Age shall not weary us: Deleterious effects of self-regulation depletion are specific to younger adults

Self-regulation depletion (SRD), or ego-depletion, refers to decrements in self-regulation performance immediately following a different self-regulation-demanding activity. There are now over a hundred studies reporting SRD across a broad range of tasks and conditions. However, most studies have used young student samples. Because prefrontal brain regions thought to subserve self-regulation do not fully mature until 25 years of age, it is possible that SRD effects are confined to younger populations and are attenuated or disappear in older samples. We investigated this using the Stroop color task as an SRD induction and an autobiographical memory task as the outcome measure. We found that younger participants (<25 years) were susceptible to depletion effects, but found no support for such effects in an older group (40–65 years). This suggests that the widely-reported phenomenon of SRD has important developmental boundary conditions casting doubt on claims that it represents a general feature of human cognition

A brief early intervention for adolescent depression that targets emotional mental images and memories: protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial (IMAGINE trial)

This is the final version of the article. Available from BioMed Central via the DOI in this record.Background: Adolescent depression is common and impairing. There is an urgent need to develop early interventions to prevent depression becoming entrenched. However, current psychological interventions are difficult to access and show limited evidence of effectiveness. Schools offer a promising setting to enhance access to interventions, including reducing common barriers such as time away from education. Distressing negative mental images and a deficit in positive future images, alongside overgeneral autobiographical memories, have been implicated in depression across the lifespan, and interventions targeting them in adults have shown promise. Here, we combine techniques targeting these cognitive processes into a novel, brief psychological intervention for adolescent depression. This feasibility randomised controlled trial will test the feasibility and acceptability of delivering this imagery-based cognitive behavioural intervention in schools. Methods/design: Fifty-six adolescents (aged 16-18) with high symptoms of depression will be recruited from schools. Participants will be randomly allocated to the imagery-based cognitive behavioural intervention (ICBI) or the control intervention, non-directive supportive therapy (NDST). Data on feasibility and acceptability will be recorded throughout, including data on recruitment, retention and adherence rates as well as adverse events. In addition, symptom assessment will take place pre-intervention, post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Primarily, the trial aims to establish whether it is feasible and acceptable to carry out this project in a school setting. Secondary objectives include collecting data on clinical measures, including depression and anxiety, and measures of the mechanisms proposed to be targeted by the intervention. The acceptability of using technology in assessment and treatment will also be evaluated. Discussion: Feasibility, acceptability and symptom data for this brief intervention will inform whether an efficacy randomised controlled trial is warranted and aid planning of this trial. If this intervention is shown in a subsequent definitive trial to be safe, clinically effective and cost-effective, it has potential to be rolled out as an intervention and so would significantly extend the range of therapies available for adolescent depression. This psychological intervention draws on cognitive mechanism research suggesting a powerful relationship between emotion and memory and uses imagery as a cognitive target in an attempt to improve interventions for adolescent depression. Trial registration: ISRCTN85369879.This study represents independent research from a Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship (Dr Victoria Pile, ICA-CDRF-2015-01-007) supported by the National Institute for Health Research and Health Education England

The Impact of Worry on Attention to Threat

Prior research has often linked anxiety to attentional vigilance for threat using the dot probe task, which presents probes in spatial locations that were or were not preceded by a putative threat stimulus. The present study investigated the impact of worry on threat vigilance by administering this task during a worry condition and during a mental arithmetic control condition to 56 undergraduate students scoring in the low normal range on a measure of chronic worry. The worry induction was associated with faster responses than arithmetic to probes in the attended location following threat words, indicating the combined influence of worry and threat in facilitating attention. Within the worry condition, responses to probes in the attended location were faster for trials containing threat words than for trials with only neutral words, whereas the converse pattern was observed for responses to probes in the unattended location. This connection between worry states and attentional capture by threat may be central to understanding the impact of hypervigilance on information processing in anxiety and its disorders

The Effect of Teaching Communicative Patterns of Pluralistic Family on Couples Happiness

