Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the brief cognitive-support treatment in reducing depressive symptoms among Thai adolescent students. Method: Thai secondary school studentr (N=70) with mild to moderate depression received brief cognitive-support treatment (n=35) or usual care (n=35). Beck Depression Inventory-I (BDI-1) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS) were obtained at pre- and post-treatment and at 6- and 12-weeks follow-up. Treatment effectiveness was evaluated using a repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Additional item analysis of BDI-1 and HRS scores in the treatment group only were used to test for specific symptom sensitivity to the effects of brief cognitive-support treatment. Results: BDI-1 and HRS scores showed decline following brief cognitive-support treatment but no decline was observed for usual care. Brief cognitive-support treatment effectively reduced BDI-I symptoms of punishment feelings, crying, and agitation and HRS symptoms of sexual/menstrual dysfunction, gastrointestinal symptoms, and psychological anxiety. Conclusion: Brief cognitive-support treatment was more effective than usual care in reducing mild to moderate symptoms of depression. Suggestion: Longitudinal data produced under experimental conditions are needed to determine whether the timely reduction of mild/ moderate depression might also reduce the risk of severe depression.
The
influence of approach and avoidance tendencies on affect, reasoning, and behavior
has attracted
substantial interest from researchers across various areas of psychology. Currently,
frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry in favor of left prefrontal
regions is assumed to reflect the propensity to respond with approach-related
tendencies. To test this hypothesis, we recorded resting EEG in 18 subjects,
who separately performed a verbal memory task under three incentive conditions
(neutral, reward, and punishment). Using a source-localization technique, we
found that higher taskindependent
alpha2 (10.5–12 Hz) activity within left dorsolateral prefrontal and medial
orbitofrontal regions was associated with stronger bias to respond to rewardrelated
cues. Left prefrontal resting activity accounted for
54.8% of the variance in reward bias. These findings not only confirm that frontal
EEG asymmetry modulates the propensity to engage in appetitively motivated behavior,
but also provide anatomical details about the underlying brain systems.
The
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 had as its goal the equity of coverage of mental
health care and physical health care. The purpose of this study was to
examine the outcomes of hospital concurrent utilization review as a measure
of the progress toward the equity goal. The study examined 4 years of
denials of certification for reimbursement by payers of inpatient care (1998-2001).
Psychiatry was first compared to clinical services with a like number of annual
admissions and then compared to clinical services with a like number of concurrent
reviews. For each year, psychiatry had the highest number of cases denied
and patient days denied. The most frequent reason for a psychiatric denial
was that the inpatient benefit level had been exceeded. There was only
one instance, in 4 years, when this reason (benefit limit exceeded) was given
for a patient with a physical illness. This study provides evidence of
the current inequity of reimbursement for treatment of mental illness.
We have interpreted the literature showing left anterior hypoactivation in depression as reflecting a decrease in approach-related motivation and behavior among depressed subjects. In support of this model, we have previously demonstrated a decreased responsiveness to reward in subclinically depressed dysphoric subjects. The current study was designed to replicate and extend those findings. Clinically depressed subjects who met DSM-IV criteria for major depression were compared to a group of nondepressed control subjects on a verbal memory task under three monetary payoff conditions: neutral, reward, and punishment. While control subjects changed their pattern of responding in both the reward and punishment conditions, relative to the neutral condition, so as to maximize their earnings, depressed subjects did not do so during reward. The two groups did not differ during the punishment condition. These findings provide additional evidence of a decreased responsiveness to reward in depressed individuals, and are consistent with the hypothesis that the left prefrontal hypoactivation observed in depression reflects a deficit in approach-related behavior.
