Showing papers by "Payton J. Jones published in 2018"
TL;DR: It is concluded that the network approach to mental disorders provides a new way to understand the etiology and maintenance of comorbid OCD-depression and can improve research and treatment of mental disorderComorbidities by generating hypotheses concerning potential causal symptom structures and by identifying symptoms that may bridge disorders.
114 citations
TL;DR: A brief tutorial on several methods including multidimensional scaling, principal components plotting, and eigenmodel networks is provided, comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each method, and noting how to properly interpret each type of plotting approach.
Abstract: Networks have emerged as a popular method for studying mental disorders Psychopathology networks consist of aspects (eg, symptoms) of mental disorders (nodes) and the connections between those aspects (edges) Unfortunately, the visual presentation of networks can occasionally be misleading For instance, researchers may be tempted to conclude that nodes that appear close together are highly related, and that nodes that are far apart are less related Yet this is not always the case In networks plotted with force-directed algorithms, the most popular approach, the spatial arrangement of nodes is not easily interpretable However, other plotting approaches can render node positioning interpretable We provide a brief tutorial on several methods including multidimensional scaling, principal components plotting, and eigenmodel networks We compare the strengths and weaknesses of each method, noting how to properly interpret each type of plotting approach
105 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors applied network analytic methods to characterize the associations among core symptoms of SAD and comorbid depressive symptoms among 174 individuals with DSM-IV-TR criteria for SAD.
93 citations
TL;DR: It was found that difficulty with drinking beverages and eating in public were bridge symptoms between ED and SAD and feeling nervous about one's appearance was a bridge symptom.
Abstract: Objective Eating disorders (EDs) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are highly co-occurring. This comorbidity is extremely relevant, given that individuals with comorbid ED-SAD are less likely to seek and/or benefit from ED treatment. Method We used network analysis to conceptualize ED-SAD comorbidity in a sample of 2,215 participants with a primary diagnosis of ED, SAD, or no known diagnosis. We used novel network analyses methods to select symptoms for our models, identify potential illness pathways (i.e., bridge symptoms) between disorders and underlying vulnerabilities (e.g., perfectionism, social appearance anxiety), and to compare across sample types (e.g., clinical vs. nonclinical). We also tested several novel network analyses methods aimed at the following methodological concerns: (a) topological concerns (i.e., which items should be included in NA models), (b) how to use empirical indices to quantify bridge symptoms and (c) what differences in networks across samples mean. Results We found that difficulty with drinking beverages and eating in public were bridge symptoms between ED and SAD. We also found that feeling nervous about one's appearance was a bridge symptom. Conclusions We identified public eating and drinking as bridge symptoms between EDs and SAD. Future research is needed to test if interventions focused on public eating and drinking might decrease symptoms of both EDs and SAD. Researchers can use this study (code provided) as an exemplar for how to use network analysis, as well as to use network analysis to conceptualize ED comorbidity and compare network structure and density across samples.
92 citations
TL;DR: Clinically, findings highlight the importance of considering shape and weight overvaluation as a severity specifier and primary treatment target for people with EDs and provide a high degree of replication of previous findings.
Abstract: Objective The cognitive-behavioral theory of eating disorders (EDs) proposes that shape and weight overvaluation are the core ED psychopathology. Core symptoms can be statistically identified using network analysis. Existing ED network studies support that shape and weight overvaluation are the core ED psychopathology, yet no studies have estimated AN core psychopathology and concerns exist about the replicability of network analysis findings. The current study estimated ED symptom networks among people with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and among a combined group of people with AN and BN. Method Participants were girls and women with AN (n = 604) and BN (n = 477) seeking residential ED treatment. ED symptoms were assessed with the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q); 27 of the EDE-Q items were included as nodes in symptom networks. Core symptoms were determined by expected influence and strength values. Results In all networks, desiring weight loss, restraint, shape and weight preoccupation, and shape overvaluation emerged as the most important symptoms. In addition, in the AN and combined networks, fearing weight gain emerged as an important symptom. In the BN network, weight overvaluation emerged as another important symptom. Discussion Findings support the cognitive-behavioral premise that shape and weight overvaluation are at the core of AN psychopathology. Our BN and combined network findings provide a high degree of replication of previous findings. Clinically, findings highlight the importance of considering shape and weight overvaluation as a severity specifier and primary treatment target for people with EDs.
