psychopathology in the remaining groups. Several cognitive tests were administered: IQ, neurocognitive measures of executive function and spatial working memory. Creativity was assessed using the Torrance Test of Creativity and Creative Achievement Questionnaire. A measure of vividness of mental imagery was also given. RESULTS: Across all cognitive tests, spatial working memory differentiated the early psychosis group from both creative and non-creative control groups. Spatial working memory predicted group membership but vivid imagery was a better predictor of creative achievement. The early psychosis, clinically vulnerable creative and creative groups all recorded significantly higher results on creative achievement and creative cognition compared to non-creative controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide further support for spatial working memory as an early neuro-cognitive marker for early psychosis. Spatial working memory, rather than IQ or executive function, may also be an early protective factor for clinically vulnerable young creative individuals.

The Impact of Plant Essential Oils and Fine Mesh Row Covers on Flea Beetle (Chrysomelidae) Management in Brassicaceous Greens Production.

Brassicaceous leafy greens are an important crop for small growers but are difficult to produce due to damage by flea beetles. Flea beetles are problematic for growers as they chew many small holes through leaves rendering produce unmarketable. We tested the efficacy of several essential oils, the woven-mesh row cover ProtekNet, and the spunbonded row cover Agribon, compared to organic and conventional insecticides and no spray controls in the spring and fall of 2019. We found that the two row cover treatments (Agribon and ProtekNet) provided the best control of flea beetles and associated damage. Thyme oil was highly phytotoxic and killed the crop entirely and rosemary and neem essential oils caused mild phytotoxic burns. Organic insecticides rarely performed better than the no spray control. While conventional insecticides controlled most flea beetles, the crop was often still too highly damaged to sell. The results of our study suggest row covers offer producers an effective method of flea beetle control that reduces their dependence on insecticides for conventional and organic production.

Discrimination as a frame-of-reference effect in overlapping friendship communities of ethnically diverse youth.

OBJECTIVES: To what extent is the frame of reference of overlapping friendship communities important for young people's feelings of discrimination and subjective well-being? That is, do youth feel better or worse to the extent that they feel less or more discrimination than their friends? METHOD: Participants (N = 898; Mage = 14.13; SDage = 3.37; 46% females; 46% Whites; 20% Indigenous; 34% other minorities) were high school students of three ethnically diverse, low socioeconomic status public schools in New South Wales, Australia. Cross-sectional data were collected to measure felt discrimination, mental health, subjective well-being, social support, and nominations of close friends. A state-of-the-art method of clustering links was used to identify overlapping friendship communities, and multiple membership multilevel models were run to examine whether community-level discrimination moderated the link between individual-level discrimination and well-being. RESULTS: When the community level discrimination was low, there was no well-being related cost or benefit of individual-level discrimination. But when the community-level discrimination was high, individuals in those communities who themselves felt low discrimination had better well-being than individuals who themselves felt high discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence for a frame-of-reference effect involving discrimination. Individuals' relative standing in their friendship communities with high group-level discrimination reliably predicted the individuals' well-being levels, regardless of ethnicity. The results highlight the importance of identifying overlapping friendship communities for understanding the dynamics of discrimination and well-being of ethnically diverse youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Schema in older adults: does the schema mode model apply?

BACKGROUND: The relevance of schema theory to psychopathology, in particular personality disorder, in younger adults is established. Investigations into the relevance of schema theory to older adults, however, is highly limited. AIMS: To consider the relationship of schema modes to psychopathology in older adults and establish whether maladaptive schema modes are associated with unmet needs and that this relationship is mediated by the healthy adult mode of responding in this population. METHOD: One hundred and four older adults were recruited from an established database. Participants completed questionnaires assessing psychopathology, schema modes (YAMI: Young-Atkinson Mode Inventory) and basic psychological needs (BPNS: Basic Psychological Needs Scale - autonomy, competence and relatedness). Ninety-four responses were included after applying exclusion criteria. RESULTS: The healthy adult schema mode was found to be associated with reduced psychopathology, and maladaptive child modes (angry and vulnerable child) to increased psychopathology. The healthy adult schema mode mediated the relationship between maladaptive child modes and needs satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: As predicted by schema theory, the presence of one of the maladaptive child modes makes it difficult for an older individual to have their needs met, but the presence of healthy adult mode works to support this process.

Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a stepped care intervention for personality disorder in mental health services.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with personality disorders-particularly borderline personality disorder-are high users of mental health treatment services. Emergency service responses often focus on crisis management, and there are limited opportunities to provide appropriate longer term evidence-based treatment. Many individuals with personality disorders find themselves in a revolving cycle between emergency departments and waiting for community treatment. A stepped care approach may help to triage clients and allow access to interventions with minimal client, clinician and system burden. This study aims to understand the facilitators and barriers to real-world implementation of a stepped care approach to treating personality disorders. METHODS: Managers and clinicians of health services engaged in implementation were interviewed to obtain accounts of experiences. Interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed to generate themes describing barriers and facilitators. RESULTS: Participants identified personal attitudes, knowledge and skills as important for successful implementation. Existing positive attitudes and beliefs about treating people with a personality disorder contributed to the emergence of clinical champions. Training facilitated positive attitudes by justifying the psychological approach. Management support was found to bi-directionally effect implementation. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests specific organizational and individual factors may increase timely and efficient implementation of interventions for people with personality disorders. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Young Schema Questionnaire - Short Form Version 3 (YSQ-S3): Preliminary validation in older adults.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was to establish the reliability and validity of one of the most used schema questionnaires, Young Schema Questionnaire Short Form Version 3 (YSQ-S3) in older adults. METHOD: 104 participants aged 60-84 years were recruited. They were administered a battery of questionnaires, including the YSQ-S3, Young-Atkinson Mode Inventory (YAMI), Germans (Personality) Screener, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS). The YSQ-S3 was completed a second time by 83 participants a median of 12 days later. RESULTS: Satisfactory internal consistency reliability was found for 13 of the 18 early maladaptive schemas (EMS) of the YSQ-S3. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory for 17 of 18 EMS. Convergent validity was evident from significant correlations between the EMS of the YSQ-S3 and the vulnerable child and angry child schema modes from the YAMI. Congruent validity was evident from correlations of the majority of the EMS with the GDS, the GAI, German's (Personality) Screener and the BPNS measure. CONCLUSIONS: By and large the YSQ-S3 demonstrates internal and test re-test reliability in as well as congruent and convergent validity, in older adults. This suggests the YSQ-S3 may be of use in work establishing the utility of schema therapy in this population, and that schema therapy with older people warrants further exploration. Notwithstanding this some re-development of some EMS items appears to be required for the YSQ-S3 to be more relevant to older people.

Emotion regulation strategies in daily life: mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression.

Most empirical studies of emotion regulation have relied on retrospective trait measures, and have not examined the link between daily regulatory strategies and every day emotional well-being. We used a daily diary methodology with multilevel modelling data analyses (n = 187) to examine the influence of three emotion regulation strategies (mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression) on the experience of daily negative and positive affect. Our results suggested that daily mindfulness was associated with lower negative and higher positive affect whereas the converse pattern was found for daily emotion suppression; cognitive reappraisal was related to daily positive, but not negative affect. When daily mindfulness, suppression and reappraisal were included in the same models, these strategies predicted unique variance in emotional well-being. Random slope analyses revealed substantial variability in the utility of these strategies. Indeed the presumably "adaptive" cognitive reappraisal strategy seemed to confer no benefit to the regulation of negative affect in approximately half the sample. Additional analyses revealed that age moderates the effect of cognitive reappraisal on daily negative affect: Higher use of reappraisal was associated with more negative affect for adolescents (aged 17 to 19) but became associated with less negative affect with increasing age. We interpret these results in line with a contextual view of emotion regulation where no strategy is inherently "good" or "bad".

The Relationships Between Psychological Flexibility, Self-Compassion, and Emotional Well-Being.

Despite theoretical overlap between self-compassion and psychological flexibility, empirical links between these constructs is limited. This study examined the relationships between psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and emotional well-being to add to the literature on understanding the importance of self-compassion as a possible contributor to mental health, adding support to continuing development of compassion-based therapies. Relationships among these constructs were explored using survey data from a sample of 144 university psychology students (110 females and 34 males, aged 17-60 years). Self-compassion was significantly correlated with psychological flexibility processes, including mindful acceptance, defusion, and emotional well-being. Regression analyses indicated that self-compassion predicts significant unique variance above and beyond psychological flexibility across various indices of emotional well-being. These findings support the association between psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and emotional well-being, with implications for 3rd-wave models of therapy, including acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and compassion-based approaches. Therapies incorporating compassion processes may potentially lead to improved treatment outcomes.

Schema modes in eating disorders compared to a community sample.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the association between eating disorders (ED) and schema modes, and identify which specific schema modes are associated with particular eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED). METHODS: A total of forty seven women with eating disorders and 89 women from the community participated in this study. Eating disorder diagnosis was determined by a clinician treating the eating disorder and was confirmed on the basis of Body Mass Index (BMI) and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q). The Schema Mode Inventory (SMI) was used to explore the association between schema modes and eating disorder diagnostic status. RESULTS: A series t-tests revealed that when compared to the community sample, the ED group scored significantly higher on 10 out of 12 maladaptive schema modes, and significantly lower on both adaptive schema modes. A series of planned contrasts revealed that the AN, BN, and OSFED groups each scored significantly higher than the community sample group in the majority of maladaptive schema modes, with slight variations between groups. Further, AN, BN, and OSFED groups each scored significantly lower than the community sample group for the two SMI scores categorized as adaptive. All Cohen's d that reached significance ranged 0.55-2.24. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows a tendency for females with eating disorders to rely on maladaptive schema modes more frequently, and more adaptive schema modes less frequently compared to a community sample. These findings provide initial empirical support for a schema mode model of eating disorders.

