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Despite the influence of Beck's cognitive models of depression, the presence and magnitude of the specific proposed cognitive biases have not been systematically investigated. After a systematic search in PsycInfo and PubMED, studies reporting self-reported outcomes on cognitive biases and depressive symptoms in depressed and/or healthy groups were included. From a total of 4840 records, two different meta-analyses were conducted. 23 studies on 4865 participants provided data about catastrophising and depression (g = 0.95, 95% CI [0.64; 1.26]) and 40 studies on 4678 participants provided data about interpretation bias in depression (g = 0.78, 95% CI [0.43; 1.13]). Moderation analyses showed that the relationship between catastrophising and depression was higher in studies with more women, when the corresponding author was from a Western country, and when the instrument to measure depression was the DSM criteria, the SCL-90, the BDI, or the DASS. The relationship between interpretation bias and depressive symptoms was significant only in studies comparing depressed and healthy groups, and when using specific instruments to measure symptoms (DSM/RDC criteria plus a scale cut-off score) and cognitive bias (CDQ/CBQ, SCT, AST-D, other). Some limitations are acknowledged, but risk of publication bias was found to be low, and these results support the utility of some self-reported measures of cognitive biases in depression., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objective: Difficulties to engage attention to positive stimuli and to disengage attention from negative stimuli are typically found in depression. Yet, most of the evidence supporting these attentional biases comes from experimental paradigms in which emotional information (e.g., happy or sad faces) is simultaneously presented with neutral information. Few studies have explored attentional biases when emotional stimuli of different valence are presented simultaneously. The aim of the present study was to assess visual scan patterns of non-dysphoric and dysphoric participants when emotional information is presented simultaneously., Method: Using an eye-tracker methodology, the gradient relation between attentional biases and depression scores as well as differences between groups in their attentional performance were assessed in non-dysphoric participants (N = 84) and dysphoric participants (N = 58). Three different pairs of faces were used: happy-neutral, neutral-sad, and happy-sad., Results: First, we found that simultaneous presentation of emotional information (i.e., happy vs. negative faces) reduces the magnitude of attentional biases towards positive information. Second, we also found a significant negative relation between attentional biases towards positive information and depression scores. Finally, compared to non-dysphoric participants, dysphoric individuals marginally spent less time attending positive information in both happy-neutral and happy-sad trials., Limitations: The cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow us to make inferences about causality. Further, only one type of simultaneous emotional faces presentation (i.e., happy-sad) was used., Conclusions: These results support the need for further research on the processing of competing emotional stimuli in depression., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study examines whether a 4-day dot-probe attentional training to orient attention toward positive words could lead participants with dysphoria to change selective attention to emotional faces. It was also explored whether this positive attentional bias training could lead to a decrease in depressive symptoms., Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to Positive Training Group (PTG) and No Training Group (NTG). PTG was composed of 16 subjects, whereas NTG was composed of 15 subjects. All participants were women with a mean age of 22.87 (SD = 3.21)., Results: Results showed that dysphoric participants in the PTG did not show changes in attentional patterns to emotional faces. Furthermore, depressive symptoms did not significantly change after the 4-session training., Conclusions: These results suggest that cognitive training procedures based on dot-probe paradigms are probably not adequate to modify attentional patterns in individuals with depressive symptoms. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: Although there is abundant evidence about the impact of economic crises on depression and other mental health problems, little is known about the protective role of variables linked to positive functioning (i.e., psychological well-being)., Methods: We analyzed data from Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the 2008-2013 economic recession, collected in Round 3 (R3, 2006) and Round 6 (R6, 2013) of the European Social Survey interviews. Both surveys included measures of psychological well-being, social well-being and depression. Both samples were nationally representative of the general population (R3: 1877 participants, 49.2% men; R6: 1889 participants, 48.9% men)., Results: Data from the R6 survey showed that, compared to data gathered in R3 (i.e., before the onset of the recession) Spanish citizens showed significantly less life satisfaction (95% CIs 0.37-0.63), less personal optimism (95% CIs 0.03-0.15), less social optimism (95% CIs 0.75-0.85), and higher levels of depressive symptoms (95% CIs - 0.74 to - 0.19). Structural equation modeling revealed that protective factors for depression changed in both rounds. In R3 (2006), close relationships, social optimism and social trust were significant mediators between well-being and depression. However, social optimism and social trust were no longer significant in R6 (2013), whereas close relationships remained a partial mediator of the effects of psychological well-being on depression., Conclusions: Economic crises are associated with a significant increase in depressive symptoms. Furthermore, financial crises seem to have a corrosive impact on mental health by reducing the mediating effects of positive beliefs regarding the good nature of society.

