Comparing psychological versus pharmacological treatment in emotional disorders: A network analysis.

Transdiagnostic group cognitive behavioural therapy (TD-GCBT) is more effective in improving symptoms and severity of emotional disorders (EDs) than treatment as usual (TAU; usually pharmacological treatment). However, there is little research that has examined the effects of these treatments on specific symptoms. This study used Network Intervention Analysis (NIA) to investigate the direct and differential effects of TD-GCBT + TAU and TAU on specific symptoms of anxiety and depression. Data are from a multicentre randomised clinical trial (N = 1061) comparing TD-GCBT + TAU versus TAU alone for EDs. The networks included items from the PHQ-9 (depression) and GAD-7 (anxiety) questionnaire and mixed graphical models were estimated at pre-treatment, post-treatment and 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-up. Results revealed that TD-GCBT + TAU was associated with direct effects, mainly on several anxiety symptoms and depressed mood after treatment. New direct effects on other depressive symptoms emerged during the follow-up period promoted by TD-GCBT compared to TAU. Our results suggest that the improvement of anxiety symptoms after treatment might precipitate a wave of changes that favour a decrease in depressive symptomatology. NIA is a methodology that can provide fine-grained insight into the likely pathways through which treatments exert their effects.

Inteligencia Emocional y Ansiedad en tiempos de pandemia: Un estudio sobre sus relaciones en jóvenes adultos / Emotional Intelligence and Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A study on their relationships in young adults

Antecedentes y objetivos: La pandemia de COVID-19 ha provocado que gran parte de la población experimente ansiedad. Los niveles de Inteligencia Emocional Percibida (IEP) y regulación emocional pueden ser factores clave para modular los niveles de ansiedad y prevenir trastornos emocionales. El objetivo es analizar cómo influyen los niveles de IEP y las formas de regulación emocional de reappraisal y supresión en la ansiedad experimentada. Materiales y métodos: 99 participantes de 18 a 35 años cumplimentaron el Inventario de Situaciones y Respuestas de Ansiedad (ISRA-B) para ansiedad, el Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS-24) para IEP, el Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) para regulación emocional y un cuestionario sociodemográfico y de situaciones relacionadas con el COVID-19. Resultados: Los factores de IEP medidos predicen los niveles de ansiedad, puntuaciones altas en atención y bajas en claridad y reparación predicen distintas respuestas de ansiedad y en distintas situaciones en porcentajes variables. Los factores de reappraisal y supresión no predicen los niveles de ansiedad. Las mujeres experimentan más ansiedad que los hombres y aquellas personas con familiares o amigos que han sufrido COVID-19 experimentan menos ansiedad. Conclusiones: Niveles altos en atención y bajos en claridad y reparación son factores de riesgo para experimentar distintos tipos de ansiedad en distintas situaciones, mientras que las formas de regulación emocional de reappraisal y supresión no parecen ser relevantes. Factores sociodemográficos como ser mujer o experiencias relacionadas con el COVID-19 parecen ser factores de riesgo o protectores que deben ser estudiados para prevenir la ansiedad en contextos de pandemia.

Background and objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a large part of the world population to experience anxiety. The levels of Perceived Emotional Intelligence and emotional regulation can be key factors in modulating the levels of anxiety experienced and preventing the emotional disorders. The aim is to analyze how the IEP levels and forms of emotional regulation of reappraisal and suppression influence the anxiety experience. Materials and methods: 99 participants aged between 18 and 35 completed the Inventory of Anxiety Situations and Responses (ISRA-B) to analyze anxiety, the Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS-24) for IEP, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) for emotional regulation and a sociodemographic questionnaire and situations related to the experience with COVID-19. Results: The measured IEP factors predict anxiety levels, high attention and low clarity and repair predict different anxiety responses and in different situations in variable percentages. Reappraisal and suppression factors do not predict anxiety levels. Women experience more anxiety than men and those who have had relatives or friends who have suffered from COVID-19 experience less anxiety. Conclusions: High levels of attention to feelings and low levels of clarity and emotional repair are risk factors for experiencing different types of anxiety in different situations, while the forms of emotional regulation of reappraisal and suppression do not seem to be relevant, sociodemographic factors such as being a woman or one’s own experiences in relation to COVID-19 seem to be risk or protective factors that should be studied to prevent anxiety in pandemic contexts.

Visual preference for social vs. non-social images in young children with autism spectrum disorders. An eye tracking study.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are associated to social attention (SA) impairments. A gaze bias to non-social objects over faces has been proposed as an early marker of ASD. This bias may be related to the concomitant circumscribed interests (CI), which question the role of competing objects in this atypical visual behavior. The aim of this study was to compare visual attention patterns to social and non-social images in young children with ASD and matched typical controls (N = 36; age range 41-73 months) assessing the role of emotion in facial stimuli and the type of competing object. A paired preference task was designed pairing happy, angry, and neutral faces with two types of objects (related or not related to autism CI). Eye tracking data were collected, and three indexes were considered as dependent variables: prioritization (attentional orientation), preference, and duration (sustained attention). Results showed that both groups had similar visual pattern to faces (prioritization, more attention and longer visits to faces paired with objects non-related to their CI); however, the ASD group attended to faces significantly less than controls. Children with ASD showed an emotional bias (late orientation to angry faces and typical preference for happy faces). Finally, objects related to their CI captured attention in both groups, significantly reducing SA in children with ASD. Atypical SA is present in young children with ASD regardless the competing non-social object. Identifying strengths and difficulties in SA in this population may have substantial repercussion for early diagnosis, intervention, and ultimately prognosis.