77 citations
TL;DR: This article analyzed data from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) 2013-2014 database to provide insight about student anxiety as reported by students and their therapists, finding that academic distress accounted for the largest amount of variance in anxiety, followed by financial stress, peer support, and family support.
Abstract: Mental health concerns, especially anxiety, are increasingly prevalent among college students. We analyzed data from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) 2013-2014 database to provide insight about student anxiety as reported by students and their therapists. Analyses showed that academic distress accounted for the largest amount of variance in anxiety, followed by financial stress, peer support, and family support. Sociodemographic variables had small effects, indicating a universality of anxiety across various types of students.
70 citations
TL;DR: Trigger warnings may inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience, especially to collegiate populations and to those with trauma histories.
44 citations
TL;DR: Bereavement can lead to negative outcomes such as complicated grief (CG), but some mourners with symptoms of CG often experience positive sequelae of loss such as posttraumatic growth (PTG) as well as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Bereavement can lead to negative outcomes such as complicated grief (CG), but some mourners with symptoms of CG often experience positive sequelae of loss such as posttraumatic growth (PTG) as well...
36 citations
23 Aug 2018
TL;DR: A preregistered replication of this study in a college student sample is presented, using Bayesian statistics to estimate the success of each effect's replication and found substantial evidence that trigger warnings' previously nonsignificant main effect of increasing anxiety responses to distressing content was genuine, albeit small.
Abstract: Trigger warnings notify people that content they are about to engage with may result in adverse emotional consequences. An experiment by Bellet, Jones, and McNally (2018) indicated that trigger warnings increased the extent to which trauma-naïve crowd-sourced participants see themselves and others as emotionally vulnerable to potential future traumas but did not have a significant main effect on anxiety responses to distressing literature passages. However, they did increase anxiety responses for participants who strongly believed that words can harm. In this article, we present a preregistered replication of this study in a college student sample, using Bayesian statistics to estimate the success of each effect's replication. We found strong evidence that none of the previously significant effects replicated. However, we found substantial evidence that trigger warnings' previously nonsignificant main effect of increasing anxiety responses to distressing content was genuine, albeit small. Interpretation of the findings, implications, and future directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
13 citations
05 Dec 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an undergraduate positive psychology course taught as outreach and prevention by counseling center therapists as a way to potentially address the increasing demand for services they are seeing in college counseling centers.
Abstract: College counseling centers nationwide are having difficulty meeting the increasing demand for services they are seeing. We present an undergraduate positive psychology course taught as outreach and prevention by counseling center therapists as a way to potentially address this demand. During the two primary semesters of the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic years, 133 students enrolled in the course and completed pre and post measures. Students evidenced significantly decreased psychological distress, increased psychological well-being, and increased subjective happiness. We discuss the format of this course and its elements as both outreach/prevention and therapeutic interventions to meet the increased demand for services.
DOI•
26 Sep 2018
TL;DR: This article found that participants' frame of reference for events (i.e., the perceived range of event seriousness) plays a relatively more important role in the classification of events as either "trauma" or "not trauma".
Abstract: The word 'trauma' was originally used by psychiatrists to describe horrific events such as rape and torture that characteristically provoke extreme emotional distress. Both colloquially and clinically, the concept of psychological trauma has broadened considerably. Although many clinical scientists have expressed concern about the broadening of the concept of trauma, it remains unclear how and why this concept expansion occurs. We present two experiments in which US adults (N = 276, 267) sequentially classified descriptions of events (e.g., "broke a leg in a bicycle accident") as either 'trauma' or 'not trauma'. In the first experiment, we manipulated the frequency of serious and nonserious events. In the second experiment, we manipulated the total range of events (i.e., participants viewed only nonserious or only serious events). Together, the experiments suggest that participants' frame of reference for events (i.e., the perceived range of event seriousness) plays a relatively more important role.