scholarly journals Neurocognitive mechanisms of d-cycloserine augmented single-session exposure therapy for anxiety

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Reinecke ◽  
Alecia Nickless ◽  
Michael Browning ◽  
Catherine J. Harmer
Keyword(s):  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Clinical Effects ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Threat Bias ◽  
Fearful Faces

AbstractObjectiveDrugs targeting the N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) system and the ability to learn new associations have been proposed as potential adjunct treatments to boost the success of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. However, the effects of the NMDA partial agonist d-cycloserine on psychological treatment have been mixed. We investigated potential neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the clinical effects of d-cycloserine-augmented exposure, to inform the optimal combination of this and similar agents with psychological treatment.MethodsUnmedicated patients with panic disorder were randomised to single-dose d-cycloserine (250mg; N=17) or matching placebo (N=16) 2hrs before one session of exposure therapy. Neurocognitive markers were assessed one day after treatment, including reaction-time based threat bias for fearful faces and amygdala response to threat. Clinical symptom severity was measured using self-report and clinician-rated scales the day before and after treatment, and at 1- and 6-months follow-up. Analysis was by intention-to-treat.ResultsOne day after treatment, threat bias for fearful faces and amygdala threat response were attenuated in the drug compared to the placebo group. Lower amygdala magnitude predicted greater clinical improvement during follow-up across groups. D-cycloserine led to greater clinical recovery at 1-month follow-up (d-cycloserine 71% versus placebo 25%).DiscussionD-cycloserine-augmented single-session exposure therapy reduces amygdala threat response, and this effect predicts later clinical response. These findings highlight a neurocognitive mechanism by which d-cycloserine may exert its augmentative effects on psychological treatment and bring forward a marker that may help understand and facilitate future development of adjunct treatments with CBT for anxiety disorders. (D-cycloserine Augmented CBT for Panic Disorder; clinicaltrials.gov;NCT01680107)

Alprazolam and Exposure for Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia

1994 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 652-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Metin Başoglu ◽  
Isaac M. Marks ◽  
Cengiz Kiliç ◽  
Richard P. Swinson ◽  
Homa Noshirvani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Drug Treatment ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Illness Severity ◽  
Withdrawal Symptoms ◽  
Severe Withdrawal ◽  
End Of Treatment

Patients with panic disorder plus agoraphobia had 8 weeks of drug treatment (alprazolam or placebo) plus psychological treatment (exposure or relaxation). At the end of treatment at week 8, 40 patients who had become much/very much improved rated how much their gains were attributable to medication or to their own efforts. During the tapering-off to week 16, and treatment-free follow-up to week 43, patients who at week 8 had attributed their gains to medication and felt less confident in coping without tablets had more severe withdrawal symptoms and greater loss of gains than did patients who at week 8 had attributed their gains to their own efforts during treatment. Baseline illness severity, greater age, higher expectations from drug treatment, and more side-effects of drugs during treatment all predicted more external attributions (i.e. to the effect of drugs) but did not independently predict relapse. Patients on alprazolam compared with placebo had more drug attributions. Though drug attributions predicted relapse in both alprazolam and placebo groups, predictions were stronger in the alprazolam group.

COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING AND INTEROCEPTIVE EXPOSURE IN THE TREATMENT OF PANIC DISORDER: A CROSSOVER STUDY

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Hecker ◽  
Christine M. Fink ◽  
Nancy D. Vogeltanz ◽  
Geoffrey L. Thorpe ◽  
Sandra T. Sigmon
Keyword(s):  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Therapy ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Crossover Design ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
Relative Efficacy ◽  
Interoceptive Exposure ◽  
Subsequent Intervention

