Search

Background: Rumination is implicated in the onset and maintenance of major depressive disorder (MDD). Rumination-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RF-CBT) effectively targets rumination and may change resting-state brain connectivity and change in activation during a rumination induction task (RIT) post-intervention predicts depressive symptoms two years later. We examined brain activation changes during an RIT in adolescents with remitted MDD following RF-CBT and evaluated RIT reliability (or stability) during treatment as usual (TAU)., Method: Fifty-five adolescents ages 14-17 completed an RIT at baseline, were randomized to 10-14 sessions of RF-CBT (n = 30) or treatment as usual (n = 25) and completed an RIT at post-treatment or equivalent time delay. The RIT includes recalling negative memories (Rumination Instruction), dwelling on their meaning/consequences (Rumination Prompt), and imagining unrelated scenes and objects (Distraction). We assessed activation change in the RF-CBT group using paired-samples t-tests. We assessed reliability (or stability) via intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of five rumination-related ROIs for TAU and RF-CBT separately across task blocks., Results: Following treatment, participants receiving RF-CBT demonstrated increased activation of left precuneus during Rumination Instruction and of left angular and superior temporal gyri during Rumination Prompt blocks (p < .01). From baseline to post-treatment, across most ROIs and task blocks, the RF-CBT group demonstrated poor stability (M = 0.21, range = -0.19-0.69), while the TAU group demonstrated fair-to-excellent stability (M = 0.52, range = 0.27-0.86)., Conclusion: RF-CBT changes activation of rumination-related circuitry during state-induced rumination, offering exciting avenues for future interventions. The RIT has fair-to-excellent stability among individuals not explicitly treated for rumination, and as expected, RIT stability is disrupted by RF-CBT., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest This research was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH; R61MH118060/R33MH118060) awarded to Drs. Scott Langenecker and Edward Watkins. The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Utah., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Emotion dysregulation is a transdiagnostic correlate of psychopathology. However, longitudinal changes in emotion dysregulation have been understudied during the transition to parenthood. Additionally, less is known about whether prenatal and birth experiences may be associated with changes in emotion dysregulation across time., Methods: Data were collected from a longitudinal study of 385 pregnant individuals from their third trimester through to 18 months postpartum. Participants self-reported their emotion dysregulation at their prenatal visit, birth, 7 months, and 18 months postpartum. Additionally, participants reported on prenatal life stress, pregnancy-related hassles, and childbirth experiences through self-report measures and a semi-structured interview., Results: Results show non-linear decreases in emotion dysregulation from pregnancy to 18 months postpartum. On average, there was a significant decrease in self-reported emotion dysregulation from pregnancy to birth, followed by rank stability higher from birth through 18 months postpartum. More stress during pregnancy was associated with levels of emotion dysregulation and birth experiences characterized by fear were associated with more stability in emotion dysregulation from pregnancy to birth., Limitations: We only assessed emotion dysregulation once prenatally, so our findings do not account for changes across pregnancy. Additionally, our measures are all self-report through questionnaires and a semi-structured interview., Conclusions: Our study is consistent with literature on trajectories of psychopathology across the perinatal period. Assessing emotion dysregulation can help identify those at higher risk for psychopathology during the transition to parenthood. Our findings highlight the importance of prenatal and birth experiences, and the need to support mental health during this sensitive period., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Depressive symptoms during the perinatal period have broad and enduring health implications for birthing parents and their offspring. Rising prevalence rates of perinatal depression highlight the need for research examining factors influencing depressive symptoms during pregnancy, and trajectories during the early postnatal period. Grounded in bioecological systems theory, this longitudinal multimethod study examined whether prenatal bioecological factors predict depressive symptoms from pregnancy to 36 months postpartum., Methods: Participants were 162 pregnant individuals, oversampled for high emotion dysregulation, who completed a life stress interview and physiological assessment during the 3rd trimester and a self-report measure of depression at five time-points (3rd trimester, within 48 h of birth, 7, 18, and 36 months postpartum). Multilevel models were used to test study aims., Results: Participants exhibited the highest levels of depressive symptoms at 3rd trimester, and substantial variability in depressive symptom trajectories over time. Lower resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic nervous system functioning, in the 3rd trimester was associated with higher concurrent depressive symptoms. Higher levels of stress related to partner relationships, finances, and health were concurrently associated with more depressive symptoms during pregnancy and decreases in depressive symptoms over time. Specifically, depressive symptoms decreased only for individuals who reported high levels of stress during pregnancy., Limitations: Although grounded in bioecological systems theory, this study did not assess the macrosystem., Conclusions: Results of this study underscore the importance of multilevel predictors of perinatal health and highlights potential targets for preventing depression and promoting well-being during the perinatal transition., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Military suicide rates have risen across all service branches, with the overall rate surpassing that of the general population for the first time in history in 2008. Service members with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at a substantially higher risk for suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and death by suicide than their peers without PTSD. While the link between PTSD and suicide is well established in the literature, less is known about the precise nature of that connection. Several constructs have been implicated as potential mediators of this relation, such as depression, alcohol use, suicidal cognitions, and sleep disturbance. Yet, to our knowledge, these constructs have never been examined simultaneously in a single model to determine mediational influence for suicide risk among soldiers with PTSD., Methods: A sample of 172 active duty Army soldiers completed a series of measures targeting the aforementioned constructs. Data were analyzed using mediation model analyses., Results: Suicidal cognitions fully mediated the relation between PTSD symptoms and current suicide risk severity. The indirect effect for suicidal cognitions was significantly larger than indirect effects for alcohol use, depression, and sleep disturbance. Exploratory analyses suggest serial mediation of the relation between PTSD and current suicide risk by depression and suicidal cognitions., Limitations: These results should be interpreted within the context of study limitations, to include use of self-report data and inability to firmly establish temporal sequencing assumed in mediation., Conclusions: Implications of this study include the improvement of suicide risk assessment and individualized treatment planning for suicidal military personnel with PTSD., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Sleep is a reliable correlate of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), yet few studies have directly examined negative affect in the context of this association. The present study combined daily experience methods with a laboratory paradigm to investigate suicide cognitions as a predictor of emotional responses to environmental stressors, and tested the role of nightly sleep parameters., Method: 72 participants (M age  = 24.25; 41 with a recent history of suicide ideation and 31 without a history of STBs) completed a four-day study. Suicide cognitions were measured on the first day, and actigraphy-based sleep duration and fragmentation, and morning ratings of prior night subjective sleep quality (SSQ) were subsequently measured over three consecutive nights. Participants returned on the fourth day to complete the Trier Social Stress Task, where self-report changes in negative affect immediately post-task (i.e., reactivity) and five minutes post-task (i.e., recovery) were observed., Results: Regression analyses indicated that suicide cognitions predicted negative affect reactivity and recovery. Simple mediation analyses revealed that SSQ partially mediated the relation between suicide cognitions and negative affect recovery (especially shame), but not reactivity. No significant associations were observed for the actigraphy-based sleep parameters., Limitations: Just three nights of actigraphy-based data collection. A single item was used to measure SSQ., Conclusions: Suicide cognitions predict negative affective responses to situational stressors and SSQ may have a key role in this effect, especially the duration of negative emotional reactions. Hence, sleep and emotional reactivity may be potential targets for suicide prevention efforts., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)