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Background For exposure therapy to be successful, it is essential that fear extinction learning extends beyond the treatment setting. d-Cycloserine (DCS) may facilitate treatment gains by increasing generalization of extinction learning, however, its effects have not been tested in children. We examined whether DCS enhanced generalization of fear extinction learning across different stimuli and contexts among children with specific phobias. Methods The study was a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized controlled trial among dog or spider phobic children aged 6-14. Participants ingested either 50 mg of DCS ( n = 18) or placebo ( n = 17) before receiving a single prolonged exposure session to their feared stimulus. Return of fear was examined 1 week later to a different stimulus (a different dog or spider), presented in both the original treatment context and an alternate context. Avoidance and fear were measured with Behavior Approach Tests (BATs), where the child was asked to increase proximity to the stimulus while reporting their fear level. Results There were no differences in BAT performance between groups during the exposure session or when a new stimulus was later presented in the treatment context. However, when the new stimulus was presented in a different context, relative to placebo, the DCS group showed less avoidance ( P = .03) and less increase in fear ( P = .04) with moderate effect sizes. Conclusions DCS enabled children to better retain their fear extinction learning. This new learning generalized to different stimuli and contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the importance of and one approach to translational research to prevent internalizing problems very early in life. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that by 2,030 internalizing problems will be second only to HIV/AIDS in the international burden of disease. Internalizing problems affect one in every seven school age children, with negative impacts on peer relations, school engagement, and later mental health, adult relationships, and employment. There is persuasive evidence that intervention in the preschool years can have a cost-effective impact on general developmental outcomes, compared to later school or adult intervention. However, the development of early childhood prevention for internalizing problems is in its infancy. Two significant risk factors for child internalizing problems are temperamental inhibition (characterized by fearfulness and withdrawal) and overinvolved/protective parenting practices. Rapee et al. have conducted two randomized 'efficacy' trials with inhibited preschoolers in which a parenting group intervention reduced internalizing disorders up to 3 years later. Translational 'effectiveness' research is now underway at the population level, to determine the balance of benefits and harms of systematically screening preschoolers for inhibition and subsequent intervention for all those affected. This rigorous public health research, followed by effective dissemination, addresses gaps identified in the WHO Prevention of Mental Disorders report. Depression and Anxiety, 2011.© 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the culture specificity of Taijin-Kyofusho (TK) offensive type by examining whether symptoms of the disorder covary with social phobia and determining the proportion of those who meet criteria for a diagnosis of TK offensive type among Australian socially phobic individuals. The study included a total of 94 participants who met the DSM-IV criteria for social phobia and 39 normal controls who did not meet criteria for any mental disorder. All participants were born in Western countries and resided in Australia. Results showed that levels of offensive worry were significantly elevated in socially phobic individuals and decreased after treatment of their social phobia, pointing to a close relationship between symptoms of TK offensive type and social anxiety. Correlational analysis indicated that TK offensive type and social phobia appear to represent distinct constructs, although the two constructs were clearly strongly related. However, diagnostic examination revealed that the prevalence of reported offensive symptoms (eight out of 94; 8.5%) was extremely low among participants with social phobia in Australia and none of them met the full criteria for TK offensive type. The mixed findings relevant to the existence of TK offensive type among an Australian sample with social phobia are discussed in relation to cultural influences on life interference, referral behaviors, and diagnostic customs. Depression and Anxiety 0:1–8, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has indicated that adults with various anxiety disorders, especially social phobia, recall their parents as excessively protective and controlling and as low in socialization. However, it is not clear whether such results would be supported by parents. In the present study subjects with social phobia, panic disorder, and nonclinical subjects and their mothers were given parallel measures of maternal control, socialization, and offspring early introverted behaviors as well as several questions relating to two early major life