Evaluation of a decision aid for the treatment of depression among college students.

Objective: Depression, and its treatment, is a concern among college students. Research indicates decision aids (DA) improve patients' treatment knowledge, decision making, and decisional conflict; however, it is unknown whether they are helpful for disseminating depression treatment information to college students. This study evaluated a DA for depression and its impact on college students' knowledge and treatment decision making. Methods: College students (N = 144) completed questionnaires pre-, post-, and at 1-month follow-up after reviewing an evidence-based DA for depression. Results: Participants rated the DA as highly acceptable and useful, and their knowledge increased at post-treatment and follow-up. However, treatment option presentation order influenced decision making. Conclusions: This DA is a useful and acceptable decision-making tool, and increased knowledge of depression and its treatment among college students. This study proposes a novel tool for educating college students about depression treatment, furthering our understanding of factors influencing treatment preferences.

Psychometric properties of the Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales in individuals with social anxiety disorder.

BACKGROUND: Although numerous self-report measures of social anxiety exist, most instruments assess symptom severity by examining the range of social situations that provoke anxiety, rather than the distress and impairment associated with social anxiety. The Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales (RSAS; Lenton-Brym, A. P., Rogojanski, J., Hood, H. K., Vorstenbosch, V., McCabe, R. E., & Antony, M. M. (2020). Development and validation of the Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales (RSAS). Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 33(6), 642-660), a measure assessing breadth of social anxiety inducing situations and severity of associated distress and impairment, was recently developed to fill this gap. The present study is the first to investigate the psychometric properties of the RSAS in a clinical sample. METHOD/DESIGN: Participants included 110 individuals with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD). A subsample of participants (n = 23) completed cognitive-behavioural group treatment (CBGT) for SAD. RESULTS: The RSAS demonstrated excellent internal consistency. Examination of the correlations between the RSAS and other conceptually related and distinct measures supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the RSAS. The RSAS was also sensitive to changes in severity of social anxiety following CBGT. CONCLUSION: The RSAS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the severity of SAD.

Development and validation of the Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales (RSAS).

Background: Extant self-report measures of social anxiety primarily assess the breadth of social situations in which respondents feel anxious, rather than assessing severity in terms of the distress and impairment that individuals experience due to their social anxiety symptoms. This paper describes the development and validation of the Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales (RSAS; Rogojanski et al., 2019; see Appendix), a new measure for assessing both the breadth of situations that trigger social anxiety and the severity (i.e., distress and impairment) associated with social anxiety, across two studies. Method/Design: Two samples of university students (N = 501 total) completed demographic and self-report symptom measures. In Study 1, participants completed the RSAS and several other measures of psychological symptoms. In Study 2, participants completed the same measures and were also assessed for the presence of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) using a semistructured clinical interview. Results: Across both samples, the RSAS demonstrated excellent internal consistency and incremental validity. It consistently emerged as a unique predictor of psychosocial impairment. In Study 2, increases in RSAS scores were associated with increased odds of having SAD. Conclusions: The RSAS has robust psychometric properties and fills an important gap among available measures for assessing SAD severity.

The structure, correlates, and treatment related changes of mindfulness facets across the anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Research with non-clinical and clinical samples has examined how mindfulness concepts relate to psychological symptom presentations. However, there is less clarity when examining treatment-seeking patients who experience DSM-diagnosed anxiety and obsessional disorders - both cross-sectionally, and following empirically-supported treatments. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006) conceptualizes mindfulness as consisting of five facets: Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Nonreactivity, and Nonjudging. The current study examines the factor structure and predictive validity of the FFMQ in a large sample of treatment-seeking individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PD/A), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) established that both four and five-factor models (i.e., with and without inclusion of the Observing factor) provided an acceptable representation of the underlying FFMQ structure, but did not support a one-factor solution. For each of these diagnostic groups, hierarchical regression analyses clarified the association between specific FFMQ facets and diagnosis specific symptom change during CBT treatment. These findings are discussed in the context of the possible transdiagnostic relevance of specific mindfulness facets, and how these facets are differentially associated with diagnosis specific symptom alleviation during CBT.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic insomnia.

OPINION STATEMENT: Psychological and behavioral therapies should be considered the first line treatment for chronic insomnia. Although cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is considered the standard of care [1], several monotherapies, including sleep restriction therapy, stimulus control therapy, and relaxation training are also recommended in the treatment of chronic insomnia [2]. CBT-I is a multimodal intervention comprised of a combination of behavioral (eg, sleep restriction, stimulus control) and cognitive therapy strategies, and psychoeducation delivered in 4 to 10 weekly or biweekly sessions [3]. Given that insomnia is thought to be maintained by an interaction between unhelpful sleep-related beliefs and behaviors, the goal of CBT-I is to modify the maladaptive cognitions (eg, worry about the consequences of poor sleep), behaviors (eg, extended time in bed), and arousal (ie, physiological and mental hyperarousal) perpetuating the insomnia. CBT-I is efficacious when implemented alone or in combination with a pharmacologic agent. However, because of the potential for relapse upon discontinuation, CBT-I should be extended throughout drug tapering [4]. Although the treatment options should be guided by the available evidence supporting both psychological therapies and short-term hypnotic treatment, as well as treatment feasibility and availability, treatment selection should ultimately be guided by patient preference [5]. Despite its widespread use among treatment providers [6], the use of sleep hygiene education as a primary intervention for insomnia should be avoided. Sleep hygiene may be a necessary, but insufficient condition for promoting good sleep and should be considered an adjunct to another empirically supported treatment.

Interpersonal factors in insomnia: a model for integrating bed partners into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

Sleep has largely been conceptualized as an individual phenomenon, despite the fact that most adults share their bed with a partner at some time in their life. Only recently have researchers begun to examine the dyadic nature of sleep, and there is growing evidence that bed partners can play a role in the onset and maintenance of insomnia. Additionally, emerging evidence suggests that bed partners can be powerful agents of social control in terms of promoting adaptive health and sleep-related behaviors, and shared social rhythms between partners can help foster an environment that is conducive to good sleep. As such, the aim of the present article is to review the social context of the sleep environment and how best to include bed partners in insomnia treatment. Based on a synthesis of relevant literatures, a model for integrating bed partners into cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is presented and directions for future research are discussed.

Role of sensitivity to anxiety symptoms in responsiveness to mindfulness versus suppression strategies for coping with smoking cravings.

Mindfulness strategies for managing cravings involve present-moment, nonjudgmental awareness of cravings without acting on them, while suppression involves pushing cravings out of awareness. Few studies have investigated individual differences in responding to these strategies. The current study examined whether individual differences in anxiety sensitivity moderate responsiveness to mindfulness versus suppression for coping with smoking cravings. Participants (N=61) utilized a mindfulness or suppression strategy to manage cravings during cue exposure to cigarettes and were evaluated for self-efficacy 7 days later. Greater anxiety sensitivity after cue exposure was associated with increased self-efficacy in the suppression condition. This suggests that anxiety-sensitive individuals who utilize suppression may cope better with cravings, at least in the early days after learning these strategies.