Science

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 628
  • (2008) Meiser, Bettina; Kasparian, Nadine; Mitchell, Penny; Strong, Kathryn; Simpson, John; Tabassum, Laila; Mireskandari, Shab; Schofield, Peter
    Journal Article
    Objectives: This study assesses interest in genetic testing for gene variations associated with bipolar disorder and associated information needs. Methods: Two hundred individuals (95 unaffected and 105 affected with either bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder-manic type, or recurrent major depression) from families with multiple cases of bipolar disorder were assessed, using mailed, self-administered questionnaires. Results: The percentage of participants reporting interest in genetic testing was associated with the degree of certainty with which any test would indicate the development of bipolar disorder. Interest in genetic testing, given a 25% lifetime risk scenario, was lowest (with 77% of participants indicating interest), and highest for the 100% lifetime risk scenario (92%). Eighty percent of participants indicated interest in genetic testing of their own children; of these 30% reported wanting their children tested at birth, and 33% in early childhood. Forty-one percent of participants reported that they would be interested in preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and 54% in prenatal testing. Limitations: The possibility of ascertainment bias cannot be ruled out. Interest in hypothetical genetic testing for bipolar disorder may not necessarily translate into actual utilization. Conclusions: These results indicate that uptake of genetic testing for genotyping for low-risk alleles related to bipolar disorder is likely to be lower than for testing for high-penetrance gene mutations that follow Mendelian inheritance. The discrepancy between the desired age of testing children and the accepted current practice may be a source of distress and conflict for parents and health professionals alike.

  • (2013) Grisham, Jessica; Williams, Alishia
    Journal Article
    The aim of the current study was to examine cognitive and psychological factors hypothesized to affect responding to intrusions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A group of individuals diagnosed with OCD was compared to a social phobia (SP) group and a nonclinical control group. Participants performed neuropsychological tasks, completed selfreport measures, and engaged in a self-relevant thought suppression task. The OCD group demonstrated worse working memory and response inhibition and had increased intrusions during the suppression task relative to comparison groups. They also reported more distress during the task relative to the nonclinical group, but not the SP group. Regression analyses revealed that beliefs about thought control failures, but not working memory or response inhibition, was associated with increased frequency of intrusions and greater distress during suppression. Findings support cognitive-behavioural models of OCD that emphasize the role of meta-beliefs in explaining the struggle with obsessional thoughts.

  • (2013) Williams, Alishia; Lau, Gloria; Grisham, Jessica
    Journal Article
    Background and Objectives: Thought-action fusion (TAF), or maladaptive cognitions regarding the relationship between mental events and behaviours, has been implicated in the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). As some religions promote TAF-like appraisals, it has been proposed that religiosity may play a role in the transformation of normally occurring intrusive thoughts into clinically distressing obsessions. No research, however, has experimentally investigated the mediating role of TAF on the relationship between religiosity and OC symptoms. Methods: 85 Christian, Jewish, and Atheist/Agnostic participants were exposed to an experimental thought-induction protocol and reported on their associated levels of distress, guilt, feelings of responsibility, and urge to suppress target intrusions experienced during a 5-minute monitoring period. Participants also completed measures of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, TAF beliefs, and general psychopathology. Results: Using PROCESS and bootstrapping analyses, a test of the conditional indirect effects of religiosity on obsessive-compulsive symptoms revealed that Christianity moderated the effects of religiosity on moral TAF beliefs, which in turn mediated the relationship between religiosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Furthermore, in the Christian group, moral TAF beliefs mediated the relationship between religiosity and ratings of guilt and responsibility following the experimental protocol. Limitations: The use of university students with moderate levels of religiosity. Conclusions: Collectively the results suggest that obsessional thinking is not attributable to religion per se, but that teachings underlying certain religious doctrines may fuel TAF beliefs that are implicated in the maintenance of OCD.

