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The Dunning-Kruger (DK) effect is a form of meta-ignorance of knowledge (Kruger & Dunning, "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology," 77(6), 121-1134, 1999) that has not been explored regarding mental illness public stigma. The current study examined the DK effect in this field by comparing participants' actual stigma (measured by a social distance scale) and their perceived stigma (measured by a self-rating scale compared to their peers). In addition, the effectiveness of two types of feedback on stigma reduction was explored. Undergraduate participants (N = 393) with low actual public stigma perceived their public stigma level to be higher than it was, while those with high actual public stigma perceived it to be lower, supporting the DK effect. Generalized feedback did not reduce public stigma, whereas personalized feedback reduced public stigma for participants with high public stigma. This study revealed the existence of meta-ignorance in the field of mental illness public stigma and the effectiveness of personalized feedback.

Objective: Worsening student mental health, along with more complex mental illness presentation and increased access to campus mental health services, has led to a mental health "crisis" on campuses. One way to address student mental health needs may be through mental health programs which have been found to increase resiliency and help-seeking, and reduce stigma. Participants: The effectiveness of The Inquiring Mind (TIM), a mental health promotion and mental illness stigma reduction program, was examined in 810 students from 16 Canadian post-secondary institutions. Methods and Results: Using a meta-analytic approach, TIM improved resiliency and decreased stigmatizing attitudes from pre to post, with medium effect sizes (d > 0.50). Analyses with those that completed the follow-up (about one-third of the sample) showed that effects were mostly retained at three months. Other outcomes also point to the program's effectiveness. Conclusion: TIM appears to be an effective program for post-secondary students. However, additional research, including randomized control trials, is needed to address study limitations.

Resilience has been championed as important for mitigating stressors and challenges experienced by students during post-secondary education, as evidenced by the abundance of programs aimed at enhancing student resilience. Despite growing attention to resilience, there continues to be a lack of consensus about the definition or operationalization of the concept. Even less is known about how to foster resilience in the post-secondary context, especially for marginalized or underrepresented students, who are recognized to be at increased risk for negative mental health outcomes during their post-secondary education. To address these gaps, we employed qualitative methodology to explore marginalized or underrepresented students' perceptions of resilience. Findings demonstrated that resilience arises from a complex and dynamic interplay between personal skills and attitudes and resources available within students' communities. Post-secondary institutions are called to shift from individual student responsibility to a collective and shared responsibility for students' wellbeing in the face of adversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse birth outcomes remain challenging public health problems in China. Increasing evidence indicated that prenatal depression and anxiety are associated with adverse birth outcomes, highlighting the importance and severity of prenatal depression and anxiety in China. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to further exacerbate prenatal mental health problems and increase the risk of adverse birth outcomes. The aim of this study is to assess and compare the impacts of prenatal mental health issues on birth outcomes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ma'anshan, Anhui, China. Participants in this study were women who visited local maternal and child health hospitals in Ma'anshan, Anhui, China. Two independent sets of individual maternal data (npre-pamdemic = 1148; npandemic = 2249) were collected. Prenatal depression and anxiety were measured online using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). Adverse birth outcomes were determined using hospital-recorded infant birth weight and gestational age at delivery. In this study, we found that the pandemic cohort had lower mean EPDS and GAD-7 scores than the pre-pandemic cohort. The prevalence of prenatal depression (14.5%) and anxiety (26.7%) among the pandemic cohort were lower than the pre-pandemic cohort (18.6% and 36.3%). No significant difference was found in the prevalence of adverse birth outcomes comparing the two cohorts. Prenatal depression was associated with small gestational age only in the pandemic cohort (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.00–1.19, p = 0.042). Overall, this study highlighted an association between prenatal depression and small for gestational age in Anhui, China. Addressing prenatal depression may thus be key in improving birth outcomes. Future studies could focus on potential causal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health practitioners of cognitive and behaviour therapies (CBTs) have an ethical obligation to select evidence-based techniques. Little data are available on which techniques are used and whether technique use varies as a function of a therapist's theoretical orientation. The study explored the use of CBT techniques among a diverse sample of Australian mental health practitioners (MHPs). The focus was to assess the extent to which different CBT techniques are used in their practice. A mixed methods study was conducted with a large MHP sample who were taking part in a post-qualification CBT training course. Of the 2,086 MHPs, 41% (n = 864) reported using behaviourally focused techniques, and 49% (n = 1,032) reported using cognitively focused techniques. Self-described theoretical orientation could differentiate technique use. A diverse range of CBT techniques were reported by MHPs in the present study. The different ways MHPs used techniques put a spotlight on how different targets may be a focus of the same technique. What is already known about this topic: CBT remains the dominant training model of psychological therapies in Australian universities. The past few decades have witnessed an evolution in CBTs, regarding the diversification of techniques. It is unclear whether therapists use a broad array of CBT techniques in their everyday clinical practice and if that use varies as a function of theoretical orientation. What this topic adds: Australian Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) indicated that they use a diverse array of behaviourally focused and cognitively focused techniques in their practice. Self-identified theoretical orientation meaningfully differentiated from reported CBT technique use in practice. A range of emotional, behavioural and cognitive targets were reported by MHPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is part of a series on therapeutic relationships in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It discusses the importance of client-therapist agreement in alliance ratings and how disagreement can negatively impact outcomes. The article also explores the influence of client factors, such as negative core beliefs, on the therapeutic relationship. Additionally, it examines therapist factors, including competence in facilitating homework and client engagement. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for further research on CBT-specific elements of the therapeutic relationship, such as collaborative empiricism and Socratic dialogue. [Extracted from the article]