Influence of Maternal and Paternal Parenting Style and Behavior Problems on Academic Outcomes in Primary School.

Parents and teachers are concerned about the academic outcomes of children. Among the variables that play an important role in school success, parenting styles and behavior problems are some of the most studied. Literature shows that presence of behavioral problem and parenting styles based on physical punishment, lack of consistency and ineffective limit setting are related to poor academic achievement. The present study examined the influence of maternal and paternal parenting styles and behavior problems on the academic outcomes of primary-school children. Measures used in this study included the Inventory of Parenting Guide, the Child Behavior Checklist and information on academic outcomes (n = 78 families). The range age of the students was 6 to 13 years old (mean = 8.08; SD = 1.6; 38 girls). The participation rate was 90.7%. The results showed that behavior problems and sensitive parenting style were related to academic outcomes. Specifically, attentional problems and maternal sensitive parenting styles appeared to be significant predictors of academic outcomes in this study. These data suggest the relevance of attention and maternal sensitive parenting styles in understanding processes that promote academic outcomes.

Induced Negative Mood Increases Dictator Game Giving.

The study examines the influence of induced negative mood on dictator game giving (DGG) with two recipients. Participants (N = 63) played the role of a dictator in a three-player dictator game. They could choose among two options: an altruistic option, where two receivers receive 10 Euros and the dictator himself receives nothing, or a selfish option, where the dictator himself receives 5 Euros and both receivers receive nothing. For half of the participants, the second option entailed that only one receiver receives nothing and the other receives 10 Euros. After four rounds, participants were randomly assigned to look at 10 pictures with either positive or negative emotional content with the purpose of inducing positive or negative mood. The results show that looking at pictures with negative emotional content increases anxiety and skin conductance and increases DGG in the remaining four rounds of the game. On the other hand, whether the selfish option would imply that one or both recipients receive nothing does not seem to have a strong influence on DGG. PsycINFO Classification code: 2340; 2360.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction in adolescents with mental disorders: A randomised clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is a strong movement to implement mindfulness interventions with young people. The objective of this randomised clinical trial was to assess the potential effects of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programme for adolescent outpatients in mental health facilities in Cordoba, Spain. METHOD: A total of 101 adolescents aged 13-16 years old, receiving psychological or psychiatric treatment for various disorders, were eligible for the study. The participants’ scores on mindfulness, self-esteem, perceived stress, state-trait anxiety and other psychological symptoms were examined at two time-points. Eighty adolescents completed the study (MBSR+TAU group = 41; TAU group = 39). RESULTS: The MBSR+TAU group showed a statistically significant decrease in anxiety state compared to the treatment-as-usual (TAU) group. No statistically significant differences were found between groups on the other scores, but the intervention was observed to have a greater impact on the MBSR+TAU group than in the TAU group, especially in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, paranoia and perceived stress. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that MBSR may be a useful adjunct treatment for adolescents in mental health facilities.

El trastorno por estrés postraumático en los supervivientes al cáncer: una revisión de los tratamientos psicológicos disponibles / Post-traumatic stress disorder in cancer survivors: a review of psychological treatments available

Objetivo: El trastorno por estrés postraumático (TEP) aparece con frecuencia en los supervivientes al cáncer, pero no todos los supervivientes cumplen con los criterios propuestos por el DSM-V para ser diagnosticados. Esta situación puede provocar la subestimación del problema y además, en este grupo de pacientes el TEP se relaciona con diferentes aspectos del bienestar psicológico, como la depresión, la ansiedad o la calidad de vida. Sin embargo, solo hay unas pocas intervenciones psicológicas diseñadas para reducir estos síntomas en los supervivientes al cáncer. Método: Se realizó una revisión de los tratamientos psicológicos disponibles para el TEP en los supervivientes al cáncer en los últimos 10 años. Las bases de datos utilizadas fueron PubMed, Web of Science (WOS) y PsycInfo con los siguientes descriptores: PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), treatment cancer survivors y PTSS (posttraumatic stress symptoms) treatment cancer survivors. Resultados: Las intervenciones psicológicas con una mayor evidencia son: la terapia de tipo cognitivo-conductual y el mindfulness, por delante del entrenamiento en el manejo del estrés, la terapia neuro-emocional, el entrenamiento en habilidades de afrontamiento y el counseling. Conclusiones: A pesar de la relevancia del TEP en este grupo de pacientes, las intervenciones psicológicas necesitan de una mayor evidencia para establecer su eficacia para reducir estos síntomas en los supervivientes