  • (2010) Williams, Alishia; Moulds, Michelle; Grisham, Jessica; Gay, Philippe; Lang, Tamara; Kandris, Eva; Werner-Seidler, Aliza
    Journal Article
    Study 1 evaluated the psychometric properties of the English version of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire (TCAQ; Luciano, Algarabel, Tomás, & Martínez, 2005), an index of perceived control over intrusive cognitions. Confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 720 University students revealed a clear uni-dimensional structure (after removal of items 5, 7, 8, 14, and 25) with high internal consistency (α = .87, 95% CI = [.86, .88]) and test-retest reliability after a six month interval (r = .68). Correlational analyses supported an inverse relationship with measures of depression, anxiety, maladaptive cognitive control strategies, and obsessive–compulsive symptomatology. Study 2 tested the ability of the TCAQ to predict successful cognitive control during an experimental suppression protocol. Results demonstrated that weak thought control ability was predictive of the frequency and associated levels of distress of a target thought while under instruction to suppress. Additionally, weak perceived thought control ability was predictive of increased efforts to suppress the target material. Collectively, results suggest that thought control ability is a measurable individual difference variable and that the TCAQ is a reliable index of perceived cognitive control.

  • (2007) Williams, Alishia; Moulds, Michelle
    Journal Article
    Despite substantial evidence of the detrimental effects of ruminative self-focus, paradoxically (as noted and reviewed by Watkins, 2004) there are clear suggestions that under some circumstances self-focused attention can actually promote well-being and confer benefits. We sought to replicate the findings of Watkins (2004) that adopting an abstract/analytical mode of processing following a negative event results in increased spontaneous intrusions of the event; i.e., results in poor emotional processing. In the current study 57 low (BDI-II ≤ 7) and 59 high (BDI-II ≥ 12) dysphoric undergraduate participants viewed a 4 min. emotion-eliciting video, were randomly assigned to an analytical, experiential, or distraction processing condition, then monitored the frequency of video-related intrusions. Results indicated the effectiveness of the video in inducing moderately distressing intrusions, and suggest that the hypothesized effects of ruminative self-focus on intrusion severity may be dependent upon the self-referential nature of the material to be processed. Results did support previous findings (Williams & Moulds, 2007) that intrusion-related distress is not merely a function of intrusion frequency. Directions for future investigations of the cognitive processes that are important in the maintenance of depressive disorders are discussed.

  • (2010) Williams, Alishia; Moulds, Michelle
    Journal Article
    The current study sought to experimentally assess the differential effects of analytical ruminative processing and distraction on the experience of self-referent naturally occurring intrusive memories in a sample of dysphoric (BDI-II ≥ 12) participants. Seventy seven undergraduate participants completed a memory interview to elicit details about a self-referential intrusion and were randomly assigned to either an analytical rumination or distraction condition. Subsequent to the rumination induction, participants rated their intrusive memory as more negative, more distressing, and more evocative of a negative emotional response compared to participants who were allocated to the distraction induction. Inducing analytical rumination also resulted in participants reporting worse (i.e., more sad) mood relative to those in the distraction condition. The findings align with the suggestion that depressed individuals may get caught up in a ruminative cycle that, due to the documented effects of analytical self-focus, exacerbate the emotional response elicited by intrusions and perpetuate biased attentional focus on them. Directions for future investigations of the cognitive processes that are important in the maintenance of intrusions in depressive disorders are discussed.

  • (2008) Williams, Alishia; Moulds, Michelle
    Journal Article
    The current study attempted to experimentally manipulate mode of recall (field, observer perspective) in a sample of mildly dysphoric participants (N = 134) who reported a distressing intrusive memory of negative autobiographical event. Specifically, the current study sought to ascertain whether shifting participants into a converse perspective would have differential effects on the reported experience of their memory. Results indicated that shifting participants from a field to an observer perspective resulted in decreased experiential ratings; specifically, reduced distress and vividness. Also, as anticipated, the converse shift in perspective (from observer to field) did not lead to a corresponding increase in experiential ratings, but did result in reduced ratings of observation and a trend was observed for decreased levels of detachment. The findings support the notion that recall perspective has a functional role in the regulation of intrusion-related distress and represents a cognitive avoidance mechanism.

