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Biomedical subjects

A T Beck

Publications and source records attributed to A T Beck.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Hopelessness, depression, suicidal ideation, and clinical diagnosis of depression.

The relevance of a clinical diagnosis of depression for explaining the discrepant relationships of hopelessness and depression with suicidal ideation was studied. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) were administered to 1,306 (72.8%) patients with at least one DSM-III-R mood disorder and 488 (27.3%) patients without any mood disorders. A multiple regression analysis was conducted, and hopelessness was 1.3 times more important than depression was for explaining suicidal ideation. The interactions of the BDI and BHS with diagnostic group were not significant.

Adult↗

Dysfunctional attitudes and suicidal ideation in psychiatric outpatients.

To determine if specific sets of dysfunctional attitudes were related to suicidal ideation, the 100-item Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) was administered to 908 psychiatric outpatients along with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Self-Concept Test (BST), and Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI). The SSI was used to classify the outpatients into 97 (10.7%) suicide ideators and 811 (89.3%) nonideators, and the DAS was scored for nine subscales described by Beck, Brown, Steer, and Weissman (1991). None of the DAS subscales discriminated the ideators and nonideators or was significantly related to SSI total scores of the suicide ideators after controlling for sex, age, diagnosis of a mood or panic disorder, comorbidity, presence of a personality disorder, a history of a past suicide attempt, the BDI, the BHS, and the BST. The contributions of sets of dysfunctional attitudes for identifying and explaining suicidal ideation were overshadowed by a history of a past suicide attempt and hopelessness.

Adult↗

Self-concept dimensions of clinically depressed and anxious outpatients.

Principal components analyses of the Beck Self-Concept Test (BST) were conducted independently for 288 women with primary mood disorders, 230 women with anxiety disorders, 236 men with mood disorders, and 161 men with anxiety disorders. Four self-concept dimensions that reflected (1) Intellectual Ability; (2) Work Efficacy; (3) Physical Attractiveness; and (4) Virtues/Vices occurred within the four samples. For 5-item subscales that represent these four dimensions, a two-way MANOVA found significant effects for sex and type of disorder. Women described themselves as having less intellectual ability than men did. Outpatients with mood disorders considered their physical appearance, work efficacy, and virtues/vices to be less acceptable than did those with anxiety disorders. Findings were discussed with respect to the cognitive content-specificity theory of psychopathology.

Adult↗

Prevalence of personality disorders in patients with major depression and dysthymia.

The authors administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Axis I (SCID-P) and Axis II (SCID-II) Disorders to 197 patients with major depression, 63 patients with dysthymia, and 32 patients with both major depression and dysthymia ("double depression"). Fifty percent of major depressive patients, 52% of dysthymic patients, and 69% of patients with double depression were diagnosed as having at least one personality disorder. Patients with a personality disorder had higher scores on the Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories. The most commonly diagnosed personality disorders were from the anxious/fearful cluster, most notably avoidant and dependent personality disorders.

Adult↗

A crossover study of focused cognitive therapy for panic disorder.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine the short- and long-term effects of focused cognitive therapy for panic disorder. METHOD: Thirty-three psychiatric outpatients with the DSM-III diagnosis of panic disorder were randomly assigned to either 12 weeks of individual, focused cognitive therapy or 8 weeks of brief supportive psychotherapy based on principles of client-centered therapy. The patients who received supportive psychotherapy were subsequently given the opportunity to cross over to cognitive therapy for 12 weeks. Patients were rated for panic and depression before therapy, after 4 and 8 weeks of therapy, and at 6-month and 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: Clinician ratings and self-ratings of panic frequency and intensity indicated that the focused cognitive therapy group achieved significantly greater reductions in panic symptoms and general anxiety after 8 weeks of treatment than did the group that received brief supportive psychotherapy. At 8 weeks, 71% of the cognitive therapy group were panic free, compared to 25% of the psychotherapy group. Moreover, 94% of the psychotherapy patients elected to cross over to 12 weeks of cognitive therapy. At 1-year follow-up, 87% of the group that received cognitive therapy only and 79% of the group that crossed over into cognitive therapy remained free of panic attacks. CONCLUSIONS: Focused cognitive therapy offers a promising nonpharmacological alternative for the treatment of panic disorder.

Adolescent↗

Relationship of intelligence with cognitive therapy outcome.

