Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268

Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review.

Interventions based on training in mindfulness skills are becoming increasingly popular. Mindfulness involves intentionally bringing one's attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, and is often taught through a variety of meditation exercises. This review summarizes conceptual approaches to mind-fulness and empirical research on the utility of mindfulness-based interventions. Meta-analytic techniques were incorporated to facilitate quantification of findings and comparison across studies. Although the current empirical literature includes many methodological flaws, findings suggest that mindfulness-based interventions may be helpful in the treatment of several disorders. Methodologically sound investigations are recommended in order to clarify the utility of these interventions.

/pdf/mindfulness-training-as-a-clinical-intervention-a-conceptual-59f2pz6ioa.pdf

Mindfulness Training as a Clinical Intervention: A Conceptual and Empirical Review

https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa54196/Download/54196__17493__47815979be224dde9a7b3f9b037ce7ec.pdf

Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science.

Poor sleep quality is significantly associated with effort but not temporal discounting of monetary rewards.

In rodent studies, faster extinction rate has been shown to predict less long-term fear. However, this has scarcely been studied in humans. The present report investigated the association between extinction rate and long-term fear in humans. We secondarily evaluated specificity of extinction rate by including other fear conditioning values as predictors, including acquisition intercept, acquisition rate, and extinction intercept. Lastly, we investigated whether trait measures of behavioral approach, behavioral inhibition, anxiety, and depression predicted long-term fear. Results show that slower extinction rate predicted less long-term fear when tested alone in the model. However, when including other fear conditioning variables, extinction rate no longer predicted long-term fear. Instead, greater fear at the beginning of acquisition was the most robust predictor of greater long-term fear (all three measures of fear), followed by greater fear at the beginning of extinction (unconditional stimulus expectancy only). These effects occurred for both the danger signal (i.e., conditional stimulus; CS+) and safety signal (i.e., CS−). The results suggest that fear at the start of acquisition and, secondarily, extinction are predictors of long-term fear. Lastly, there were no effects of trait behavioral approach, behavioral inhibition, anxiety, or depression. This report has relevance for improving our understanding and treatment of anxiety disorders.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/20438087221112328

Starting fear is a stronger predictor of long-term fear than rate of change in fear in human fear conditioning

Background Specific phobias represent the largest category of anxiety disorders. Previous work demonstrated that stimulating the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) with repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) may improve response to exposure therapy for acrophobia. Objective To examine feasibility of accelerating extinction learning in subjects with spider phobia using intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS) rTMS of vmPFC. Methods In total, 17 subjects with spider phobia determined by spider phobia questionnaires [Spider Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ) and Fear of Spiders questionnaire (FSQ)] underwent ratings of fear of spiders as well as behavioral and skin conductance data during a behavioral avoidance test (BAT). Subjects then received a sequential protocol of in vivo spider exposure followed by iTBS for three sessions administered to either active or control treatment sites (vmPFC [n = 8] or vertex [n = 9], respectively), followed 1 week later by repetition of questionnaires and BAT. Results All subjects improved significantly regardless of group across both questionnaires (FSQ η2 = 0.43, p = 0.004; SPQ η2 = 0.39, p = 0.008) and skin conductance levels during BAT (Wald χ2 = 30.9, p < 0.001). Subjects in the vmPFC group tolerated lower treatment intensity than in the control group, and there was a significant correlation between treatment intensity, BAT subjective distress improvement, and physiologic measures (all ρ > 0.5). Conclusion This proof-of-concept study provides preliminary evidence that a sequential exposure and iTBS over vmPFC is feasible and may have rTMS intensity-dependent effects on treatment outcomes, providing evidence for future areas of study in the use of rTMS for phobias.

/pdf/treatment-of-spider-phobia-using-repeated-exposures-and-2r7i5kfy.pdf

Michelle G. Craske

Papers

Poor sleep quality is significantly associated with effort but not temporal discounting of monetary rewards.

Starting fear is a stronger predictor of long-term fear than rate of change in fear in human fear conditioning

Treatment of Spider Phobia Using Repeated Exposures and Adjunctive Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A Proof-of-Concept Study

Developing a Treatment Plan

P.4.a.006 Psychometric properties of the 1-week dimensional anxiety scales for DSM-5 in a non-clinical student sample