Background: Recent PET and EEG studies have highlighted the role of anterior temporal and prefrontal activation, particularly on the right side, during anxiety, yet no study has yet been performed with social phobics that assesses patterns of regional brain function. Autonomic changes have been described in social phobics, though the extent to which these are correlated with the cortical changes observed with PET and EEG remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare regional EEG and autonomic activity in social phobics and controls while they anticipated making a public speech. Methods: EEG from 14 scalp locations, heart rate, and blood pressure were recorded while 18 DSM-IV social phobics and 10 controls anticipated making a public speech, as well as immediately after the speech was made. Self-reports of anxiety and positive and negative affect were also obtained. Results: Phobics showed a significantly greater increase in anxiety and negative affect during the anticipation condition compared with controls. Heart rate was elevated in the phobics relative to the controls in most conditions. Phobics showed a marked increase in right-sided activation in the anterior temporal and lateral prefrontal scalp regions. These heart rate and EEG changes together accounted for >48% of the variance in the increase in negative affect during the anticipation phase. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis of right-sided anterior cortical activation during anxiety and indicate the combination of EEG and heart rate changes during anticipation account for a substantial amount of variance in reported negative affect.
Presented
at the May, 2005 annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Los Angeles,
CA
Audience
response systems allow students to respond to questions in class and see their
responses graphically displayed immediately afterwards. The introduction of
a personal response system resulted in a significant increase in students’
reported understanding of the material, suggesting that this technology may
be a useful addition to the classroom.
Instructors in large lectures are always looking for ways to keep their students
engaged in the material. One of the more recent technological advances is the
personal response system. These small hand held remotes or clickers allow students
to respond to questions that have been posed by the instructor and then see
their responses graphically displayed immediately afterwards. Instructors can
use these devices to assess comprehension of material that has just been presented,
to demonstrate psychological phenomena, to have students try and predict the
outcomes of psychological manipulations, or simply to expose students to practice
exam questions. Students report that these devices are fun to use, that the
devices foster critical thinking and keep them involved in the lecture material.
However, it is reasonable to ask whether, in fact, these remotes actually produce
any changes in learning or whether they are just the latest in a series of technological
learning gimmicks. This study examined students’ self-reported comprehension
of different psychological topics across four different semesters of Introductory
Psychology, as reported on an end of semester course evaluation. Each section
was taught by the first author, an instructor with more than five years experience
teaching this course. The second semester differed from the first in that the
instructor changed textbooks and began offering a review session before each
exam. The third and fourth semesters continued with the new textbook and the
exam review sessions, but incorporated the audience response system as a regular
part of class lectures.
Presented
at the January, 2005 annual meeting of the National Institute on the Teaching
of Psychology, St. Petersburg Beach, FL
Presented at the May, 2004 annual
meeting of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL
Instructors typically assign out of class exercises in order to reinforce concepts discussed in class. While students report that these assignments aid their learning of the material, it can be difficult to assess whether the assignments actually produce a change in understanding as the majority of students will do their assignments. Furthermore, it tends to be the poorer students who fail to complete their out of class work. This study was designed to test whether a small conditioning exercise would result in increased comprehension as assessed via classroom exams. Sixteen hundred students from five sections of Introductory Psychology had the opportunity to complete either a hands-on exercise in classical conditioning or an exercise on operant conditioning. Both exercises involved collecting data from a friend or roommate on a conditioning task. Because the classical conditioning assignment covered a greater number of conditioning related topics than the operant conditioning exercise, it was expected that there would be a difference in the performance of students who did versus did not complete the classical conditioning assignment on test questions related to classical conditioning. At the same time, it was expected there would be no differences observed between the two groups of students on the questions related to operant conditioning. Performance on questions related to classical and operant conditioning were the dependent variables in a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance that examined differences among the two groups of students who did and did not complete the classical conditioning exercise across the five class sections. Prior exam performance was used as a covariate in this analysis. Contrary to expectations there were no significant differences between the two groups of students in overall performance on the conditioning questions and there was no interaction between group and type of conditioning question. These results suggest that while out of class assignments may increase students’ enjoyment of the course, they do not necessarily add to the students’ comprehension of the material as assessed by classroom exams.
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Last modified 22 April 2007