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Biomedical subjects

R Ladouceur

Publications and source records attributed to R Ladouceur.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Cognitive-behavioral treatment of obsessions.

Three patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder whose major complaints were obsessional thoughts with cognitive neutralization as opposed to overt rituals were treated with a cognitive-behavioral package. Cognitive neutralization involves both cognitive rituals and a variety of less ritualized coping strategies all designed to remove the thought and decrease discomfort. In a departure from earlier case studies, the patients were treated in a multiple baseline design across subjects. All three patients reported decreased discomfort and improved their professional and/or interpersonal functioning. Gains were maintained at follow-up (8 to 11 months).

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Treatment of pathological gamblers: an experimental study.

The efficacy of a behavioral treatment for pathological gamblers, including cognitive interventions, problem solving and relapse prevention is examined. Three pathological gamblers meeting DSM-III-R criteria were studied in an experimental multiple baseline design. By the end of treatment the subjects ceased all gambling behaviors, increased their perception of self-control of gambling, and evaluated their problems as less severe. Therapeutic gains were maintained at 6- and 9-month follow-ups. The importance of problem solving and the modification of erroneous perceptions in treatment programs for pathological gambling is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Self-report of obsessions and worry.

The relationships between self-reported worry and obsessional-compulsive symptoms were examined among 145 hospital outpatients. Subjects completed the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the Padua Inventory. Despite moderately strong correlations, the scales measured distinct constructs. Eliminating five items from the Padua Inventory may improve its discriminant validity. Correlations with the Padua Inventory subscales showed that obsessional loss of mental control was moderately correlated to both worry and checking, whereas worry and checking were only weakly correlated. The results are discussed in terms of possible relationships between worry and obsessions.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Health-related intrusive thoughts.

Two studies address the prevalence, concomitants, and appraisal of health-related intrusive thoughts. Eighty-three percent of adults (N = 658) in waiting rooms of two general hospitals reported at least one intrusive thought during the preceding month and 75.0% of patients and 55.5% of people accompanying them reported a health-related intrusive thought in the same period. The intrusions were associated with anxious and depressive symptoms. Health related intrusive thoughts were reported by 61% of a sample of university students (N = 608) and were the most frequent intrusive thought among 19.9% of the students. First, triggering stimuli reported by the subjects were significant predictors of thought frequency, worry, removal difficulty, and effort used in removing the thought. Second, appraisals of high probability were significant predictors of high frequency, worry, and especially difficulty in removing the thought. Finally, perceived responsibility and disapproval of the thought were also significant predictors of thought frequency, worry, removal difficulty, effort used in removing the thought, and guilt. These data support the position that cognitive appraisal of intrusive thoughts is closely linked to the subjective experience of the thought: more extreme appraisals were associated with more troublesome thoughts. The clinical implications of these studies are discussed in terms of current models of hypochondriasis and health anxiety.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Cognitive-behavioral treatment for adolescent pathological gamblers.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral treatment for adolescent pathological gamblers. Perception of control and severity of the problem served as dependent variables. Four adolescent pathological gamblers meeting DSM-III-R criteria were treated in a multiple baseline design across individuals. Results showed clinically significant changes for all subjects; they remained abstinent at 1-, 4-, and 6-month follow-ups. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Prevalence of pathological gambling and related problems among college students in the Quebec metropolitan area.

The prevalence of pathological gambling and problems associated with it were measured among 1,471 students of three colleges in the Quebec city metropolitan area. Almost 90% of the students had gambled and 21.7% of the students engage in this behaviour once a week or more. The prevalence of pathological gamblers was found to be 2.8% for the entire sample. The percentage of pathological gamblers was much higher among males (5.7%) than females (0.6%). The results indicate that pathological gambling is associated with economic, professional and interpersonal problems. The discussion addresses the implications of the present findings and suggests avenues for future research.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

[How effective is the teaching of critical analysis of scientific publications? Review of studies and their methodological quality].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate studies assessing the effectiveness of teaching critical appraisal of the literature to medical students. DATA SOURCES: French and English articles published between 1980 and 1990 indexed on MEDLINE or FAMLI as well as articles identified from the bibliographies. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were evaluated if the subjects were undergraduate or postgraduate medical students and if the teaching intervention was aimed at improving one or more of the following areas: knowledge in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, reading habits and ability to critically appraise a scientific article. DATA EXTRACTION: The methodologic quality of the articles was assessed by three evaluators, who used a modified version of Poynard's checklist to assign a score. Articles with a score of 60% or more were considered satisfactory. The reliability of the checklist was evaluated by means of the kappa (kappa) coefficient and a coefficient of intraclass correlation. DATA SYNTHESIS: For the three evaluators the mean kappa coefficient was 0.33 and the coefficient of intraclass correlation 0.70. Five of the 10 studies had an overall score of 60% or higher. The quality of the individual sections of the articles varied: purpose of the study 85%, description of the population 58%, methods 44%, analysis of results 50%, and conclusions 90%. CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of teaching critical appraisal of the literature remains uncertain. More rigorous methods are needed in research in this area.

