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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]

Background: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) are self-report measures of major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder. The primary aim of this study was to test for differential item functioning (DIF) on the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 items based on age, sex (males and females), and country. Method: Data from nationally representative surveys in UK, Ireland, Spain, and Italy (combined N = 6,054) were used to fit confirmatory factor analytic and multiple-indictor multiple-causes models. Results: Spain and Italy had higher latent variable means than the UK and Ireland for both anxiety and depression, but there was no evidence for differential items functioning. Conclusions: The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores were found to be unidimensional, reliable, and largely free of DIF in data from four large nationally representative samples of the general population in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. • We examined the magnitude of self-reported cognitive biases in depression. • Sixty-three studies published between 1979 and 2017 were included (N = 9543 participants). • Meta-analyses included studies of individuals grouped by either a diagnostic category or a dimensional measure depression. • The most consistent evidence of biases was found for catastrophizing and interpretation bias. • There were few evidences of the specificity of cognitive biases in depression. [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]

Background: Network analysis (NA) is an analytical tool that allows one to explore the map of connections and eventual dynamic influences among symptoms and other elements of mental disorders. In recent years, the use of NA in psychopathology has rapidly grown, which calls for a systematic and critical analysis of its clinical utility.Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of published empirical studies applying NA in psychopathology, between 2010 and 2017, was conducted. We included the literature published in PubMed and PsycINFO using as keywords any combination of "network analysis" with the terms "anxiety," "affective disorders," "depression," "schizophrenia," "psychosis," "personality disorders," "substance abuse" and "psychopathology."Results: The review showed that NA has been applied in a plethora of mental disorders in adults (i.e., 13 studies on anxiety disorders; 19 on mood disorders; 7 on psychosis; 1 on substance abuse; 1 on borderline personality disorder; 18 on the association of symptoms between disorders), and 6 on childhood and adolescence.Conclusions: A critical examination of the results of each study suggests that NA helps to identify, in an innovative way, important aspects of psychopathology like the centrality of the symptoms in a given disorder as well as the mutual dynamics among symptoms. Yet, despite these promising results, the clinical utility of NA is still uncertain as there are important limitations on the analytic procedures (e.g., reliability of indices), the type of data included (e.g., typically restricted to secondary analysis of already published data), and ultimately, the psychometric and clinical validity of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen major developments in psychotherapy research that suggest the need to address critical methodological issues. These recommendations, developed by an international group of researchers, do not replace those for randomized controlled trials, but rather supplement strategies that need to be taken into account when considering psychological treatments. The limitations of traditional taxonomy and assessment methods are outlined, with suggestions for consideration of staging methods. Active psychotherapy control groups are recommended, and adaptive and dismantling study designs offer important opportunities. The treatments that are used, and particularly their specific ingredients, need to be described in detail for both the experimental and the control groups. Assessment should be performed blind before and after treatment and at long-term follow-up. A combination of observer- and self-rated measures is recommended. Side effects of psychotherapy should be evaluated using appropriate methods. Finally, the number of participants who deteriorate after treatment should be noted according to the methods that were used to define response or remission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Although the benefits of Meditation-Based Programs are well documented, the mechanisms underlying these benefits have not been fully elucidated. Therefore, we examined whether: (1) formal training in mindfulness and compassion meditation modifies the distribution of attentional resources towards emotional information; and (2) whether changes in attentional processing of emotional information after the meditation programs mediate the improvements in psychological distress, emotion regulation, and well-being., Methods: A sample of 103 participants enrolled in the study: 36 in the mindfulness program (MBSR), 30 in the compassion program (CCT), and 37 in the no-intervention comparison group (CG). The assessment before and after the programs included the completion of an emotional Attentional Blink task (AB) together with self-report measures of psychological distress, emotion regulation, and well-being., Results: MBSR and CCT reduced similarly the AB deficit, whereas no changes occurred in the CG. This AB reduction was found for the different emotional and non-emotional stimuli (i.e., negative, positive, and neutral), showing a significant disengagement from first-target emotions and significant accessibility of second-target emotions to consciousness. The effects of both meditation programs on the psychological measures were mediated by changes in the AB and emotion regulation skills., Limitations: Due to our naturalistic design in a real-world community setting, random assignment