Background and Objectives: Cognitive models propose that depression is caused by dysfunctional schemas that endure beyond the depressive episode, representing vulnerability factors for recurrence. However, research testing negative cognitions linked to dysfunctional schemas in formerly depressed individuals is still scarce. Furthermore, negative cognitions are presumed to be linked to biases in recalling negative self-referent information in formerly depressed individuals, but no studies have directly tested this association. In the present study, we evaluated differences between formerly and never-depressed individuals in several experimental indices of negative cognitions and their associations with the recall of emotional self-referent material., Methods: Formerly (n = 30) and never depressed individuals (n = 40) completed measures of explicit (i.e., scrambled sentence test) and automatic (i.e., lexical decision task) processing to evaluate negative cognitions. Furthermore participants completed a self-referent incidental recall task to evaluate memory biases., Results: Formerly compared to never depressed individuals showed greater negative cognitions at both explicit and automatic levels of processing. Results also showed greater recall of negative self-referent information in formerly compared to never-depressed individuals. Finally, individual differences in negative cognitions at both explicit and automatic levels of processing predicted greater recall of negative self-referent material in formerly depressed individuals., Limitations: Analyses of the relationship between explicit and automatic processing indices and memory biases were correlational and the majority of participants in both groups were women., Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence of negative cognitions in formerly depressed individuals at both automatic and explicit levels of processing that may confer a cognitive vulnerability to depression., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Sustained attentional processing of negative information plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of depression. The present study examines the relationships between rumination, a relevant factor in information processing in depression, and the attentional mechanisms activated in individuals with different levels of depression severity when attending to emotional information (i.e., sad, angry and happy faces). Behavioural and physiological indicators of sustained processing were assessed in 126 participants (39 dysphoric and 87 non-dysphoric) using eye-tracking technology. Pupil dilation and total time attending to negative faces were correlated with a global ruminative style in the total sample once depression severity was controlled. Furthermore, in dysphoric participants the brooding component of rumination was specifically associated with the total time attending to sad faces. Finally, bootstrapping analyses showed that the relationships between global rumination and pupil diameter to emotional faces were accounted by total time attending to emotional faces, specifically for participants reporting lower levels of depression severity. The results support the idea that sustained processing of negative information is associated with a higher ruminative style and indicate differential associations between these factors at different levels of depressive symptomatology.

Previous theories and research show clear divergences on the roles of the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) in depression. Across four studies, we examined the effects of a sad mood on the motivational pattern of sensitivity to reward and punishment. Psychological variables associated with such changes and implications for vulnerability to depression were also explored. For this purpose, we designed a state version of the extensively used BIS/BAS Scales (Carver & White, 1994). Using samples of undergraduate students, we found that both a natural (Study 1) and a laboratory-induced sad mood (Studies 2 and 3) generated a marked decrease in sensitivity to reward but did not alter sensitivity to punishment. Study 3a showed that participants' anxious attachment predicted larger decreases in sensitivity to reward after a sad mood induction. Study 3b extended these results by showing that sensitivity to reward, when assessed after the negative mood induction, predicted increases in dysphoria 7weeks later. Implications of the results for research on vulnerability to depression are discussed., (Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Numerous experimental and naturalistic studies have shown the relevant role of ruminative styles in the onset, duration and severity of depressive episodes. Recent research has increasingly focused on the precursors of these ruminative responses. Neuroticism has been found to be closely related to ruminative styles, but the nature of this relationship is unknown. Across three studies, we explored the role of emotional overproduction, conceptualized as the tendency to simultaneously experience an elevated number of negative emotions and feelings during sad episodes. Study 1 showed that emotional overproduction is independently and strongly associated with ruminative styles. Furthermore, emotional overproduction was found to mediate the relationship between neuroticism and ruminative styles. Study 2 replicated these findings in a large community sample even after controlling for mood, personality, and other emotion-related variables. In Study 3, we conducted a laboratory study to increase the internal and external validity of our findings. Implications for personality, for coping and stress literature, and for clinical research and treatment are suggested., (2011 APA, all rights reserved)