Theorists have speculated that intelligence is positively associated with the capacity to benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapies. We evaluated this notion by relating pre-treatment measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence to self-reported symptom reduction in a naturalistic study (n = 106) of cognitive therapy for outpatients with principal diagnoses of major depression, dysthymia, or generalized anxiety disorder. Intelligence measures did not significantly predict outcome, and nonsignificant relationships were in the opposite direction from the theoretical prediction. Discussion centered on possible limitations to the generalizability of these results and on the logical interpretation of prediction studies in psychotherapy research.

Anxiety Disorders↗

Cognitive therapy. A 30-year retrospective.

Several lines of investigation have evolved from the initial cognitive model of depression and other disorders. A large number of studies have tested the cognitive model using both clinical and laboratory-based strategies. In general, studies that most closely approximate the clinical conditions from which the theory was derived are supportive of the cognitive model of depression. Studies of anxiety and panic, although fewer, generally support the cognitive model of anxiety and panic. The application to the treatment of clinical problems has been promising and supports the concept of cognitive specificity. The cognitive therapy of depression has led to the utilization of specific cognitive strategies based on the specific conceptualizations of a given disorder to a wide variety of disorders. Study of abnormal reactions has also provided clues to the cognitive structure of normal reactions.

Anxiety Disorders↗

Self-reported depression in younger and older pregnant inner-city adolescents.

Younger (14- to 17-year-old) inner-city adolescent mothers have been reported by Colletta (1983) as being more depressed than older (18- to 19-year-old) inner-city adolescent mothers. To determine whether this finding applies to pregnant adolescents, the revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979; Beck & Steer, 1987) was administered to 175 (65.1%) Black, 64 (23.8%) Hispanic, and 30 (11.1%) White inner-city adolescents during their 28th week of pregnancy. The sample was divided into 129 (48.0%) younger (13- to 15-year-old) adolescents and 140 (52.0%) older (16- to 18-year-old) adolescents. The mean profiles of the 21 BDI symptoms were comparable for both age groups, and it was concluded that younger and older pregnant inner-city adolescents describe similar levels of self-reported depression.

Adolescent↗

Panic disorder and suicidal ideation and behavior: discrepant findings in psychiatric outpatients.

OBJECTIVE: Previous investigators found that persons who had ever met criteria for panic disorder or panic attacks reported more lifetime suicide attempts and ideation than persons who had ever met criteria for other psychiatric disorders. To determine whether outpatients with current panic disorders also report such differences, this study examined the suicide attempt rates, levels of suicidal ideation, and levels of hopelessness among four groups of psychiatric outpatients. METHOD: Structured clinical interviews were used to assign diagnoses to 900 consecutive psychiatric outpatients. These patients were administered the Scale for Suicide Ideation and the Beck Hopelessness Scale and were also questioned in detail about previous suicide attempts and past and present suicidal ideation. RESULTS: None (0.0%) of the 73 patients with primary panic disorder without agoraphobia reported having made suicide attempts during their lifetimes. One (1.3%) of the 78 patients who had panic disorder with agoraphobia, 34 (7.0%) of the 485 patients who had mood disorders, and four (1.5%) of the 264 patients who had other psychiatric disorders reported suicide attempts. The mean scores on the Scale for Suicide Ideation and the Beck Hopelessness Scale of the patients with panic disorders and other disorders were significantly lower than the mean scores of the patients with mood disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The rates of suicidal ideation and behavior for psychiatric outpatients who had panic disorders were discrepant with those reported by the earlier group of investigators for a random community sample of persons who reported ever having had panic attacks or met criteria for panic disorders.

Adult↗

Changes in nonverbal behavior of therapists and depressed patients during cognitive therapy.

Nonverbal behavior of 8 patients and 7 therapists during the first few minutes of 20 therapeutic sessions (either 2 or 3 per therapist-patient pair) was used as a baseline measure to assess whether there were systematic changes by the end of a single therapeutic session. The nonverbal behavior of both patients and therapists showed increases in prosocial behavior. Also, increases in signs of anxiety were noted in the nonverbal behavior of therapists. Significant correlations between nonverbal behavior of patients and therapists occurred for certain classes of behavior. It appears worthwhile to assess changes in nonverbal behavior during therapeutic sessions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy↗

Cognitive specificity and positive-negative affectivity: complementary or contradictory views on anxiety and depression?

