scholarly journals Positive imagery cognitive bias modification for symptoms of depression among university students in Pakistan: A pilot study

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 204380872091803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhtar Bibi ◽  
Jürgen Margraf ◽  
Simon E. Blackwell
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Treatment Provision ◽  
Training Control ◽  
Bias Modification

Depression is highly prevalent among university students in Pakistan, but treatment provision is inadequate. Computerized interventions may provide one means of overcoming treatment barriers. The present study piloted a computerized cognitive training paradigm involving repeated generation of positive mental imagery, imagery cognitive bias modification (imagery CBM), as a potential brief intervention for symptoms of depression among university students in Pakistan. Fifty-five participants scoring above a questionnaire cutoff indicating at least mild levels of depression were randomly assigned to either imagery CBM or a sham training control condition (peripheral vision task [PVT]). Participants were instructed to complete one training session from home daily over the course of 1 week. Outcomes were measured at post-training and a subsequent 2-week follow-up and included measures of depression, anhedonia, and positive affect. Participants provided positive feedback about the imagery CBM intervention but encountered practical problems with the study schedule, resulting in high rates of attrition, particularly at follow-up. Further, internal consistency of outcome measures was often low, and the PVT did not appear to be an adequate control condition in this study. However, overall the results suggest that with appropriate adaptations to the study methods formal investigation of efficacy is warranted.

scholarly journals Positive Imagery Cognitive Bias Modification for Symptoms of Depression amongst University Students in Pakistan: A Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhtar Bibi ◽  
Jürgen Margraf ◽  
Simon Edward Blackwell
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Treatment Provision ◽  
Training Control ◽  
Bias Modification

Depression is highly prevalent amongst university students in Pakistan but treatment provision is inadequate. Computerized interventions may provide one means of overcoming treatment barriers. The present study piloted a computerized cognitive training paradigm involving repeated generation of positive mental imagery, imagery Cognitive Bias Modification (imagery CBM), as a potential brief intervention for symptoms of depression amongst university students in Pakistan. Fifty-five participants scoring above a questionnaire cut-off indicating at least mild levels of depression were randomly assigned to either imagery CBM or a sham training control condition (Peripheral Vision Task, PVT). Participants were instructed to complete one training session from home daily over the course of one week. Outcomes were measured at post-training and a subsequent two-week follow-up, and included measures of depression, anhedonia, and positive affect. Participants provided positive feedback about the imagery CBM intervention, but encountered practical problems with the study schedule, resulting in high rates of attrition, particularly at follow-up. Further, internal consistency of outcome measures was often low, and the PVT did not appear to be an adequate control condition in this study. However, overall the results suggest that with appropriate adaptations to the study methods formal investigation of efficacy is warranted.

scholarly journals Can Cognitive Bias Modification Simultaneously Target Two Behaviors? Approach Bias Retraining for Alcohol and Condom Use

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 1078-1093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin M. Hahn ◽  
Raluca M. Simons ◽  
Jeffrey S. Simons ◽  
Reinout W. Wiers ◽  
Logan E. Welker
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Training Condition ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Bias Modification

This study tested the effectiveness of a cognitive bias modification (CBM) intervention to simultaneously reduce approach biases toward alcohol and increase approach biases toward condoms among high-risk young adults. Participants ( N = 102) were randomly assigned to either a training condition or a sham-training condition. Participants in the training condition were trained to make avoidance movements away from alcohol stimuli and approach movements toward condom stimuli over four training sessions. Approach biases and behavior were assessed at pretest, posttest, and 3-month follow-up. Approach biases changed for both stimulus categories in accordance with training condition. Condom behavior and attitudes also changed as a function of training condition such that participants in the training condition reported fewer instances of condom nonuse and more positive attitudes toward condoms at a 3-month follow-up. Participants in both conditions had significant reductions in alcohol consumption following the intervention and did not differ by training condition.

scholarly journals Online Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretation for Children With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-334
Author(s):  
Saeed Nasiry ◽  
◽  
Zahra Ameli ◽  
Pegah Pezeshki ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Interpretation Bias ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Bias Modification

Objective: Numerous children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) either have no access to its main treatment, i.e. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), or fail to respond to it. Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretation (CBMI) is a novel and promising intervention that targets the incorrect interpretation of intrusive thoughts and impulses, i.e. the characteristics of OCD. The present study aimed to determine the effects of CBMI in children with OCD for the first time. Besides, we evaluated the possibility of online implementation of this intervention. Methods: A sample of 35 children with OCD (aged 7-12 years) were randomly assigned to two study groups. The experimental group (n=18) received CBMI and the controls (n=17) received placebo treatment. Interpretation bias and OCD severity were assessed at pre-test, post-test, and 2-month follow-up stages, using the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCICV), Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-Child Version (OBQCV), and Ambiguous Scenarios Task (AST). The present study results were analyzed using two-way repeated-measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Paired Samples t-test. Results: The collected findings demonstrated that after receiving CBMI, children’s propensity to positively interpret ambiguous situations was increased, their tendency towards negative interpretation and OCD severity was also decreased. There was no such significant change in the control group. Furthermore, the effects of CBMI was sustained at the 2-month follow-up step. Conclusion: This study provided preliminary evidence that suggests CBMI is capable of modifying interpretation bias in children with OCD, can reduce the severity of their disorder, and works as an online intervention. This brief and inexpensive intervention could be considered as an auxiliary or standalone treatment for OCD in children.

scholarly journals Shifting Episodic Prediction With Online Cognitive Bias Modification: A Randomized Controlled Trial