The relative efficacy of cognitive restructuring and interoceptive exposure procedures for the treatment of panic disorder, as well as the differential effects of the order of these interventions, was studied. Eighteen clients with panic disorder were seen for four sessions of exposure therapy and four sessions of cognitive therapy in a crossover design study. Half of the participants received exposure therapy followed by cognitive therapy and for half the order was reversed. There was a 1-month follow-up period between the two interventions and after the second intervention. Questionnaire measures and independent clinician ratings were used to assess outcome. Participants expected greater benefit from cognitive therapy, but tended to improve to a similar degree with either intervention. The order in which treatments were presented did not influence outcome. Participants tended to improve with the first intervention and maintain improvement across the follow-up periods and subsequent intervention. Several methodological limitations qualify the conclusions that can be drawn from this study. These limitations, as well as some conceptual and methodological challenges of conducting this type of research, are discussed.

scholarly journals An Enhanced Social Networking Intervention for Young People with Active Suicidal Ideation: Safety, Feasibility and Acceptability Outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor Bailey ◽  
Mario Alvarez-Jimenez ◽  
Jo Robinson ◽  
Simon D’Alfonso ◽  
Maja Nedeljkovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Online Social Networking ◽  
Clinical Effects ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Online social networking interventions have potential to support young people who experience suicidal thoughts by specifically addressing interpersonal risk factors for suicide, but may also pose a risk of harm. This uncontrolled, single-group pilot study aimed to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and acceptability of an enhanced online social networking intervention (“Affinity”) among a sample of young people who experienced active suicidal ideation, and to explore potential changes in clinical outcomes and the therapeutic targets of the intervention. Twenty young people with current or recent suicidal ideation who were receiving treatment for depression at a tertiary-level mental health service were given access to Affinity for two months. Participants were assessed at baseline and 8-week follow-up; 90 percent reported clinical suicidal ideation at baseline. A priori criteria related to feasibility, safety and acceptability were satisfied. In terms of potential clinical effects, significant and reliable pre-post improvements were found on self-report outcomes including suicidal ideation. This study provides initial world-first evidence to support the use of an online intervention incorporating social networking as an adjunct to treatment for young people who experience suicidal ideation. The effectiveness of Affinity needs to be evaluated in a randomised controlled trial.

scholarly journals The association of personality disorders with the prospective 7-year course of anxiety disorders

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 1019-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. B. Ansell ◽  
A. Pinto ◽  
M. O. Edelen ◽  
J. C. Markowitz ◽  
C. A. Sanislow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Prognostic Significance ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder

BackgroundThis study prospectively examined the natural clinical course of six anxiety disorders over 7 years of follow-up in individuals with personality disorders (PDs) and/or major depressive disorder. Rates of remission, relapse, new episode onset and chronicity of anxiety disorders were examined for specific associations with PDs.MethodParticipants were 499 patients with anxiety disorders in the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study, who were assessed with structured interviews for psychiatric disorders at yearly intervals throughout 7 years of follow-up. These data were used to determine probabilities of changes in disorder status for social phobia (SP), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia.ResultsEstimated remission rates for anxiety disorders in this study group ranged from 73% to 94%. For those patients who remitted from an anxiety disorder, relapse rates ranged from 34% to 67%. Rates for new episode onsets of anxiety disorders ranged from 3% to 17%. Specific PDs demonstrated associations with remission, relapse, new episode onsets and chronicity of anxiety disorders. Associations were identified between schizotypal PD with course of SP, PTSD and GAD; avoidant PD with course of SP and OCD; obsessive-compulsive PD with course of GAD, OCD, and agoraphobia; and borderline PD with course of OCD, GAD and panic with agoraphobia.ConclusionsFindings suggest that specific PD diagnoses have negative prognostic significance for the course of anxiety disorders underscoring the importance of assessing and considering PD diagnoses in patients with anxiety disorders.