of participants was not feasible., Conclusions: Meditation may promote more flexible and balanced attention to emotional information, which may be a key transdiagnostic mechanism underlying its benefits on emotional distress and well-being., 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 © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Job loss is a stressful event that increases the risk of experiencing depression and anxiety, especially during the initial months of unemployment. This study examined differences in psychological symptoms and resilient functioning accounted by employment status. The results pointed out that recently unemployed compared to currently employed individuals had lower levels of perceived controllability and resilience as well as higher levels of depression and anxiety. Path analyses showed that lower controllability appraisals at wave 1 of recently unemployed compared to employed individuals, in turn, predicted a lower use of active coping and reappraisal at wave 2, with the latter further accounting for lower levels in resilience. Higher use of distraction further mediated the relation between employment status and higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. Our findings demonstrate the importance of controllability appraisals and coping strategies used to promote adaptive psychological functioning following job loss., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Emotion regulation (ER) is a central target in the study of psychological and neurobiological processes of emotions for numerous psychological disorders. Ecological momentary assessments, overcoming retrospective self-reports, allow a better understanding of the relation between the use of ER strategies and daily life affective experiences. A systematic review and meta-analyses of studies testing these relations through experience sampling methods (ESM) and daily diaries were conducted. ESM studies showed significant large effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between negative affect (NA) and rumination, suppression, and worry, and in both contemporaneous and prospective relations between positive affect (PA) and reappraisal; medium effect sizes in prospective relations between NA and rumination, and PA and distraction; and a small effect size in the prospective relation between NA and suppression. Daily diary studies showed significant large effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between NA and rumination and suppression, and in both contemporaneous and prospective relations between PA and reappraisal; medium effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between PA and acceptance, and problem-solving; and a small effect size in the prospective relation between NA and reappraisal. These findings shed light on the temporal relations between the use of ER strategies and affective experiences and highlight conceptual and methodological limitations in the field., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

As difficulties in managing the anticipation of situations is one of the characteristics of emotional problems, the study of regulatory strategies during anticipatory period anticipation is important. In the present study, attentional patterns during the anticipation period were studied. The ability of those attentional patterns to regulate mood after the event's occurrence was analyzed. An experimental paradigm was designed in which participants repeatedly anticipated emotional information. Attentional patterns in response to emotionally expressive faces (happy and sad) were recorded with an eye tracker. The results showed that the valence of the expected outcomes did affect attentional preferences. Specifically, participants spent more time looking at sad faces when they anticipated a negative rather than a positive outcome. The opposite pattern was found for happy faces. With respect to the ability to regulate the emotions of these attention patterns, it was found that emotions experienced after a negatively anticipated event were independent of previous attention patterns, while happiness experienced after a previously anticipated positive event was found to be related to attentional patterns. Specifically, people who spent more time looking at happy faces during the anticipation of a positive outcome reported higher levels of happiness after the event. In conclusion, these results indicate that during the anticipation of emotional outcomes participants implement attentional strategies, although the emotions associated with experiencing those outcomes were independent of those attentional patterns in the negative anticipation, they were found to magnify positive emotions in positive anticipation., (© 2020. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: 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., Methods: 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., Results: 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., Limitations: 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., Conclusions: 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., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Cognitive biases play an important role in the development and maintenance of emotional disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Novel procedures, known as Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM), aim to reduce these dysfunctional information processing modes. This study develops a brief clinically based online intervention programme to modify biased interpretations in depression and anxiety (CBM-I Clin ), overcoming some methodological issues that have been addressed in previous literature., Methods: Volunteer participants will be recruited via social media and posters at the university. They will be randomly assigned to an experimental group or a waiting list control group. Both groups will complete two assessment sessions (before and after the intervention) consisting of questionnaires measuring cognitive and emotional variables as well as experimental tasks