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Adolescence is marked by the onset of puberty, which is associated with an increase in mental health difficulties, particularly in girls. Social and self‐referential processes also develop during this period: adolescents become more aware of others' perspectives, and judgements about themselves become less favourable. In the current study, data from 119 girls (from London, UK) aged 9–16 years were collected at two‐time points (between 2019 and 2021) to investigate the relationship between puberty and difficulties in mental health and emotion regulation, as well as the role of self‐referential and social processing in this relationship. Structural equation modelling showed that advanced pubertal status predicted greater mental health and emotion regulation difficulties, including depression and anxiety, rumination and overall difficulties in emotion regulation, and in mental health and behaviour. Advanced pubertal status also predicted greater perspective‐taking abilities and negative self‐schemas. Exploratory analyses showed that negative self‐schemas mediated the relationships between puberty and rumination, overall emotion regulation difficulties, and depression (although these effects were small and would not survive correction for multiple comparisons). The results suggest that advanced pubertal status is associated with higher mental health and emotion regulation problems during adolescence and that negative self‐schemas may play a role in this association. Research Highlights: This study investigates the relationship between puberty, mental health, emotion regulation difficulties, and social and self‐referential processing in girls aged 9–16 years.Advanced pubertal status was associated with worse mental health and greater emotion regulation difficulties, better perspective‐taking abilities and negative self‐schemas.Negative self‐schemas may play a role in the relationships between advanced pubertal status and depression, and advanced pubertal status and emotion regulation difficulties, including rumination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The effectiveness of mindfulness training (MT) on mental health and wellbeing in different groups and contexts is well‐established. However, the effect of MT on different healthcare professionals' (HCPs) mental health and wellbeing needs to be synthesised, along with a focus on outcomes that are specifically relevant to healthcare settings. The aim of this study is to summarise the effect of MT interventions on HCPs' mental health and wellbeing, to explore its effect on communication skills and to identify potential gaps in the literature. Methods: A scoping review of systematic reviews (SRs) investigating MT interventions in HCPs was conducted. A comprehensive systematic search was conducted from database inception to 22 February 2023 on Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Scopus, Cochrane (CENTRAL), EBSCHOhost CINAHL, Ovid PsycINFO, Web of Science (Core Collection), OpenGrey, TRIP Database and Google Scholar. Snowballing of reference lists and hand‐searching were utilised. Risk of bias and quality of included SRs were assessed using the ROBIS and AMSTAR2 tools. Results: Sixteen SRs were included in this review. We found substantial evidence for MT interventions improving mental health and wellbeing across different HCPs, with the exception of burnout, where evidence is mixed. There is a paucity of SRs evaluating communication skills other than empathy. However, the available evidence is suggestive of improvements in self‐reported empathy. Details of MT fidelity and dosage are largely absent in the SRs, as is study populations from representative EDI samples. Conclusions: Synthesis of SRs suggests that MT improves mental health and wellbeing in HCPs. The exception is burnout, where results are inconclusive. Insufficient data exists to evaluate effects of MT on the full spectrum of communication skills. Other HCPs than medicine and nursing are inadequately represented. Further research is required that considers the specific target population of HCPs and MT curriculum, and reports on fidelity, dosage and the effects on communication skills. "Through their scoping review, Kajee et al. illustrate how mindfulness training seems to improve distress, depression and anxiety while findings regarding burnout are mixed and too little work has been done regarding empathy." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given well-established links between socio-economic adversity and mental health, it is unsurprising that young people's mental health is deteriorating amidst economic crises. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognises mental health as "crucial to personal, community, and socio-economic development" and outlines goals to reshape environments such as schools to protect mental health. Schools offer an ideal setting to promote wellbeing and prevent mental ill-health during a key developmental window. We describe how social inequalities present a challenge to designing school-based interventions for prevention and promotion for mental health and wellbeing, and suggest priorities to aid and evaluate their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness training programmes have shown to encourage prosocial behaviours and reduce antisocial tendencies in adolescents. However, less is known about whether training affects susceptibility to prosocial and antisocial influence. The current study investigated the effect of mindfulness training (compared with an active control) on self‐reported prosocial and antisocial tendencies and susceptibility to prosocial and antisocial influence. 