Patterns of Reassurance Seeking and Reassurance-Related Behaviours in OCD and Anxiety Disorders

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osamu Kobori ◽  
Paul M. Salkovskis
Keyword(s):  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Reassurance Seeking ◽  
Compulsive Disorder

Background: Reassurance seeking is particularly prominent in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and may be important in OCD maintenance. Aims: This study used a new self-report questionnaire to measure the range of manifestations of reassurance-seeking behaviours, describing their sources from which they seek, frequency, process (how they seek), and consequences (as opposed to triggers and motivations). This study also attempts to identify the degree to which reassurance is specific to OCD as opposed to panic disorder. Method: Reassurance Seeking Questionnaire (ReSQ) was administered to 153 individuals with OCD, 50 individuals with panic disorder with/without agoraphobia, and 52 healthy controls. The reliability and validity of the measure was evaluated and found to be satisfactory. Results: Reassurance seeking was found to be more frequent in both anxiety disorders relative to healthy controls. Individuals diagnosed with OCD were found to seek reassurance more intensely and carefully, and were more likely to employ “self-reassurance” than the other two groups. Conclusions: Further investigation of reassurance will enable better understanding of its role in the maintenance of anxiety disorders in general and OCD in particular.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Two Brief Interventions for Obsessional Thoughts: Exposure and Acceptance

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E. Fabricant ◽  
Jonathan S. Abramowitz ◽  
John P. Dehlin ◽  
Michael P. Twohig
Keyword(s):  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Intrusive Thoughts ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment ◽  
Core Components ◽  
To Receive

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is the most effective psychological treatment for unwanted, intrusive thoughts associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, the procedures involved in ERP (i.e., exposure) are challenging, provoke high levels of anxiety, and may contribute to treatment refusal and dropout (Franklin & Foa, 1998). To address this problem, researchers have begun to evaluate alternative treatments for OCD, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Despite the value of both techniques, little is known about the differential impact of these strategies. This study examined the relative effects of a single session of ACT or exposure for obsessional thoughts. There were 56 undergraduate participants with obsessional thoughts randomly assigned to receive a brief intervention with the core components of exposure, ACT, or an expressive writing control condition. Obsessional symptoms and related process variables were assessed at baseline and at 1-week follow-up. There were no statistical differences in believability or acceptability of the 3 conditions. Significant reductions in obsessional severity, behavioral tests of distress and willingness to experience intrusive thoughts, and negative appraisals of intrusive thoughts occurred in all conditions, but no differences were found between these conditions. Furthermore, changes in dysfunctional beliefs, but not in willingness to experience intrusive thoughts, predicted changes in obsessional symptoms in both the ACT and exposure conditions.

BRIEF PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT FOR THE RELIEF OF PANIC DISORDER

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Elsesser ◽  
Angelika Mosch ◽  
Gudrun Sartory
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Outcome ◽  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Therapy ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Management Training ◽  
Clinical Change ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Before And After

This study compared complaints management training and cognitive therapy (reattribution) in treating panic disorder. Both treatment groups received three sessions with initial psychoeducation. Thirty patients with panic disorder took part in the study. Assessments were carried out before and after treatment and again at a 4-week follow-up. Both groups showed similarly significant improvements and maintenance of the clinical change over the follow-up period. It is concluded that the initial psychoeducation, which conveyed to patients the cognitive-behavioural model of panic disorder, contributed to the treatment outcome.

scholarly journals Enduring effects of psychological treatments for anxiety disorders: meta-analysis of follow-up studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 212 (6) ◽  
pp. 333-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Borwin Bandelow ◽  
Anne Sagebiel ◽  
Michael Belz ◽  
Yvonne Görlich ◽  
Sophie Michaelis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Behavioural Therapy ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Significant Difference

BackgroundIt is a widespread opinion that after treatment with psychotherapy, patients with anxiety disorders maintain their gains beyond the active treatment period, whereas patients treated with medication soon experience a relapse after treatment termination.AimsWe aimed to provide evidence on whether enduring effects of psychotherapy differ from control groups.MethodWe searched 93 randomised controlled studies with 152 study arms of psychological treatment (cognitive–behavioural therapy or other psychotherapies) for panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder that included follow-up assessments. In a meta-analysis, pre-post effect sizes for end-point and all follow-up periods were calculated and compared with control groups (medication: n = 16 study arms; pill and psychological placebo groups: n = 17 study arms).ResultsGains with psychotherapy were maintained for up to 24 months. For cognitive–behavioural therapy, we observed a significant improvement over time. However, patients in the medication group remained stable during the treatment-free period, with no significant difference when compared with psychotherapy. Patients in the placebo group did not deteriorate during follow-up, but showed significantly worse outcomes than patients in cognitive–behavioural therapy.ConclusionsNot only psychotherapy, but also medications and, to a lesser extent, placebo conditions have enduring effects. Long-lasting treatment effects observed in the follow-up period may be superimposed by effects of spontaneous remission or regression to the mean.Declaration of interestIn the past 12 months and in the near future, Dr Bandelow has been/will be on the speakers/advisory board for Hexal, Mundipharma, Lilly, Lundbeck, Pfizer and Servier. Dr Wedekind was on the speakers' board of AstraZeneca, Essex Pharma, Lundbeck and Servier. All other authors have nothing to declare.