measuring cognitive biases (i.e. attention, memory, and interpretation). After the first assessment session, only participants in the experimental group will receive a link to follow the four CBM-I Clin sessions at home. All participants will receive, via email, follow-up questionnaires 2 weeks and 3 months after the second assessment., Discussion: This study will test the 'Relearning how to think', an online programme potentially beneficial to modify cognitive biases in emotional disorders. Several limitations of previous CBM procedures are addressed, and the impact of the programme both on objective cognitive bias tasks and clinical symptoms will be explored., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03987477 . Prospectively registered on June 17, 2019., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect is characterised by a spatial cognitive representation of low numbers to the left side of space and high numbers to the right side of space. This effect has been found using a diversity of stimuli and experimental paradigms. However, the influence of emotional stimuli on this effect remains unclear. In this study, the SNARC effect is analysed in relation to pairs of emotional facial stimuli (happy-neutral, sad-neutral and happy-sad pairs). Gaze patterns of 151 participants were analysed when exposed to a free-viewing eye-tracking paradigm consisting of pairs of emotional faces preceded by small and large numbers. Replicating previous results, a standard SNARC effect was found independently of the emotional expressions of the faces (i.e., there was a significant linear trend of number magnitude in the frequency of first fixations of the gaze to the left side space). However, specific slope analyses revealed that the SNARC effect was influenced by the spatial position of each emotion presented in the emotional pairs. Specifically, the effect disappeared in happy-neutral trials, when the happy faces were allocated in the right position and also in happy-sad trials when two emotional stimuli were simultaneously displayed. The study revealed that the SNARC effect is sensitive to the spatial position of emotional stimuli which further adds to other known limits of the phenomenon. The limitations of the study and its implications in the area of cognition and emotion are also discussed., (© 2020. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: The general aim of the study was to examine the relative effectiveness and mediators of change in standardized mindfulness and compassion interventions., Methods: A sample of 431 participants enrolled in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR = 277) and a Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT = 154). The assessment before and after the program included a set of outcomes and mediators measures. A three-step data analysis plan was followed: ANCOVAs, Reliable Change Index, and mediations (simple and multiple)., Results: Both interventions yielded increased mindfulness, decentering, body awareness, and self-compassion. Yet, present-moment awareness improvements (i.e., decentering, and body awareness) were significantly larger in the MBSR than in CCT, whereas socio-emotional changes (i.e., common humanity and empathic concern) were larger in the CCT than in MBSR. The magnitude of effect sizes ranged from medium to large. Furthermore, both mindfulness and compassion interventions yielded similar changes in psychological distress (i.e., stress, anxiety, and depression), maladaptive cognitive processes (i.e., rumination and thought suppression), and well-being. The mediation models showed that although the MBSR program seemingly relies on changes in present-moment awareness mechanisms (i.e., decentering and body awareness) to reduce psychological distress and to improve well-being, the CCT program seemingly achieves the same positive outcomes through changes in socio-emotional mechanisms (i.e., common-humanity and empathy concern)., Limitations: Due to our naturalistic design in real-world community setting, it was infeasible to randomly assign participants to conditions., Conclusions: Our results suggest that mindfulness and compassion programs operate through different pathways to reduce psychological distress and to promote well-being., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Given the need to understand both the negative and positive psychological consequences of the current global COVID-19 pandemic (Brewin et al. in Perspectives in Public Health 10.1177/1757913920957365 2020), the aim of this study was to test a cognitive model of post-traumatic symptoms (PTS) and post-traumatic growth (PTG) during confinement caused by the SARS-COV-2 epidemic. In line with cognitive models of trauma elaboration (Park in Psychological Bulletin 10.1037/a0018301), we included in our model some beliefs associated to the world (e.g., primal beliefs about a good world), to the self (e.g., death anxiety or orientation toward the future) and to others (e.g., suspiciousness or identification with humanity). To evaluate the explanatory model, a national representative sample of adults between the ages of 18 and 75 (N = 1951) was surveyed between 7th and 13th April, 2020, in the middle of a strict 7-week national confinement. Structural equation modelling yielded a very similar model to the one initially specified. The results highlight the role of both negative and positive core beliefs, which are pertinent to the current pandemic threat, in the appearance of PTS and PTG, respectively. In short, primal beliefs about a good world, openness to the future and identification with humanity were associated with PTG; while suspiciousness, intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety about death and also identification with humanity were associated with PTS and consequent impairment. This is an innovative study of different pathways to traumatic responses and growth during a pandemic. Future research is needed to replicate its findings., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. part of Springer Nature 2021.)