Introduction & Objective: One of the basic elements declared in positive psychology is the concept of happiness. Researches have shown that without concerning how achieved, happiness can enhance our health. People who are happy feel more secure, decide easier, and are more satisfied of the people who live with. The aim of the present study was to measure the efficiency of teaching communicative pattern of pluralistic family on the happiness of couples. Materials & Method:This experimental study was designed to have a pre-test and post test and also a control group. Subjects of this study were comprised of consultation centers clients in Shiraz and was based on random sampling. Forty couples were selected according to the revised version of family communication patterns of Koerner and Fitzpatrick. Two dimensions, namely laisseze fair and protective family patterns, were taken into account through the process of selection . Oxford Happiness Invintory was administered to 40 couples and they were randomly divided into a control and an experimental group. Ten training sessions, 90- minute each, were held for experimental group exposed to pluralistic communication patterns. Three Couples declined and finally 34 couples were analyzed.The test was run for both groups and data was analyzed with covariance analysis method using SPSSI5. Results:The results of the present study revealed that with regard to happiness, there is a meaningful difference in both groups (p<0.005). The difference also existed between the pretest and post test scores of happiness test in both groups (p<0.0001). However, communication patterns and interaction between both groups did not reach a meaningful level. Conclusion: Based on the finding, it can be concluded that listening to and speaking with each other play a key role in happiness, therefore pluralistic communication methods based on high levels of listing speaking interactions can be effective happiness of couples

Comparing the Effectiveness of the Attachment-based Therapy, Dietary Therapy, and Combined Treatment Method on Weight Loss in Obese Adolescents of Yasuj High Schools

Background & aim: At the present time, obesity as one of the most important public health problems which has widely prevailed throughout the world. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the attachment-based therapy, dietary-therapy, and the combined treatment method on weight (body mass index) loss in obese high school adolescents of Yasuj city. Methods: This clinical trial study was conducted on sixty female high school students of Yasuj, Iran, diagnosed with overweight and obesity. Subjects were randomly selected and divided into four equal groups, and their body mass indexes were assessed. Three intervention groups were exposed to the attachment-based therapy, dietary-therapy, and combined treatment method. The fourth group (control) did not receive any intervention. Following the treatment period, body mass indexes of the four groups were assessed. The data were analyzed by implementing Univariate analysis of covariance and LSD post hoc tests. Results: All three intervention methods of weight loss significantly increased compared with the control group (p < 0.001). However, the combination therapy was more effective. Conclusions: According to the findings of this study, it was concluded that although interventional techniques such as attachment-based therapy and dietary therapy are effective for weight loss, the combination of these two methods were more effective for weight loss

The Relationship between Emotional Deficit and Pain in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Isfahan City

Introduction: A link between emotional deficit and somatic factors has been widely established، yet little is known about different factors that may predict this relationship.The idea of psychopathology as a mediator has been supported by some pieces of evidencebut in fact, it has not been exactly scrutinized.Therefore, the present study examined the relationship between emotional deficit and pain severity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study، the target population included all patients with rheumatoid arthritis who referred to medical centers of Isfahan during spring 2012. A total number of 100 men and women with rheumatoid arthritis were selected via convenience sampling. A sociodemographic data form، Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and rheumatoid arthritis pain scale (RAPS) were administered to each subject andrequired information was obtained. The study data was analyzed by SPSS-18، AMOS-18 software, Pearson Correlation, and Structural Equation Modeling methods. Results: Results indicated that the structural model fit clinical sample extremely well (chi2= 3.04; p= 0.218). Alexithymia، depression and anxiety were correlated with pain severity. In this model a latency variable (emotional deficit) was explored that predicted painseverity sowell(CFI, T,I، AGFI and GFI > 0.9). Conclusion: The study findings revealed thatemotional deficit hasan important role in the rheumatoid arthritis and the pain severity. The model can confirm those pieces of evidence indicating the psychological treatments included in multidisciplinary programs for this disorder

Mom—It Helps When You're Right Here! Attenuation of Neural Stress Markers in Anxious Youths Whose Caregivers Are Present during fMRI

Close proximity to an attachment figure, such as a caregiver, has been shown to attenuate threat-related activity in limbic regions such as the hypothalamus in healthy individuals. We hypothesized that such features might be similarly attenuated by proximity during a potentially stressful situation in a clinically anxious population of youths. Confirmation of this hypothesis could support the role of attachment figures in the management of anxiety among children and adolescents. Three groups were analyzed: anxious children and adolescents who requested that their caregiver accompany them in the scanner room, anxious children and adolescents without their caregiver in the scanner room and healthy controls (each of N = 10). The groups were matched for age and, among the two anxious groups, for diagnosis (mean age 9.5). The children and adolescents were exposed to physical threat words during an fMRI assessment. Results indicate that activity in the hypothalamus, ventromedial, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex were significantly reduced in anxious children and adolescents who requested that their caregiver accompany them in the scanner room compared to those without their caregiver in the scanner room. Mean activity in these regions in anxious children and adolescents with their caregiver in the scanner room was comparable to that of healthy controls. These data suggest links between social contact and neural mechanisms of emotional reactivity; specifically, presence of caregivers moderates the increase in anxiety seen with stressful stimuli. Capitalizing on the ability of anxious youths to manifest low levels of anxiety-like information processing in the presence of a caregiver could help in modeling adaptive function in behavioral treatments