events and family size. Anxious offspring reported the usual high maternal control and low paternal socialization and mother supported the data on socialization. On control, mothers provided mixed results, disagreeing on a more standard measure, but showing agreement on a more operationalized measure. The data were more consistent for social phobia than for panic disorder. In terms of early life factors, both anxiety disorders were associated with fewer friends and more introverted behaviors, while family size and two major life events did not differentiate groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies examining treatment moderators and mediators in late-life anxiety and depression are sparse. Executive functioning skills decrease with age, and are poorer in the context of anxiety and depression. One of the key cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for anxiety and depression is cognitive restructuring (CR), which teaches people to identify and dispute maladaptive thoughts. There is evidence that cognitive flexibility (CF), one aspect of executive functioning, has a negative impact on CR skill acquisition in nonclinical older adults, and this warrants extension in a clinical sample.Method: This study assessed CR skill acquisition in a clinical sample of 47 older adults with anxiety and depression and 53 nonclinical controls during an experimental paradigm, and investigated the influence of CF on this relationship. A battery of neuropsychological tests assessing CF were administered and CR was learned during a brief intervention.Results: The clinical sample showed poorer CF on some measures, as well as poorer CR quality and efficacy (reduction in subjective distress). CF partially mediated the relationship between clinical status and CR quality, and between clinical status and CR efficacy.Conclusion: These results provide preliminary evidence that older adults with anxiety and depression are worse at learning and benefiting from CR with a brief intervention and this is partially due to having poorer CF skills. These findings warrant further examination in a treatment context to assess whether CR skill acquisition improves over treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the efficacy of weight‐adjusted D‐cycloserine (DCS) (35 or 70 mg) relative to placebo augmentation of intensive exposure therapy for youth with obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) in a double‐blind, randomised controlled trial, and examine whether antidepressant medication or patient age moderated outcomes. Methods: Youth (n = 100, 7–17 years) with OCD were randomised in a 1:1 ratio to either DCS + exposure (n = 49) or placebo + exposure (n = 51). Assessments occurred posttreatment, 1 month later, and at 3 and 6 months. Pills were ingested immediately before sessions. Results: Significant improvements on all outcomes were observed at posttreatment, and to 6‐month follow‐up. Treatment arms did not differ across time, with no significant time‐by‐medication interactions on symptom severity (T1 to T2 estimate: 9.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −11.2 to −7.4, and estimate −10.7, 95% CI: −12.6 to −8.7), diagnostic severity (T1 to T2 estimate: −2.0, 95% CI: −2.4 to −1.5 and estimate −2.5, 95% CI: −3.0 to −2.0) or global functioning (T1 to T2 estimate: 13.8, 95% CI: 10.6 to 17.0, and estimate 16.6, 95% CI: 13.2 to 19.9). Neither antidepressants at baseline nor age moderated primary outcomes. There were significantly fewer responders/remitters at 1‐ and 6‐month follow‐up among youth in the DCS condition stabilised on SSRIs, relative to youth not taking SSRIs. Conclusions: DCS augmented intensive exposure therapy did not result in overall additional benefits relative to placebo. Intensive exposure proved effective in reducing symptoms for the overall sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Parenting is a modifiable factor proposed to underpin the transmission of anxiety and depression from parents to children. This study examined the role of parenting in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety and depression across pre‐ and early adolescence. Method: Participants were 531 youth (Mage = 11.18, SD = 0.56; 50.85% boys) and their parent. Child and parent anxiety and depression, and parental rejection, warmth and overprotection were assessed annually over 3 years. Bidirectional relationships between parent and child anxiety and depression, and the mediating role of parenting behaviors, were examined using cross‐lagged panel models. Results: Results suggest bidirectional associations over time between parent and child depression, and parental rejection and child depression. Parental rejection and low warmth were associated with increases in child depression, but did not mediate depression transmission. Parental anxiety was associated with increases in child anxiety and depression, but there was no bidirectional association from child psychopathology to parental anxiety. There was little evidence that parenting predicted changes in child anxiety over time. Child anxiety and depression were associated with subsequent increases in parental depression. Conclusion: Parental depression, rejection and low warmth are independent risk factors for child