465 adolescents aged 11–16 years were randomly allocated to one of two training programmes. Pre‐ and post‐training, participants completed a social influence task. Self‐reported likelihood of engaging in prosocial and antisocial behaviours did not change post‐training, and regardless of training group, participants showed a higher propensity for prosocial influence than for antisocial influence. Finally, participants were less influenced by antisocial ratings following both training programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) are an increasingly popular way of attempting to improve the behavioural, cognitive and mental health outcomes of children and adolescents, though there is a suggestion that enthusiasm has moved ahead of the evidence base. Most evaluations of MBIs are either uncontrolled or nonrandomized trials. This meta‐analysis aims to establish the efficacy of MBIs for children and adolescents in studies that have adopted a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) design. Methods: A systematic literature search of RCTs of MBIs was conducted up to October 2017. Thirty‐three independent studies including 3,666 children and adolescents were included in random effects meta‐analyses with outcome measures categorized into cognitive, behavioural and emotional factors. Separate random effects meta‐analyses were completed for the seventeen studies (n = 1,762) that used an RCT design with an active control condition. Results: Across all RCTs we found significant positive effects of MBIs, relative to controls, for the outcome categories of Mindfulness, Executive Functioning, Attention, Depression, Anxiety/Stress and Negative Behaviours, with small effect sizes (Cohen's d), ranging from.16 to.30. However, when considering only those RCTs with active control groups, significant benefits of an MBI were restricted to the outcomes of Mindfulness (d = .42), Depression (d = .47) and Anxiety/Stress (d = .18) only. Conclusions: This meta‐analysis reinforces the efficacy of using MBIs for improving the mental health and wellbeing of youth as assessed using the gold standard RCT methodology. Future RCT evaluations should incorporate scaled‐up definitive trial designs to further evaluate the robustness of MBIs in youth, with an embedded focus on mechanisms of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although attachment plays a key role in children's socio‐emotional development, little attention has been paid to the role of children's attachment to their father. This study examined whether insecure attachment to each parent was associated with reduced emotion understanding in children and whether children showed consistent attachments to their mother and father. We measured children's attachment to each parent using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task and child emotion understanding using the Test of Emotion Comprehension (children's Mage = 5.64 years, SD = 0.84). The results indicated that insecure father–child attachment and insecure mother–child attachment were each associated with lower emotion understanding in children after controlling for parent's depressive symptoms and children's age. There was significant concordance of child attachment to mother and father. The findings provide support for convergence of children's attachment across parents and suggest that father–child attachment is an important factor to consider when examining children's emotion understanding. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject Secure mother–child attachment is positively associated with children's emotional competence. Children form similar representations of attachment to their mother and father. What the present study adds Both mother–child and father–child attachment are associated with children's emotion understanding. The study's findings highlight the importance of father–child attachment in their children's emotion understanding. The study provides support for concordance of children's attachment across parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between dispositional self‐compassion and cognitive emotion regulation capacities in individuals with a history of depression. Study 1 (n = 403) established that self‐compassion was associated with increased use of positive and decreased use of negative strategies, with small to medium sized correlations. Study 2 (n = 68) was an experimental study examining the association between dispositional self‐compassion, use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and changes in mood and self‐devaluation in participants exposed to a negative mood induction followed by mood repair (mindfulness, rumination, silence). Individuals with higher levels of dispositional self‐compassion showed greater mood recovery after mood induction, and less self‐devaluation across the experimental procedure, independent of their mood‐repair condition or habitual forms of cognitive emotion regulation. These results suggest that self‐compassion is associated with more adaptive responses to mood challenges in individuals with a history of recurrent depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Cognitive behavioural therapy ( CBT) is an effective treatment for depression, but many clients do not complete therapy. What clients find difficult about CBT is poorly understood. This study explored clients' views and experiences of face-to-face CBT. Design A mixed methods design was used to collect data as part of the CoBalT trial. Method Participants randomized to CBT indicated their reasons for never starting or stopping therapy on the follow-up questionnaires. In-depth qualitative interviews took place with a purposive sample ( n = 26) of those randomized to CBT. Framework analysis was used to analyse across the data. Results Seventy-four participants withdrew from therapy or were discharged for non-adherence. A total of 54 (73%) gave reasons for not starting or stopping CBT; mostly the time/location was inconvenient or they had other commitments. Interviews identified that clients could struggle in, and between, CBT sessions. This was true for those who did and did not complete therapy. CBT homework was the biggest challenge and was often associated with negative school homework experiences. Although clients may have disliked aspects of CBT, those who attended more than one session felt that they had gained insight into managing their depression. Conclusion Highlighting the possible barriers to adherence in CBT can help clinicians to better prepare clients in making an informed choice about therapy. Exploring these issues during therapy may also help with engagement. Despite the challenges, clients can still benefit from CBT by learning strategies that enable them to effectively deal with their depression. Practitioner points Talking to participants about the challenges of CBT - such as homework - can help clinicians better prepare clients in making an informed choice about therapy., Exploration of possible barriers during therapy may also help with engagement and completion of therapy., Despite the challenges, clients report benefiting from CBT; in particular learning strategies which help identify negative thought patterns and enable them to deal more effectively with their depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To test the hypothesis that rumination contributes to poor social functioning by examining whether ruminative brooding predicts subsequent relationship satisfaction in individuals with a history of major depression. Method. Participants (N = 57) were interviewed to assess depressive symptoms and completed self-report measures of brooding and relationship satisfaction, at intake into the study (Time 1) and 3 months later (Time 2). Results. Brooding was related concurrently to relationship satisfaction at Time 2 (p < .01; approaching significance at Time 1, p = .06). Baseline brooding predicted diminished relationship satisfaction 3 months later, controlling for baseline relationship satisfaction (p < .05). Conclusions. Brooding may be an early warning sign for increasing relationship difficulties in those vulnerable to depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical psychology training is a professionally formative period, which provides an opportunity to enable trainees to learn good self-care skills and mature approaches to learning. If realized, this can support lifelong learning and high levels of professional functioning. This study sought to use transactional coping theory and experiential learning theory to improve our understanding of what factors predict changes in psychological adaptation and professional functioning over the course of clinical psychology training. A mixed prospective within-persons and cross-sectional between-persons design was used. A sample of 183 trainee clinical psychologists (60.2% response rate) from 15 British clinical psychology training programmes participated at time one, 167 of whom participated at time 2 a year later (91.3% of the time 1 sample). They completed measures of appraisal, coping, social support and professional functioning at times 1 and 2. Path analyses suggested that trainees who appraised the demands of training as manageable, and reported greater access to appropriate support, engaged in less avoidance coping, reported fewer problems of psychological adaptation and were more likely to approach the task of learning and working appropriately and resiliently. Implications for clinical psychology training are suggested. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research has examined the psychological adaptation of practising clinical psychologists, little research has examined adaptation early in psychologists' careers, particularly during training. Clinical psychology training is a professionally highly formative period, which makes it an important time to assess adaptation and intervene appropriately. The current study sought to profile the psychological adaptation of trainee clinical psychologists across training courses in the UK throughout the three years of clinical training. A sample of 167 trainee clinical psychologists who had participated in an earlier national study (Kuyken, et al., 1998) were followed up one year later. Taken as whole, the study suggested that the population of trainees reported psychological adaptation in the normal range for employed adults, suggesting considerable resiliency in this population. However, over the three years of clinical psychology training, trainees reported significant increases in work adjustment problems, depression and interpersonal conflict, with the significant change being between year one and two of training. Consistent with earlier work (Kuyken et al., 1998), when sub-groups of trainees were considered on a multi-dimensional profile of adaptation, a significant proportion of trainees reported difficulties on one or more dimensions, which were enduring over time. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study sought to profile the psychological adaptation of psychologists in clinical training and examine the extent to which appraisal, coping and social support were related to psychological adaptation. A cross-sectional survey questionnaire design was used. A sample of 183 psychologists in clinical training (60.2% response rate) from 15 British clinical psychology training courses participated. They completed measures of cognition (appraisals of threat and control over course-related stressors), coping and social support. A multidimensional assessment of psychological adaptation included measures of perceived stress, self-esteem, anxiety and depression. Trainee clinical psychologists reported high levels of stress, but did not experience extensive problems of psychological adaptation in terms of anxiety, depression, self-esteem problems, marital problems, family problems, external stressors, interpersonal conflict, work adjustment or substance abuse. However, a significant subgroup reported self-esteem problems, work adjustment problems, depression and anxiety. Gender, age, current clinical placement and training course were related to psychological adaptation. Appraisal processes, coping and social support predicted a significant amount of variation in psychological adaptation. Appraisals of threat, avoidance coping, emotional support from clinical supervisors, emotional support from courses and emotional support from a confidante at home all predicted the variance in psychological adaptation. The findings were discussed in terms of a cognitive theory of stress and adaptation and implications for clinical psychology training were considered. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper aims to bring together some of the literature on the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in a way that will be useful to clinical practitioners and researchers in this field. The issues surrounding the definition of CSA and work on the prevalence, background and context in which abuse occurs is evaluated. In addition a selection of the relevant research relating to the psychological effects of early abuse in the domains of self-esteem, symptomatology resembling post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety is reviewed and examined. The key methodological issues are reported and some of the worries facing researchers portrayed. Although much of the research to date has been largely atheoretical, some of the theoretical thinking in this area is reviewed. Finally some of the clinical implications of this body of work are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Under-recruitment of patients for clinical trials: an illustrative example of a failed study," by J. M. Rendell and R. W. Licht in the May 2007 issue.