Working memory updating training reduces state repetitive negative thinking: proof-of-concept for a novel cognitive control training (article)

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.The research data supporting this publication are openly available from the University of Exeter's institutional repository at https://doi.org/10.24378/exe.3283Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a proximal risk factor implicated in the onset and maintenance of common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Adolescence may be a key developmental window in which to target RNT and prevent the emergence of such disorders. Impairments in updating the contents of working memory are hypothesised to causally contribute to RNT, and some theorists have suggested these difficulties may be specific to the manipulation of negative information. The present study compared the effects of computerised adaptive working memory updating training (in which the task becomes more difficult as performance improves) to a non-adaptive control task in reducing levels of RNT. 124 healthy young people were randomised to 20 sessions of (i) working memory updating training using neutral stimuli, (ii) working memory updating training using negative stimuli, or (iii) non-adaptive working memory updating training. Adaptive working memory updating training using neutral, but not negative, stimuli resulted in significant improvements to working memory updating for negative material, as assessed using an unpractised task, and significant reductions in susceptibility to state RNT. These findings demonstrate proof-of-concept that working memory updating training has the potential to reduce susceptibility to episodes of state RNT.Wellcome Trus

Christian Counsellors' Views on Working with Gay and Lesbian Clients:Integrating Religious Beliefs with Counselling Ethics

Thirty-one counsellors who identified themselves as practising, committed Christians, returned completed questionnaires that investigated how they integrate their Christian beliefs with their professional ethical code when counselling gay and lesbian clients. It was found that although most respondents believed that they were able to accept gay and lesbian clients, a minority demonstrated incongruence in relation to members of this client group, and were judgmental about perceived gay/lesbian behavious. Counsellors who took a rational stance in their understanding of the Bible and Christianity expressed more open and accepting views. Counsellors with a literalist approach to the Bible appeared to be lacking in acceptance and were unaware that they may not be offering the core condition of respect to their gay or lesbian clients. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for supervision, research and practice

Emerging ecophenotype: reward anticipation is linked to high-risk behaviours after sexual abuse.

This is the final version. Available from Oxford University Press via the DOI in this record. Adolescents frequently engage in high-risk behaviours (HRB) following childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Aberrant reward processes are implicated in HRB, and their underlying fronto-striatal networks are vulnerable to neurodevelopmental changes during adversity representing a promising candidate for understanding links between CSA and HRB. We examined whether fronto-striatal responses during reward anticipation and feedback (i) are altered in depressed adolescents with CSA compared to depressed, non-abused peers and (ii) moderate the relationship between CSA and HRB irrespective of depression. Forty-eight female adolescents {14 with CSA and depression [CSA +  major depressive disorder (MDD)]; 17 with MDD but no CSA (MDD); 17 healthy, non-abused controls} completed a monetary reward task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. No differences in fronto-striatal response to reward emerged between CSA + MDD and MDD. Critically, high left nucleus accumbens activation during reward anticipation was associated with greater HRB in CSA + MDD compared to MDD and controls. Low left putamen activation during reward feedback was associated with the absence of HRB in CSA + MDD compared to MDD. Striatal reward responses appear to play a key role in HRB for adolescents with CSA irrespective of depression, providing initial support for a CSA ecophenotype. Such information is pivotal to identify at-risk youth and prevent HRB in adolescents after CSA.Brain and Behaviour Research FoundationWellcome TrustNational Institute of Mental HealthNational Institute of Mental Healt

Working memory updating training reduces state repetitive negative thinking: proof-of-concept for a novel cognitive control training (dataset)

Baseline and outcome data evaluating whether working memory training using neutral or negative stimuli reduce state RNT. IBM SPSS statistics is required to access the dataset.The article associated with this dataset is available in ORE at: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/125834This is the dataset used for the Roberts et al. (2021) article "Working memory updating training reduces state repetitive negative thinking: proof-of-concept for a novel cognitive control training" published in Behaviour Research and Therapy.Wellcome Trus

Why are Depressive Individuals Indecisive? Different Modes of Rumination Account for Indecision in Non-clinical Depression

Individuals with depressive symptoms tend to adopt an abstract-analytical (A-A) rather than a concrete-experiential (C-E) mode of rumination. A large body of evidence shows that this leads to many deficits that are associated with depression (Watkins in Psychol Bull 134:163–206, 2008). In two studies, the present research examined whether indecision in a non-clinical population could also result from the mode of rumination adopted. In the first study, 174 participants completed measures of depressive symptoms, rumination, decision-making styles and indecision. The results of this study showed that indecision and one dysfunctional decision-making style (hyper-vigilance) significantly correlated with A-A rumination, even when controlling for depression. In a second study, 71 participants with mild to severe depressive symptoms (MSDs) and 49 participants with no to minimal depressive symptoms were trained to adopt either an A-A or a C-E rumination mode, and subsequently requested to make 10 choices. Consistent with the results of the first study, the results of the second study showed that participants in the A-A condition took longer to make their choice compared to participants in the C-E condition, irrespective of their level of depression. Moreover, the group of participants with MSDs experienced slightly more difficulty in decision making when they were in the A-A mode than in the C-E mode. This suggests that the A-A rumination mode could be an antecedent of indecision, whereas the C-E mode predicts its reduction. These interpretations are in line with the idea that A-A rumination is maladaptive and C-E rumination is adaptive