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This study investigated the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques in preventing depression and anxiety in a group of adolescent high school students with elevated risk for developing emotional disorders. Students were screened using a measure of depression severity and clinical interview. Following screening procedures, students at risk for, but not currently diagnosed with, depression were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups: a CBT (n = 25) or an active control group (n = 21). Assessment measures were administered before treatment, after treatment, and at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Both groups exhibited significant improvements in mood symptomatology and self-esteem outcomes over time. Significant differences between groups were not observed at posttreatment and two follow-up points of assessment. The efficacy of CBT techniques was also examined using a "benchmarking" strategy. The limitations of this study and future research directions are discussed. (Contains 4 tables and 1 note.)

This study followed treatment responders from a randomized controlled trial of adults with major depression. Patients treated with medication but withdrawn onto pill-placebo had more relapse through 1 year of follow-up compared to patients who received prior behavioral activation, prior cognitive therapy, or continued medication. Prior psychotherapy was also superior to medication withdrawal in the prevention of recurrence across the 2nd year of follow-up. Specific comparisons indicated that patients previously exposed to cognitive therapy were significantly less likely to relapse following treatment termination than patients withdrawn from medication, and patients previously exposed to behavioral activation did almost as well relative to patients withdrawn from medication, although the difference was not significantly different. Differences between behavioral activation and cognitive therapy were small in magnitude and not significantly different across the full 2-year follow-up, and each therapy was at least as efficacious as the continuation of medication. These findings suggest that behavioral activation may be nearly as enduring as cognitive therapy and that both psychotherapies are less expensive and longer lasting alternatives to medication in the treatment of depression. (Contains 1 table, 5 figures, and 1 footnote.)

Antidepressant medication is considered the current standard for severe depression, and cognitive therapy is the most widely investigated psychosocial treatment for depression. However, not all patients want to take medication, and cognitive therapy has not demonstrated consistent efficacy across trials. Moreover, dismantling designs have suggested that behavioral components may account for the efficacy of cognitive therapy. The present study tested the efficacy of behavioral activation by comparing it with cognitive therapy and antidepressant medication in a randomized placebo-controlled design in adults with major depressive disorder (N = 241). In addition, it examined the importance of initial severity as a moderator of treatment outcome. Among more severely depressed patients, behavioral activation was comparable to antidepressant medication, and both significantly outperformed cognitive therapy. The implications of these findings for the evaluation of current treatment guidelines and dissemination are discussed. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures, and 1 footnote.)

The Academy of Cognitive Therapy (ACT) was developed as a means to identify and credential mental health professionals who demonstrate competence in cognitive therapy. Its missions include certifying clinicians from all disciplines as competent cognitive therapists and educating the public about this empirically supported treatment. This article reviews the history of ACT, its current activities, and future prospects. It is argued that ACT fulfills several important roles and is a valuable resource for mental health professionals and consumers.

Provides psychometric information on the second edition of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) (A. Beck, R. Steer, and G. Brown, 1996) for internal consistency, factorial validity, and gender differences. Results indicate that the BDI-II is a stronger instrument than its predecessor in terms of factor structure. (SLD)