depression. Parental rejection may also be a consequence of parenting a depressed youth. Parenting did not account for the apparent transmission of parental anxiety to increased child anxiety and depression. Child psychopathology increases risk of parental depression. Parental rejection may be an important modifiable risk factor for youth depression in early adolescence, and may also reduce later risk of parent depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning has been implicated in the development of stress-related psychiatric diagnoses and response to adverse life experiences. This study aimed to investigate the association between genetic and epigenetics in HPA axis and response to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).Methods: Children with anxiety disorders were recruited into the Genes for Treatment project (GxT, N = 1,152). Polymorphisms of FKBP5 and GR were analyzed for association with response to CBT. Percentage DNA methylation at the FKBP5 and GR promoter regions was measured before and after CBT in a subset (n = 98). Linear mixed effect models were used to investigate the relationship between genotype, DNA methylation, and change in primary anxiety disorder severity (treatment response).Results: Treatment response was not associated with FKBP5 and GR polymorphisms, or pretreatment percentage DNA methylation. However, change in FKBP5 DNA methylation was nominally significantly associated with treatment response. Participants who demonstrated the greatest reduction in severity decreased in percentage DNA methylation during treatment, whereas those with little/no reduction in severity increased in percentage DNA methylation. This effect was driven by those with one or more FKBP5 risk alleles, with no association seen in those with no FKBP5 risk alleles. No significant association was found between GR methylation and response.Conclusions: Allele-specific change in FKBP5 methylation was associated with treatment response. This is the largest study to date investigating the role of HPA axis related genes in response to a psychological therapy. Furthermore, this is the first study to demonstrate that DNA methylation changes may be associated with response to psychological therapies in a genotype-dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social anxiety is assumed to be related to cultural norms across countries. Heinrichs et al. [2006: Behav Res Ther 44:1187–1197] compared individualistic and collectivistic countries and found higher social anxiety and more positive attitudes toward socially avoidant behaviors in collectivistic rather than in individualistic countries. However, the authors failed to include Latin American countries in the collectivistic group. Methods: To provide support for these earlier results within an extended sample of collectivistic countries, 478 undergraduate students from individualistic countries were compared with 388 undergraduate students from collectivistic countries (including East Asian and Latin American) via self‐report of social anxiety and social vignettes assessing social norms. Results: As expected, the results of Heinrichs et al. [2006: Behav Res Ther 44:1187–1197] were replicated for the individualistic and Asian countries, but not for Latin American countries. Latin American countries displayed the lowest social anxiety levels, whereas the collectivistic East Asian group displayed the highest. Conclusions: These findings indicate that while culture‐mediated social norms affect social anxiety and might help to shed light on the etiology of social anxiety disorder, the dimension of individualism–collectivism may not fully capture the relevant norms. Depression and Anxiety, 2010.© 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has undergone a series of substantial classificatory changes since its first inclusion in DSM-III. The majority of these revisions have been in response to its poor inter-rater reliability and concerns that it may lack diagnostic validity. This article provides options for the revision of the DSM-IV GAD criteria for DSM-V. Method: First, searches were conducted to identify the evidence that previous DSM Work Groups relied upon when revising the DSM-III-R GAD and the overanxious disorder classifications. Second, the literature pertaining to the DSM-IV criteria for GAD was examined. Conclusions: The review presents a number of options to be considered for DSM-V. One option is for GAD to be re-labeled in DSM-V as generalized worry disorder. This would reflect its hallmark feature. Proposed revisions would result in a disorder that is characterized by excessive anxiety and worry generalized to a number of events or activities for 3 months or more. Worry acts as a cognitive coping strategy that manifests in avoidant behaviors. The reliability and validity of the proposed changes could be investigated in DSM-V validity tests and field trials. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that examined cultural differences among patients with phobia in the U.S., Australia and Sweden. Shortcomings of empirical research on the nature and treatment of anxiety disorders; Application of the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale in the study; Information on demographic similarities of the respondents.