  • (2008) Williams, Alishia; Moulds, Michelle
    Journal Article
    Recent research has demonstrated that intrusive negative autobiographical memories represent a shared phenomenological feature of PTSD and depression. A preliminary investigation (Starr & Moulds, 2006) successfully applied a cognitive appraisal model of PTSD to the maintenance of intrusive memories in depression. The current investigation sought to replicate and extend these findings. Two hundred and fifty first-year undergraduate students were interviewed to assess for the presence of a negative autobiographical memory that had spontaneously intruded in the past week. Participants completed self-report inventories assessing trait and situational employment of cognitive avoidance mechanisms in response to these memories. Consistent with Starr and Moulds (2006), intrusion-related distress correlated with dysphoria, irrespective of intrusion frequency. Assigning negative appraisals to one’s intrusive memory and attempts to control the memory were positively associated with intrusion-related distress, level of depression, and cognitive avoidance mechanisms. Additionally, negative appraisals and control influenced the employment rumination as an avoidant response to a greater degree than the corresponding trait tendency. Finally, negative appraisals and the use of cognitive mechanisms was predictive of depression concurrently. The results support the validity of borrowing from PTSD models to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms that maintain intrusive memories in depressed samples.

  • (2007) Williams, Alishia; Moulds, Michelle
    Journal Article
    Although recent research demonstrates that intrusive memories represent an overlapping cognitive feature of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there is still a general paucity of research investigating the prevalence and maintenance of intrusive memories in depression. The current study investigated the association between a range of cognitive avoidant mechanisms that characterize PTSD samples (i.e., suppression, rumination, emotional detachment, and an observer vantage perspective) and intrusive memories of negative autobiographical events in relation to dysphoria. Hypotheses were based on the proposition that employment of these cognitive mechanisms would hinder the emotional processing of the negative event, thus contributing to the maintenance of intrusions. Results supported an association between negative intrusive memories, dysphoria, and avoidant mechanisms. Significant differences were also found between field and observer memories and measures of emotional detachment and rumination. Implications relating to intrusive memory maintenance and treatment approaches are discussed.

  • (2012) Mills, Katherine; Teesson, Maree; Back, Sudie; Brady, Kathleen; Baker, Amanda; Hopwood, Sally; Sannibale, Claudia; Barrett, Emma; Merz, Sabine; Rosenfeld, Julia; Ewer, Philippa
    Journal Article
    Context: There is concern that exposure therapy, an evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may be inappropriate for patients with co-occurring substance dependence (SD). Objective: To determine whether an integrated treatment for PTSD and SD, Concurrent Treatment of PTSD and Substance Use Disorders Using Prolonged Exposure (COPE), can achieve greater reductions in PTSD and SD symptom severity compared to treatment as usual (TAU) for SD. Design, Setting, and Patients: A randomized controlled trial of 103 participants who met DSM-IV-TR criteria for both PTSD and SD. Participants were recruited from 2007-2009 in Sydney, Australia, and randomized to one of two conditions. The treatment group received COPE plus TAU (COPE+TAU; n=55) and the control group received TAU alone (n=48). Outcomes were assessed at 9-months post-baseline, and interim measures collected at 6-weeks and 3-months post-baseline. Interventions: COPE consists of 13 individual 90-minute sessions (i.e., 19.5 hours) with a clinical psychologist. It represents an integration of existing evidence based manualized cognitive behavioral treatments for PTSD and SD, comprising psychoeducation, motivational enhancement, and cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD and SD, including imaginal and in vivo exposure. Main outcome measures: Change in PTSD symptom severity as measured by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS; scale range 0-240), and change in severity of SD as measured by the number of dependence criteria met according to the Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0 (CIDI; range 0-7), from baseline to 9-month follow-up. A change of 15 points on the CAPS scale and 1 dependence criteria on the CIDI were considered to be clinically significant. Results: From baseline to 9-month follow-up, significant reductions in PTSD symptom severity were found for both the treatment (mean difference -38.24, 95%CI: -47.93 - -28.54) and control group (mean difference -22.14, 95%CI: -30.33 - -13.95), however, the treatment group demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in PTSD symptom severity compared to the control group (mean difference -16.09, 95%CI: -29.00 to -3.19). No significant between group difference was found in relation to improvement in severity of SD (0.43 v 0.52; IRR 0.85, 95%CI: 0.60 - 1.21), nor were there any significant between group differences in relation to changes in substance use, depression or anxiety. Conclusions: Among patients with PTSD and SD, the combined use of COPE+TAU, compared with TAU alone, resulted in improvement in PTSD symptom severity without an increase in severity of SD. Trial registration: Registration number ISRCTN12908171; URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN12908171/mills