scholarly journals Face processing in adolescents with positive and negative threat bias

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 800-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Sylvester ◽  
S. E. Petersen ◽  
J. L. Luby ◽  
D. M. Barch
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Lower Activity ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Threat Bias ◽  
Novel Treatments ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Threat Avoidance

BackgroundIndividuals with anxiety disorders exhibit a ‘vigilance-avoidance’ pattern of attention to threatening stimuli when threatening and neutral stimuli are presented simultaneously, a phenomenon referred to as ‘threat bias’. Modifying threat bias through cognitive retraining during adolescence reduces symptoms of anxiety, and so elucidating neural mechanisms of threat bias during adolescence is of high importance. We explored neural mechanisms by testing whether threat bias in adolescents is associated with generalized or threat-specific differences in the neural processing of faces.MethodSubjects were categorized into those with (n = 25) and without (n = 27) threat avoidance based on a dot-probe task at average age 12.9 years. Threat avoidance in this cohort has previously been shown to index threat bias. Brain response to individually presented angry and neutral faces was assessed in a separate session using functional magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsAdolescents with threat avoidance exhibited lower activity for both angry and neutral faces relative to controls in several regions in the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes involved in early visual and facial processing. Results generalized to happy, sad, and fearful faces. Adolescents with a prior history of depression and/or an anxiety disorder had lower activity for all faces in these same regions. A subset of results replicated in an independent dataset.ConclusionsThreat bias is associated with generalized, rather than threat-specific, differences in the neural processing of faces in adolescents. Findings may aid in the development of novel treatments for anxiety disorders that use attention training to modify threat bias.

Improving the Recognition of Anxiety Disorders in Depressed Patients

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (S1) ◽  
pp. 2-4
Author(s):  
Iwona Chelminski
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Panic Attacks ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
History Of ◽  
Primary Care Patients

There is considerable symptom overlap and high levels of comorbidity between anxiety disorders and depression. The recognition of this comorbidity has both academic interest and clinical significance. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that depressed individuals with a history of anxiety disorders are at increased risk for hospitalization, suicide attempt, and greater impairment from the depression. These individuals also tend to have a more chronic course of depression, as observed in psychiatric patients, primary care patients, and epidemiological samples. Van Valkenberg and colleagues reported that depressed patients with anxiety had poorer outcome and greater psychosocial impairment than those without an anxiety disorder. In the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Depression Study, the presence of panic attacks predicted a lower rate of recovery during the first 2 years of the follow-up interval. Similarly, Grunhaus found poorer outcome in depressed patients with comorbid panic disorder than in depressed patients without panic. In an 8-month follow-up study, depressed primary care patients with a history of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or panic disorder were less likely to have recovered from their depressive episode.Gaynes and colleagues prospectively followed primary care patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) every 3 months for 1 year after their initial diagnostic evaluation. At baseline, half of the original 85 patients had a coexisting anxiety disorder, the most frequent being social phobia (n=38). Twelve months after intake, 68 of the patients were available for the final interview. Those with a comorbid anxiety disorder were significantly more likely to still be in an episode of depression (82% vs 57%; risk ratio=1.44; 95% CI 1.02-2.04), and they experienced more disability days during the course of the 12 months than the depressed patients without an anxiety disorder (67.1 days vs 27.5 days).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document