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy William Eberle ◽  
Mehdi Boukhechba ◽  
Jianhui Sun ◽  
Diheng Zhang ◽  
Dan Funk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Expectancy Bias ◽  
Bias Modification

Negative future thinking pervades emotional disorders. This hybrid efficacy-effectiveness trial tested a four-session, scalable online cognitive bias modification program for training more positive episodic prediction. 958 adults (73.3% female, 86.5% White, 83.4% from United States) were randomized to positive conditions with ambiguous future scenarios that ended positively, 50/50 conditions that ended positively or negatively, or a control condition with neutral scenarios. As hypothesized (preregistration: https://osf.io/jrst6), positive training participants improved in negative and positive expectancy bias, self-efficacy, and optimism more than control participants, ds and 97.5% CIs = -0.57 [-0.87, -0.27], 0.79 [0.42, 1.15], 0.28 [0.02, 0.53], 0.28 [0.04, 0.51], and, for expectancy bias, more than 50/50 participants, with gains maintained at 1-month follow-up. Unexpectedly, participants across conditions improved comparably in anxiety and depression symptoms and growth mindset. Targeting a transdiagnostic process with a scalable program may improve bias and outlook; however, further validation of outcome measures is required.

scholarly journals The association between negative attention biases and symptoms of depression in a community sample of adolescents

PeerJ ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Platt ◽  
Susannah E. Murphy ◽  
Jennifer Y.F. Lau
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Bias Modification

Adolescence is a vulnerable time for the onset of depression. Recent evidence from adult studies suggests not only that negative attention biases are correlated with symptoms of depression, but that reducing negative attention biases through training can in turn reduce symptomology. The role and plasticity of attention biases in adolescent depression, however, remains unclear. This study examines the association between symptoms of depression and attention biases, and whether such biases are modifiable, in a community sample of adolescents. We report data from 105 adolescents aged 13–17 who completed a dot-probe measure of attention bias before and after a single session of visual search-based cognitive bias modification training. This is the first study to find a significant association between negative attention biases and increased symptoms of depression in a community sample of adolescents. Contrary to expectations, we were unable to manipulate attention biases using a previously successful cognitive bias modification task. There were no significant effects of the training on positive affect and only modest effects of the training, identified in post-hoc analyses, were observed on negative affect. Our data replicate those from the adult literature, which suggest that adolescent depression is a disorder associated with negative attention biases, although we were unable to modify attention biases in our study. We identify numerous parameters of our methodology which may explain these null training effects, and which could be addressed in future cognitive bias modification studies of adolescent depression.

Reducing alcohol-related interpretation biases in young hazardous drinkers by Cognitive Bias Modification–Interpretation Training

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 366-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moniek H. M. Hutschemaekers ◽  
Marcella L. Woud ◽  
Eni S. Becker ◽  
Mike Rinck
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
No Reduction ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Interpretation Biases ◽  
Bias Modification ◽  
Moderating Role

Abstract. Aims: This study examined whether alcohol-related interpretation biases (IBs) can be reduced by means of cognitive bias modification – interpretation (CBM-I) training. Also, the training’s generalization effects and the moderating role of executive control (EC) were examined. Methods: Participants were 98 young hazardous drinkers. Half of the participants were trained to interpret ambiguous alcohol-related scenarios in an alcohol-unrelated way (neutral CBM-I), the other half completed alcohol-related ambiguous open-ended scenarios (control CBM-I). Alcohol-related IBs were assessed with open-ended ambiguous alcohol-related scenarios, completed by participants. The completions were coded by participants (self-coding) and by two independent coders (conservatively and liberally). Results: Neutral CBM-I, compared to control CBM-I, did not decrease alcohol-related IBs for the conservative and self-coding. For the liberal coding, both groups showed a decrease in alcohol-related IBs pre to post training. Moreover, there were no group differences in interpreting ambiguous, alcohol-related pictures during a signal-detection task. At the behavioral level, there was no reduction in alcohol use for either group at one week follow-up. Finally, EC did not moderate training effects. Conclusions: Although CBM-I effects were largely absent; the findings emphasize that more research into the working mechanisms of alcohol CBM-I is needed to test its potential in the context of hazardous drinking.

scholarly journals Cognitive Bias Modification Using Mental Imagery for Depression: Developing A Novel Computerized Intervention to Change Negative Thinking Styles

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara J. Lang ◽  
Simon E. Blackwell ◽  
Catherine J. Harmer ◽  
Phil Davison ◽  
Emily A. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Cognitive Bias Modification ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
Bias Modification

Why do some people see their glass as half–empty rather than half–full or even imagine that the glass will be filled in the future? Experimental methods can illuminate how individual differences in information processing style can profoundly impact mood or even result in disorders such as depression. A computerized cognitive bias modification intervention targeting interpretation bias in depression via positive mental imagery (CBM–I) was evaluated by investigating its impact on mental health and cognitive bias compared with a control condition. Twenty–six depressed individuals completed either positive imagery–focussed CBM–I or a control condition daily at home over one week. Outcome measures were collected pre–treatment and post–treatment and at two–week follow–up. Individuals in the positive condition demonstrated significant improvements from pre–treatment to post–treatment in depressive symptoms, cognitive bias and intrusive symptoms compared with the control condition. Improvements in depressive symptoms at two–week follow–up were at trend level. The results of this first controlled comparison of positive imagery–focussed CBM–I for depression further support the clinical potential of CBM–I and the development of a novel computerized treatment that could help patients imagine a more positive future. Broader implications concern the modification of individual differences in personality variables via their interaction with key information processing targets. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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