Although positive psychology interventions increase well-being and reduce depression, little is known about whether they facilitate a reorganization of the connections between psychological elements. We used Network Analysis (NA) to explore the topography of changes in psychological elements after a Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI) and a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) program for depression. Clinically depressed women were blindly allocated to a PPI (n = 45) or CBT (n = 48) 10-week group treatment. NA showed that the PPI program was the only one that significantly changed the structure of the network for psychological elements. The results showed that hedonic and eudaimonic elements played a substantial role in the reorganization of the network, becoming key connecting elements between the group of clinical variables and the group of positive functioning variables. Our findings support, from the NA perspective, the unique contributions of positive intervention programs to change the complex patterns of relationships between symptoms and positive variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the brain is a complex network of functionally specialized areas, it might be expected that mental representations could also behave in a similar way. We propose the concept of ‘psychonectome’ to formalize the idea of psychological constructs forming a dynamic network of mutually dependent elements. As a proof-of-concept of the psychonectome, networks analysis (NA) was used to explore structural changes in the network of constructs resulting from a psychological intervention. NA was applied to explore the effects of an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in healthy participants (N = 182). Psychological functioning was measured by questionnaires assessing five key domains related to MBSR: mindfulness, compassion, psychological well-being, psychological distress and emotional-cognitive control. A total of 25 variables, covering the five constructs, were considered as nodes in the NA. Participants significantly improved in most of the psychological questionnaires. More interesting from a network perspective, there were also significant changes in the topological relationships among the elements. Expected influence and strength centrality indexes revealed that mindfulness and well-being measures were the most central nodes in the networks. The nodes with highest topological change after the MBSR were attentional control, compassion measures, depression and thought suppression. Also, cognitive appraisal, an adaptive emotion regulation strategy, was associated to rumination before the MBSR program but became related to mindfulness and well-being measures after the program. Community analysis revealed a strong topological association between mindfulness, compassion, and emotional regulation, which supports the key role of compassion in mindfulness training. These results highlight the importance of exploring psychological changes from a network perspective and support the conceptual advantage of considering the interconnectedness of psychological constructs in terms of a ‘psychonectome’ as it may reveal ways of functioning that cannot be analyzed through conventional analytic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although there is a growing interest in the role of attentional biases in depression, there are no studies assessing changes in these biases after psychotherapeutic interventions.Methods: We used a validated eye-tracking procedure to assess pre-post therapy changes in attentional biases toward emotional information (i.e., happy, sad, and angry faces) when presented with neutral information (i.e., neutral faces). The sample consisted of 75 participants with major depression or dysthymia. Participants were blindly assigned to one of two 10 weekly sessions of group therapy: a cognitive behavior therapy intervention (N = 41) and a positive psychology intervention (N = 34).Results: Both treatments were equally efficacious in improving depressive symptoms (p = .0001, η² = .68). A significant change in attentional performance after therapy was observed irrespective of the intervention modality. Comparison of pre-post attentional measures revealed a significant reduction in the total time of fixations (TTF) looking at negative information (i.e., sad and angry faces) and a significant increase in the TTF looking at positive information (i.e., happy faces)-all p < .02.Conclusions: Findings reveal for the first time that psychotherapeutic interventions are associated with a significant change in attentional biases as assessed by a direct measure of attention. Furthermore, these changes seem to operate in the same direction typically found in healthy populations (i.e., a bias away from negative information and a parallel bias toward positive information). These findings illustrate the importance of considering attentional biases as clinical markers of depression and suggest the viability of modifying these biases as a potential tool for clinical change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Attentional biases, namely difficulties both to disengage attention from negative information and to maintain it on positive information, play an important role in the onset and maintenance of the disorder. Recently, researchers have developed specific attentional bias modification (ABM) techniques aimed to modify these maladaptive attentional patterns. However, the application of current ABM procedures has yielded, so far, scarce results in depression due, in part, to some methodological shortcomings. The aim of our protocol is the application of a new ABM technique, based on eye-tracker technology, designed to objectively train the specific attentional components involved in depression and, eventually, to reduce depressive symptoms. Methods: Based on sample size calculations, 32 dysphoric (BDI =13) participants will be allocated to either an active attentional bias training group or a yoked-control group. Attentional training will be individually administered on two sessions in two consecutive days at the lab. In the training task series of pairs of faces (i.e. neutral vs. sad; neutral vs. happy; happy vs. sad) will be displayed. Participants in the training group will be asked to localize as quickly as possible the most positive face of the pair (e.g., the neutral face in neutral vs. sad trials) and maintain their gaze on it for 750 ms or 1500 ms, in two different blocks, to advance to the next trial. Participants' maintenance of gaze will be measured by an eye-tracking apparatus. Participants in the yokedcontrol group will be exposed to the same stimuli and the same average amount of time than the experimental participants but without any instruction to