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appears frequently in cancer survivors, but not all survivors meet the criteria proposed by the DSM-V to be diagnosed with PTSD. This situation may lead an underestimation of the problem and furthermore, in this patient group, PTSD is related with different aspects of psychological well-being, such as depression, anxiety or quality of life, However, there are only a few psychological interventions designed to reduce these symptoms in cancer survivors. Method: A review of the psychological treatments available for PTSD in cancer survivors in the last 10 years was performed. The data bases used were PubMed, Web of Science (WOS) and PsycInfo with the following descriptors: PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) treatment cancer survivors y PTSS (posttraumatic stress symptoms) treatment cancer survivors. Results: The psychological interventions with more evidence are: cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness, ahead other strategies such as stress management training, neuro-emotional therapy, coping skills training and counseling. Conclusions: Despite the relevance of PTSD in this patients group, psychological interventions needs more evidence to establish their efficacy to reduce these symptoms in survivors

Reduced habituation to angry faces: increased attentional capture as to override inhibition of return.

The aim of this paper was to study whether real angry faces do capture attention to the extent of overcoming the inhibition of return (IOR) effect and whether the anxiety level of participants modulates this effect by stressing biases toward threatening stimuli. With this purpose, participants categorized the emotional valence of face targets in a standard spatial cueing procedure suitable to measure IOR. In Experiment 1, participants were selected according to their high vs. low-trait anxiety, whereas in Experiment 2 participants were induced a positive vs. anxiety mood state. The typical IOR effect was observed with neutral and happy face targets, which disappeared with angry face targets. Similar results were observed for all anxiety groups and in both experiments. The results indicate that IOR is overridden when the target is a biologically relevant angry face, as highly relevant targets should suffer less from habituation to attentional capture regardless of anxiety. We suggest that these data show that attentional capture is less likely to habituate for threatening information, so that no cost is measured in detecting new threatening information appearing at recently cued locations.

Temporal preparation, response inhibition and impulsivity.

Temporal preparation and impulsivity involve overlapping neural structures (prefrontal cortex) and cognitive functions (response inhibition and time perception), however, their interrelations had not been investigated. We studied such interrelations by comparing the performance of groups with low vs. high non-clinical trait impulsivity during a temporal preparation go no-go task. This task measured, in less than 10 min, how response inhibition was influenced both by temporal orienting of attention (guided by predictive temporal cues) and by sequential effects (produced by repetition/alternation of the duration of preparatory intervals in consecutive trials). The results showed that sequential effects produced dissociable patterns of temporal preparation as a function of impulsivity. Sequential effects facilitated both response speed (reaction times - RTs - to the go condition) and response inhibition (false alarms to the no-go condition) selectively in the low impulsivity group. In the high impulsivity group, in contrast, sequential effects only improved RTs but not response inhibition. We concluded that both excitatory and inhibitory processing may be enhanced concurrently by sequential effects, which enables the temporal preparation of fast and controlled responses. Impulsivity could hence be related to less efficient temporal preparation of that inhibitory processing.

Evaluación de las dimensiones de valencia, activación, frecuencia subjetiva de uso y relevancia para la ansiedad, la depresión y la ira de 238 sustantivos en una muestra universitaria / +ormative ratings on valence, arousal, subjetive familiarity, and its relation with threat, depression and anger of 238 nouns in university students

Se presentan los resultados de las evaluaciones que realizaron un grupo de estudiantes universitarios sobre 238 sustantivos en las dimensiones de valencia, activación, frecuencia subjetiva de uso y relevancia para la ansiedad, la depresión y la ira. Los datos normativos que se muestran pueden ser de gran utilidad para aquellos investigadores que estudian las relaciones entre cognición y emoción, particularmente cuando utilizan tareas de atención o de memoria en que se incluyen estímulos verbales y los participantes son seleccionados por sus rasgos afectivos(AU)

We present normative data of the assessment by university students of nouns on scales of valence, arousal, word frequency or subjective familiarity, and its relation with threat, depression and anger. The reported norm rate can be utmost useful for research on the relationship between cognition and emotion, and in particular to researchers using attention and memory tasks with words stimuli and participants selected according to their emotional characteristics(AU)

Attentional capture and trait anxiety: evidence from inhibition of return.

Attentional biases regarding attentional capture by threat-related stimuli in anxious people were investigated by using a standard spatial cueing procedure suitable to measure inhibition of return (IOR). In two experiments, participants categorized the emotional valence of either emotional (positive and negative words) or non-emotional (neutral words in both experiments and sets of 'xxx' in Experiment 1) targets that were preceded by a peripheral non-predictive cue. The typical IOR effect (slower responses for words presented at previously cued locations) was observed for non-emotional and positive stimuli, with similar results being observed for both low and high trait anxiety groups. For negative stimuli, however, the high trait anxiety group did not show the IOR effect, while it was present in the low trait anxiety group. This general pattern of results suggests that, in individual with high trait anxiety, threatening stimuli can capture attention at the locations whether attentional capture is hindered by other cognitive effects such as IOR.