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CONTEXT:Episode remission in unipolar major depression, while distinguished by minimal symptom burden, can also be a period of marked sensitivity to emotional stress as well as an increased risk of relapse.
OBJECTIVE:
To examine whether mood-linked changes in dysfunctional thinking predict relapse in recovered patients who were depressed.
DESIGN:
In phase 1 of this study, patients with major depressive disorder were randomly assigned to receive either antidepressant medication or cognitive behavior therapy. In phase 2, patients who achieved clinical remission underwent sad mood provocation and were then observed with regular clinical assessments for 18 months.
SETTING:
Outpatient psychiatric clinics at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario.
PARTICIPANTS:
A total of 301 outpatients with major depressive disorder, aged 18 to 65 years, participated in phase 1 of this study and 99 outpatients with major depressive disorder in remission, aged 18 to 65 years, participated in phase 2.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:
Occurrence of a relapse meeting DSM-IV criteria for a major depressive episode as assessed by the longitudinal interval follow-up evaluation and a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score of 16 or greater.
RESULTS:
Patients who recovered through antidepressant medication showed greater cognitive reactivity following the mood provocation than those who received cognitive behavior therapy. Regardless of type of prior treatment, the magnitude of mood-linked cognitive reactivity was a significant predictor of relapse over the subsequent 18 months. Patients whose mood-linked endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes increased by a minimum of 8 points had a significantly shorter time to relapse than those whose scores were not as elevated.
CONCLUSIONS:
The vulnerability of remitted depressed patients for illness relapse may be related to the (re)activation of depressive thinking styles triggered by temporary dysphoric states. This is the first study to link such differences to prognosis following successful treatment for depression. Further understanding of factors predisposing to relapse/recurrence in recovered patients may help to shorten the potentially lifelong course of depression.
Stress-related eating is increasingly cited as a difficulty in managing healthy eating behaviors and weight. However few interventions have been designed to specifically target stress-related eating. In addition, the optimal target of such an intervention is unclear, as the target might be conceptualized as overall stress reduction or changing emotional eating-related thoughts and behaviors. This pilot study compared the effects of three interventions targeting those components individually and in combination on stress-related eating, perceived stress, and weight loss to determine whether the two intervention components are effective alone or are more effective when combined. Fifty-three overweight participants (98% female) who reported elevated levels of stress and stress-eating and were at risk for obesity were randomly assigned to one of three six-week interventions: a modified mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention, a cognitive behavioral stress-eating intervention (SEI), and a combined intervention that included all MBSR and SEI components. All three interventions significantly reduced perceived stress and stress-eating, but the combination intervention resulted in greater reductions and also produced a moderate effect on short term weight loss. Benefits persisted at six week follow-up.The pattern of results preliminarily suggests that the combination intervention (MBSR+SEI) may yield promise in the treatment of stress-related eating.
Executive functions are cognitive processes that critically involve the frontal lobes and enable us to accomplish goals and make decisions in everyday life. The brain regions responsible for some executive functions (spatial attention and memory) overlap with brain regions necessary for eye movements. Eye movements can be more reflexive (automatic) or more voluntary (willful). Voluntary eye movements, especially, have become an important tool with which to measure different aspects of executive functions in many human disorders. They also have been critical in differentiating subtypes and evaluating medication or treatment efficacy in clinical populations.
Background and AimsPsychological interventions are used in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) but there is uncertainty about who the optimal target population is. Multi-convergent therapy (MCT) is a form of psychotherapy that combines mindfulness meditation with aspects of cognitive behavioural therapy and has been used in the management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This study aimed to assess the feasibility and efficacy of MCT in the management of IBD patients with either functional abdominal symptoms or high perceived stress levels.
Methods
Sixty-six IBD patients in clinical remission with either IBS-type symptoms or high perceived stress levels were randomly allocated to a 16-week MCT course or waiting list control group. Patients were followed-up for one year with the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) as the primary outcome measurement.
Results
A higher mean IBDQ score was observed in the active group compared to controls at the 4-month assessment (167 vs. 156, p = 0.081), but this was not statistically significant nor did it reached the predefined clinically significant difference of 20. In patients with IBS-type symptoms at baseline there was a significantly higher mean IBDQ score in the active group compared to controls (161 vs. 145, p = 0.021). There was no difference between groups in relapse rate based on faecal calprotectin measurement.
Conclusions
IBS-type symptoms in patients with IBD represent a potential therapeutic target to improve quality of life. This study suggests that MCT may be useful in the management of these symptoms but larger studies are required to confirm this.