maintain their gaze or any feedback on their performance. Pre and post training measures will be obtained to assess cognitive and emotional changes after the training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low autobiographical memory specificity has been a commonly recurring phenomenon in depression. Difficulty in remembering specific details in autobiographical memory tests has been related to rumination, although the nature of this relation is not clear yet. In the present study, we evaluated differences in overgeneral memory patterns between dysphoric (n=65) and nondysphoric participants (n=74) using a free-recall method that may be more suitable for detecting overgeneral memory patterns than previously used methods. Furthermore, this study examined whether a specific maladaptive component of rumination (i.e., brooding response style) is particularly related to autobiographical memory patterns in depression. Our results showed that dysphoric participants reported less positive specific memories, and more extended and categoric memories than nondysphoric individuals. Furthermore, correlation analyses showed that the maladaptive component of rumination (i.e., brooding), but not the adaptive component of rumination (i.e., reflection), was specifically associated to the reduced autobiographical memory specificity found in dysphoric participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has made significant progress elucidating the nature of cognitive biases in emotional disorders. However, less work has focused on the relation among cognitive biases and emotional responding in clinical samples. This study uses eye-tracking to examine difficulties disengaging attention from emotional material in depressed participants and to test its relation with mood reactivity and recovery during and after a stress induction. Participants diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and never-disordered control participants (CTL) completed a novel eye-tracking paradigm in which participants had to disengage their attention from emotional material to attend to a neutral stimulus. Time to disengage attention was computed using a direct recording of eye movements. Participants then completed a stress induction and mood reactivity and recovery were assessed. MDD compared with CTL participants took significantly longer to disengage from depression-related stimuli (i.e., sad faces). Individual differences in disengagement predicted lower recovery from sad mood in response to the stress induction in the MDD group. These results suggest that difficulties in attentional disengagement may contribute to the sustained negative affect that characterizes depressive disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Negative interpretation bias is a potential risk factor for emotional disorders. • A new clinically-based online Cognitive Bias Modification program was administered. • Self-report and experimental tasks were used to disentangle mechanisms of change. • The program directly reduced interpretation and memory biases. • Changes in interpretation bias mediated improvement in depression symptoms. Negative interpretation bias is a potential risk factor for emotional disorders. In this study, we tested a clinically inspired 4-session online Cognitive Bias Modification-Interpretation (CBM-I Clin) program to modify negative interpretation biases. We randomized one hundred and twenty-one volunteer young adults (Mean age = 21.6 years, SD = 3.5; 85 % women) with varying levels of emotional distress to either an experimental or waitlist control group. Mediation analyses were used to disentangle the associations between the intervention, changes in interpretation biases (assessed by both a self-report and an experimental task), and changes in measures of cognitive vulnerability and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The results showed that the CBM-I Clin could change negative interpretation biases. Also, it had a direct effect on the change in negative memory bias, an indirect effect on the change in depression symptoms via the change in interpretation bias, and both direct and indirect effects on the change in self-reported dysfunctional attitudes. The study included a non-clinical sample of participants and it did not control for some potential confounding factors (e.g., attentional disorders). Furthermore, participants' engagement during the sessions at home was not supervised. The CBM-I Clin is a potential tool to prevent and intervene in emotional disorders in young adults and could complement other traditional CBM procedures or clinical interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying differences in the clinical response to specific interventions is an important challenge in the field of Clinical Psychology. This is especially true in the treatment of depression where many treatments appear to have comparable outcomes. In a controlled trial, we compared a positive psychology group intervention, the Integrative Positive Psychological Intervention for Depression (IPPI-D; n = 62) to a cognitive-behavioral therapy group intervention (CBT; n = 66) for depression. No statistically or clinically-significant differences between the treatments were found, but a slight advantage was observed, on average, for IPPI-D. The aim of the present study was to identify and combine moderators of the differential efficacy of these two psychological interventions for clinical depression. For this purpose, a secondary analysis using the Personalized Advantage Index (PAI) was performed to identify the intervention predicted to produce the better outcome for each patient. Six of the 21 potential moderators were found to predict differential efficacy between the treatments. IPPI-D was predicted to be the optimal treatment for 73% of the sample. Baseline features that characterized these individuals were: mental and physical comorbidity, prior antidepressant medication, higher levels of negative thoughts, and higher personal growth. The 27% who were predicted to achieve better outcomes in CBT than in IPPI-D tended to have these baseline features: no comorbidities, no prior antidepressant medication, lower levels of negative thoughts, and lower personal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]