Evidence for Improved Cognitive Health with Diet: A Narrative Review.

Background: Despite growing interest in nutrition as a behavioral intervention to improve cognitive health in clinical populations, many providers find it challenging to provide specific nutritional recommendations. We aimed to review and synthesize current empirical research on this topic and provide considerations for healthcare providers working with adults who wish to optimize their cognition via dietary improvements. Methods: We performed a narrative review of research published between January 2009 and May 2021 on 5 popular dietary interventions: the Mediterranean diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention Diet for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND), the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting. Results and Conclusions: Of the 5 dietary interventions, the Mediterranean diet has been the most extensively investigated, and there is evidence supporting its cognitive benefits. However, operationalization of the Mediterranean diet varies across studies, rendering the results inconclusive. The DASH diet and the MIND diet have stronger operationalization and showed evidence of cognitive benefits. More longitudinal studies and/or randomized clinical trials should be conducted on these 2 relatively new interventions. Finally, there is limited research with human participants regarding the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting, which are found to be cognitively protective within stringent parameters. Definitions for these 5 dietary patterns and practice tips and recommendations are provided.

Nomothetic and idiographic patterns of responses to emotions in borderline personality disorder.

According to Linehan's (1993) biosocial theory, emotion dysregulation is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Despite significant advances in our understanding of emotion dysregulation in BPD, the specific associations among prompting events, discrete emotions, and selected regulation strategies (adaptive and maladaptive) have not yet been detailed. We explored these relations in a daily diary study of 8 participants (Mage = 21.57, 63% female; 63% Asian) with BPD over 10-12 weeks. Participants reported prompting events of interpersonal conflict, emotional experiences of anxiety, and strategies of problem-solving and intentional avoidance most frequently. We found several unique relations between regulation strategies and both prompting events and discrete emotions, nomothetically (across all participants) and idiographically (within specific participants). These patterns contribute to an enriched understanding of the emotional experiences of people with BPD and demonstrate the value of collecting and considering both group-level and person-specific data on emotion regulation processes within this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A pilot study of a mind-body stress management program for student veterans.

BACKGROUND: Student veterans are an at-risk population given the challenges of military experience, reintegration to civilian life, and attending college. Therefore, there is a need for innovative programs to support student veterans. The present study sought to determine the acceptability and effectiveness of a 10-week mind-body stress reduction intervention for student veterans, or Resilient Student Warrior. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-six student veterans took part in the 10-week mind-body stress reduction course, Resilient Student Warrior. RESULTS: Results showed a significant improvement in reports of stress reactivity, mindfulness, sleep disturbance and coping skills for stress (p < 0.05), but not self-efficacy, perceived stress, depressive or post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. The intervention was reported as helpful by 96% of participants, with 95% of participants stating they would recommend the course to others. CONCLUSION: Future studies should further assess the effectiveness of mind-body interventions among the student veteran population.

An exploratory mixed methods approach to implicit and explicit identification with non-suicidal self-injury.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Identification with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is uniquely related to NSSI behavior and predicts future NSSI. This exploratory, mixed methods study used implicit and explicit approaches to further understanding of NSSI identity. METHODS: Participants included 15 treatment-seeking adults (60% female, 87% Caucasian) with lifetime NSSI. Participant age ranged from 19 to 38 years (M = 25.33, SD = 6.10). Implicit tasks were completed at two time points in a test-retest design, followed by a qualitative interview. RESULTS: Qualitative data suggest that explicit NSSI identity is relevant to some individuals with NSSI history. Mixed methods analyses indicate that individuals who explicitly identify with NSSI have stronger implicit NSSI identities than those who do not, and report more methods of NSSI on average. LIMITATIONS: Results are novel, although exploratory in nature due to the sample size, and may not be generalizable to non-clinical samples or individuals currently engaging in NSSI. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with stronger explicit identity evidence higher implicit identity scores, suggesting a potential higher risk profile for future NSSI. This study offers further support for the value of including both implicit and explicit assessment of NSSI identity in risk assessment.

Sleep and suicide: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.

The current review provides a quantitative synthesis of the empirical literature on sleep disturbance as a risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). A systematic search of PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and the references of prior reviews resulted in 41 eligible studies included in this meta-analysis. Sleep disturbance, including insomnia, prospectively predicted STBs, yielding small-to-medium to medium effect sizes for these associations. Complicating interpretation of these findings however, is that few studies of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, as well as none of suicide deaths, assessed short-term risk (i.e., employed follow-up assessments of under a month). Such studies are needed to evaluate current conceptualizations of sleep dysregulation as being involved in acute risk for suicidal behavior. This want of short-term risk studies also suggests that current clinical recommendations to monitor sleep as a potential warning sign of suicide risk has a relatively modest empirical basis, being largely driven by cross-sectional or retrospective research. The current review ends with recommendations for generating future research on short-term risk and greater differentiation between acute and chronic aspects of sleep disturbance, and by providing a model of how sleep disturbance may confer risk for STBs through neuroinflammatory and stress processes and associated impairments in executive control.