Duration of assertive community treatment and the interpretation of routine outcome data

Objective: Statistical inferences based on routine outcome monitoring data are susceptible to biases. Because this process may be influenced by differences in attrition and treatment duration, we wished to gain an insight into the relationship between treatment duration and clinical outcome. Method: We enrolled 569 assertive community treatment (ACT) team patients.

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Differences between effects of psychological versus pharmacological treatments on functional and morphological brain alterations in anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder: A systematic review

The most prevalent mental disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, are associated with both functional and morphological brain changes that commonly involve the 'fear network' including the (medial) prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala. Patients suffering from anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder often show excessive amygdala and reduced prefrontal cortex functioning. It is, however, still unclear whether these brain abnormalities disappear or diminish following effective treatment.

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Direct and indirect assessment of explanatory models of illness

Patients’ self-reports of explanatory models (EMs) are sensitive to distortions, particularly as a result of social desirability, uncertainty towards one’s own beliefs, and ethnic disparities with the interviewer. In contrast, reaction-time-based indirect measures are thought to be less sensitive to such factors. This article reports on two studies that applied direct (interview) and indirect (reaction-time-based association task) measures of EMs.

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Disaster exposure as a risk factor for mental health problems, eighteen months, four and ten years post-disaster - a longitudinal study

Background: Disaster experiences have been associated with higher prevalence rates of (mental) health problems. The objective of this study was to examine the independent relation between a series of single disaster experiences versus the independent predictive value of a accumulation of disaster experiences, i.e. a sum score of experiences and symptoms of distress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Development of disaster mental health guidelines through the Delphi process in Japan

The mental health community in Japan had started reviewing the country's disaster mental health guidelines before the Great East Japan Earthquake, aiming to revise them based on evidence and experience accumulated in the last decade. Given the wealth of experience and knowledge acquired in the field by many Japanese mental health professionals, we decided to develop the guidelines through systematic consensus building and selected the Delphi method

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Diagnosing PTSD in Early Childhood: An Empirical Assessment of Four Approaches

Prior studies have argued that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria were insensitive for diagnosing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young children. Four diagnostic criteria sets were examined in 284 3- to 6-year-old trauma-exposed children.

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Coping and chronic psychosocial consequences of female genital mutilation in the Netherlands

Objective. The study presented in this article explored psychosocial and relational problems of African immigrant women in the Netherlands who underwent female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), the causes they attribute to these problems – in particular, their opinions about the relationship between these problems and their circumcision – and the way they cope with these health complaints. Design.

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Coping flexibility and complicated grief: a comparison of American and Chinese samples

The ability to process a death and the ability to remain optimistic and look beyond the loss are both thought to be effective means of coping with loss and other aversive events. Recently, these seemingly contrary dimensions have been integrated into the idea of coping flexibility. In this study, we assessed the ability of married and bereaved individuals in the United States and Hong Kong to use both coping approaches as operationalized by the trauma-focused and forward-focused coping scales of a previously validated questionnaire. We also calculated a single flexibility score.

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Coping flexibility, potentially traumatic life events, and resilience: A prospective study of college student adjustment

College has been shown to be a particularly stressful time both due to unique emergent stressors and because of increased vulnerability for exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs). Both of these conditions are associated with heightened risk for the development of stress-related pathology. However, while this period may be particularly challenging, previous work shows most students adapt in a number of heterogeneous ways that result in little or no stress-related symptomatology over the four years of college.

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Comparison of the effectiveness of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and paroxetine treatment in PTSD patients: Design of a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundThe two most common interventions for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are pharmacological treatment with SSRIs such as paroxetine and psychological treatment such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). International guidelines recommend trauma-focused psychological interventions for all PTSD patients as first-line treatment (NICE). However, no clear-cut evidence is available to support this recommendation.

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