What Are the Primary Goals of Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Psychosis? A Theoretical and Empirical Review.

Despite a rise in the popularity of cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis (CBTp) over the past 15 years, recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have concluded that CBTp has only modest effects on psychotic syndrome outcomes and that empirical evidence of its superiority over other psychosocial treatments is poor (Jones, Hacker, Meaden, Cormac, & Irving, 2012; Wykes, Steel, Everitt, & Tarrier, 2008). However, for some time now, some authors prominent in the development of CBTp have argued the primary goals of CBTp not to be global syndrome reduction but the amelioration of emotional distress and behavioral disturbance in relation to individual psychotic symptoms (Birchwood & Trower, 2006). A review of the theoretical and empirical literature related to CBTp reveals broad support for this position. Implications and recommendations for research into the efficacy of CBTp are discussed.

Psychometric Properties of Two Brief Versions of the Voices Acceptance and Action Scale (VAAS): Implications for the Second-wave and Third-wave Behavioural and Cognitive Approaches to Auditory Hallucinations.

UNLABELLED: Despite a steep rise in the evidence base for third-wave cognitive and behavioural therapy approaches over the past decade, a scarcity of change measures relevant to these therapies as applied to psychosis is arguably slowing empirical progress in the area. The Voices Acceptance and Action Scale (VAAS), a measure of acceptance of voice experiences, is a notable exception. However, there are no published data on its psychometric properties outside of that provided by the scale developers. The current study explored the psychometric properties of two brief versions of the VAAS in a sample of psychotic voice hearers in a routine outpatient mental health service. Evidence from the current study suggests that both brief versions are robust measures of acceptance of voice experiences. Some limited support for the shortened VAAS-9 as being a marginally improved scale over the original brief VAAS-12 was also found. The current study found acceptance of voices to be highly related to depression, anxiety, stress and general negative affect and to predict unique variance in depression and general negative affect beyond that attributable to negative beliefs about voices and thought suppression. It was also found that acceptance was positively related to the use of reappraisal, indicating that the distinctiveness of acceptance from appraisal processes may be less pronounced in this context than what was has been reported previously. Implications for future research, as well as the practice of second-wave and third-wave cognitive and behavioural approaches to psychosis, are discussed. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE: Two brief versions of the VAAS instrument were found to be robust measures of acceptance of psychotic voice experiences. The construct of acceptance of voices is highly related to indices of well-being and negative appraisal processes in psychosis and appears to offer an alternative route to therapeutically addressing the toxic effects of negative beliefs about voices. The recent focus on acceptance-based techniques within cognitive and behavioural approaches to psychosis was supported.

The Relationship Between Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Maintenance Processes, Emotional Distress, and Positive Psychotic Symptoms: Evidence That CBT Is "Not a Quasi-Neuroleptic".

Cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp) has enjoyed a steep rise in popularity over the past 15 years; however, recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have concluded that CBTp has only modest effects on psychotic syndrome outcomes and that empirical evidence of its superiority over other psychosocial treatments is poor. And although it has been argued by some prominent authors that CBTp is not designed to alleviate the "psychotic syndrome," there is little empirical evidence linking CBTp change mechanisms with syndrome versus single-symptom outcome measures. This study investigated the relationship between CBTp change processes, beliefs about voices, and thought control strategies, with a range of outcome measures including global positive psychotic symptoms in a sample of 40 voice hearers with established diagnosis of psychotic disorder. Consistent with the assertions of Birchwood and Trower (2006), global positive symptoms were found to be generally poorly related to CBTp change processes. Conversely, these CBTp change processes were found to be generally strongly related to measures of emotional distress and some measures of single psychotic symptoms. The implications for past and future CBTp treatment outcome studies are discussed.

Spiral dynamics of pulsating methane-oxygen flames on a circular burner.

A premixed flame stabilized on a circular porous plug burner produces a uniform, steady luminous flame front. Throughout much of the parameter range hydrocarbon-oxygen mixtures form spiral-shaped fronts. In methane-oxygen flames at low pressure, the flame exhibits a sequence of states as a control parameter is decreased. These states include periodic rotation of a spiral front; precession of the spiral front in a direction opposite to its rotation, corresponding to doubly periodic petals-out meandering; and nonperiodic states with intermittent jumps associated with linear excursions of the tip, which occur after the spiral front has reached the boundary of the circular burner. We use Karhunen-Loeve (KL) analysis to find the coefficients of the dominant KL spatial eigenfunctions. Their phase space portraits and power spectra provide a description of the dynamics as flow rates are reduced and the system destabilizes. We discuss how these experimental results relate to previous theoretical studies that assume Euclidean symmetry for the experimental configuration.