The moderation effect of secure attachment on the relationship between positive events and wellbeing.

Positive events can reduce depression as well as enhance wellbeing. The role of secure attachment style in moderating the relationship between positive events and wellbeing is examined to further understand wellbeing models. Participants (n = 490) included two midlife groups and a student group from the UK. They completed the online Computerized Life Event Assessment Record (CLEAR), a measure of life events, the Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire (VASQ), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). Age was associated with higher rates of wellbeing and secure attachment style. A significant relationship was found between number of positive events and wellbeing, number of people close, and secure attachment score. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated a significant interaction between secure attachment style, number of positive life events, and wellbeing. Simple slopes analysis demonstrated the association between positive life events and wellbeing was significant for secure attachment (B = 1.27, p = .003) but not insecure attachment (B = 0.04, non-significant). This suggests securely attached individuals are better able to take advantage of positive life events than insecurely attached individuals and experience a greater increase in wellbeing.

Life events, depression and supportive relationships affect academic achievement in university students.

BackgroundStudents often simultaneously deal with shifting support networks, stressful life changes and psychological distress which may affect academic achievement. Methods: 285 students completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess depression and the Computerized Life Events Assessment Record (CLEAR), to establish life events and supportive relationships. Module grades were used to measure academic achievement. A general linear model was used with student grade as the dependent variable and life events, depression and supportive relationships as independent variables. Confounding variables included age and sex. Results: A three-way interaction between life events, depression and lack of supportive relationships was found. It indicated the performance of depressed students depended on whether they had supportive relationships and that this interaction also depended on whether they had experienced a life event in the past year. Conclusions: Universities need to provide more support to students with life stress as they transition into university life.

The impact of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental-health services in Europe.

PURPOSE: The current COVID-19 pandemic confronts psychiatric patients and mental health services with unique and severe challenges. METHODS: In order to identify these trans-national challenges across Europe, an ad-hoc survey was conducted among 23 experts, each answering for one European or aligned country. RESULTS: A number of important themes and issues were raised for the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and mental health services, barriers to service provision and future consequences. A number of key issues were reported by colleagues across several jurisdictions, even though these were at different stages of their national epidemics. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, we articulate some important learnings from the early stages of the COVID-19 European pandemic, and highlight key considerations for all countries' mental health services as the current pandemic develops and for future pandemics.

Characteristics of severe life events, attachment style, and depression - Using a new online approach.

OBJECTIVES: Severe life events are established as provoking agents for depression in combination with vulnerability factors. Identifying features of severe events improves the prediction of disorder but are rarely utilized, mainly because life event research is increasingly dominated by self-report checklists with no capacity for inferring such characteristics. This paper investigates the association of severe life events' features with depression and insecure attachment styles using a new online measure of life events in a clinical and control sample. METHODS: A total of 202 participants (75 clinical and 127 matched control participants), taken from an earlier national Depression Case Control genetic study and followed up after 12 years, completed the Computerised Life Events Assessment Record to assess characteristics of life events, the Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire to measure attachment insecurity, and the General Health Questionnaire to measure depression. RESULTS: The clinical group had higher self-reported depression, severe life events, and insecure attachment style. They also reported more loss, danger, humiliation, and trauma severe events. Intra-respondent analysis showed individuals experiencing these types of events were more likely to report depression. Insecure attachment style and severe life events were both significantly related to recent depression and history of depressive disorder. Anxious attachment style was significantly related to relationship events and bereavements, as well as severe loss or humiliation events, whereas avoidant style was not. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying salient features of severe life events improves associations with depression and insecure attachment style. Utilizing a new online approach can aid research and clinical approaches for depression at low cost. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Salient features of severe life events (e.g., loss, humiliation) give insight into the potential impact on attachment vulnerability and depression. Clinicians and researchers can use online methods to economically gain detailed life event information needed for clinical formulation and valid data on stressors. The self-reported scale for recent depression is only a proxy measure of clinical disorder, but the clinical group selection is a more robust criterion for depression history.

Web-Based Measure of Life Events Using Computerized Life Events and Assessment Record (CLEAR): Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study of Reliability, Validity, and Association With Depression.

BACKGROUND: Given the criticisms of life event checklists and the costs associated with interviews, life event research requires a sophisticated but easy-to-use measure for research and clinical practice. Therefore, the Computerized Life Events and Assessment Record (CLEAR), based on the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS), was developed. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to test CLEAR's reliability, validity, and association with depression. METHODS: CLEAR, the General Health Questionnaire, and the List of Threatening Experiences Questionnaire (LTE-Q) were completed by 328 participants (126 students; 202 matched midlife sample: 127 unaffected controls, 75 recurrent depression cases). Test-retest reliability over 3-4 weeks was examined and validity determined by comparing CLEAR with LEDS and LTE-Q. Both CLEAR and LTE-Q were examined in relation to depression. RESULTS: CLEAR demonstrated good test-retest reliability for the overall number of life events (0.89) and severe life events (.60). Long-term problems showed similar findings. In terms of validity, CLEAR severe life events had moderate sensitivity (59.1%) and specificity (65.4%) when compared with LEDS. CLEAR demonstrated moderate sensitivity (43.1%) and specificity (78.6%) when compared with LTE-Q. CLEAR severe life events and long-term problems were significantly associated with depression (odds ratio, OR 3.50, 95% CI 2.10 to 5.85, P<.001; OR 3.38, 95% CI 2.02 to 5.67, P<.001, respectively), whereas LTE-Q events were not (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.43 to 2.60, P=.90). CONCLUSIONS: CLEAR has acceptable reliability and validity and predicts depression. It, therefore, has great potential for effective use in research and clinical practice identifying stress-related factors for the onset and maintenance of depression and related disorders.