A principal factor analysis, conducted on a mixed psychiatric outpatient sample (N = 470), identified both common and specific dimensions underlying anxiety and depression. Although an initial single-factor extraction accounted for a significant proportion of variance in cognitive and symptom measures of anxiety and depression, a two-factor solution, in which anxiety and depression formed separate dimensions, proved to be the better solution. MANOVAS performed on pure depressed, pure anxious, and mixed anxious/depressed subgroups provided evidence of a specific cognitive profile for anxiety and depression. The mixed subsample evidenced greater severity, a mixed cognitive and symptom profile, and character traits that may indicate increased vulnerability to psychological disturbance. Results are discussed in terms of Beck's (1976) cognitive content-specificity hypothesis and the positive-negative affect model (Watson & Tellegen, 1985).

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Relationship between hopelessness and ultimate suicide: a replication with psychiatric outpatients.

A prospective study of 1,958 outpatients found that hopelessness, as measured by the Beck Hopelessness Scale, was significantly related to eventual suicide. A scale cutoff score of 9 or above identified 16 (94.2%) of the 17 patients who eventually committed suicide, thus replicating a previous study with hospitalized patients. The high-risk group identified by this cutoff score was 11 times more likely to commit suicide than the rest of the outpatients. The Beck Hopelessness Scale thus may be used as a sensitive indicator of suicide potential.

Adolescent↗

Syndrome comorbidity in patients with major depression or dysthymia: prevalence and temporal relationships.

The authors administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R to 260 patients with principal diagnoses of depressive disorders. Approximately two-thirds of these patients were given at least one additional concurrent axis I disorder. The most common comorbid diagnoses were anxiety disorders. The depressive disorders preceded the anxiety disorders in most patients. The authors not only point out the scientific and clinical implications of psychiatric comorbidity in view of the patterns of comorbidity found in this and previous studies but also discuss issues in comorbidity research.

Adult↗

Revised Beck Depression Inventory scores of inner-city adolescents: pre- and postpartum.

The revised Beck Depression Inventory was administered to 109 (69.0%) black, 33 (20.9%) Hispanic, and 16 (10.1%) white adolescents who were attending prenatal and postpartum clinics offered by two inner-city hospitals at 28 wk. of pregnancy, 5 wk. postpartum, and 6 mo. postpartum. The mean Beck scores significantly decreased between 28 wk. of pregnancy and 5 wk. postpartum but did not change between 5 wk. and 6 mo. postpartum. The levels of depression were comparable to those previously reported for nonpregnant adolescent females. Using a Beck cut-off score greater than 20 as indicative of depression, 134 (84.8%) were never depressed; 11 (7.0%) became depressed after delivery; 8 (5.1%) ceased being depressed after delivery; and 5 (3.1%) were depressed throughout.

Adolescent↗

Suicide risk assessment and prediction.

Cognitive therapy research has yielded (1) a taxonomy of suicidal behaviors, (2) scales for assessing suicidal ideation and intent, and (3) a model of suicidal wishes and behavior that identifies hopelessness as a key psychological variable in suicide prediction. The establishment of hopelessness as a suicide risk factor has been supported most strongly by prospective studies of inpatients and outpatients. A cutoff score of nine on the Beck Hopelessness Scale appears to be predictive of eventual suicide. Other cognitive factors associated with suicidal wishes and behaviors are discussed.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy↗

Attempted suicide in those with personality disorders. A comparison of depressed and unsocialized suicide attempters.

From a sample of 499 patients admitted to hospitals for suicide attempts, a subsample of 182 suicide attempters who described histories of illicit activities or who were diagnosed with DSM-II anti-social, drug or alcohol personality disorders were compared with another sample of 109 suicide attempters diagnosed as having depressive disorders. The former group of unsocialized attempters obtained similar depression inventory scores as the diagnosed depressive attempters. However, the index attempts of the unsocialized group were made with less suicidal intent than those of the diagnosed depressive patients, and they made more prior suicide attempts than the diagnosed depressive patients.

Adult↗

Classical conditioning model of panic disorder: response to Wolpe and Rowan.

We refute Wolpe and Rowan's (1989) classical conditioning theory of panic disorder based upon several lines of evidence presented above. While there is no doubt that hyperventilation and conditioning are important factors in the production of panic attacks, Wolpe and Rowan's (1989) hypothesis is inconsistent with recent data concerning the limited role of hyperventilation and the importance of cognitive mediation in the production of panic attacks.

Arousal↗