Biometry↗
PubMed1993

Idiographic considerations in the behavioral treatment of obsessional thoughts.

Despite impressive improvement in the behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder over the last 15 years, progress has been slower for obsessional thoughts with few or no overt rituals. Encouraging case reports suggest that exposure to obsessional thoughts combined with covert response prevention is an effective treatment. Three cases are presented that required adaptation from the guidelines laid out by Salkovskis and Westbrook (1989). They provide clear evidence of the need to adopt a creative and flexible approach to exposure that enables access and activation of fear structures.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Appraisal of cognitive intrusions and response style: replication and extension.

In a replication and extension of an earlier study of cognitive intrusions, appraisal and response strategies (Freeston, Ladouceur, Thibodeau & Gagnon, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29, 585-597, 1991a), cognitive intrusions were studied among 534 outpatients and escorts recruited in waiting rooms of two large urban hospitals. Appraisals of high probability and low disapproval were associated with greater use of continued attention strategies whereas appraisals of low probability and high disapproval were associated with greater use of escape/avoidance strategies. These results support the distinction between the ego-dystonic nature of obsessional intrusive thoughts and ego-syntonic concerns about subjectively probable events found in worry.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Cognitive intrusions in a non-clinical population. II. Associations with depressive, anxious, and compulsive symptoms.

The relationships between experimental dimensions of cognitive intrusions and depressive, anxious, and compulsive symptoms were studied among 125 university students. The students completed a questionnaire describing and evaluating seven cognitive intrusions and inventories of depressive, anxious, and compulsive symptoms. Principal component factor analysis on the 14 cognitive intrusion questionnaire dimensions identified five factors that were interpreted as general distress, evaluation, control, diversity and attention. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that effortful strategies in response to cognitive intrusions, general distress and diversity were predictors of both Beck Depression and Beck Anxiety Inventory scores. The evaluation factor consisting of perceived responsibility, disapproval and guilt ratings was also associated with depression and was the only significant predictor of Compulsive Activity Checklist scores. The control factor, consisting of items describing successful application of response strategies, was negatively related to BAI scores. The results are discussed as providing support for Salkovskis' formulation of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Cognitive intrusions in a non-clinical population. I. Response style, subjective experience, and appraisal.

The present study identified distinctive response styles to unpleasant cognitive intrusions to further understanding of intrusive phenomena similar to those observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder and other anxiety disorders. Response styles were studied among 125 university students who completed a questionnaire describing and evaluating seven cognitive intrusions and inventories of depressive, anxious, and compulsive symptoms. Almost all subjects (99%) reported intrusions and 92% included effortful strategies in response to intrusions in their repertoire. Large differences were observed in the dominant strategy used. Three distinctive dominant response styles were identified including no effortful response (26%) and two effortful styles, attentive thinking (34%), and escape/avoidance (40%). The two groups using effortful strategies were more anxious and reported more difficulty removing intrusions. The group using escape/avoidance strategies reported more sadness, worry, guilt, and disapproval than subjects reporting no effortful response. The attentive thinking group reported more varied forms and more frequently triggered intrusions then the no effortful response group. Within subject analyses support the group comparisons and showed that intrusions eliciting escape/avoidance strategies were evaluated more disapprovingly than thoughts eliciting attentive thinking. The results are discussed in terms of Salkovskis' (Behavior Research and Therapy, 27, 677-682, 1985) formulation of obsessive-compulsive disorder and Borkovec's (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 23, 481-482, 1985) and Barlow's (Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic, 1988) discussions of worry and generalized anxiety.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Prevalence estimates of pathological gambling in Quebec.

Pathological gambling was officially defined and recognized as a psychiatric illness by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980. This survey reports the results of a province-wide study in Quebec based on telephone interviews using standardized assessment instruments with 1,002 subjects. The current prevalence of pathological gambling is 1.2%. The results also show that 88% of the respondents have gambled at least once in their life. The implications of these results for the prevention and treatment of this debilitating disorder are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Defining clinically significant changes in the treatment of child stutterers.

This study established a clinically significant criterion to evaluate outcomes of children's stuttering therapy. 30 stutterers, ages 6 to 15 years, and 30 non-stutterers served as subjects. Speech samples were recorded and the percentage of stuttered syllables and rate of speech analyzed. According to Jacobson and Revenstorf's procedure, 3% of stuttered syllables and 160 syllables per minute should become the target behaviors in the treatment of children's stuttering.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Stuttering severity and treatment outcome.

This study evaluated a multidimensional treatment of stuttering (awareness training, regulated breathing, cognitive restructuring and relapse prevention) for mild, moderate and severe stutterers. Behavioral measures (percentage of syllables stuttered and rate of speech) and cognitive measures (self-efficacy perception, locus of control and Erickson Scale) were taken. Using three multiple baseline designs across subjects, results showed that all mild stutterers and most moderate stutterers were clinically improved at the end of treatment and at six months follow-up. No severe stutterers (more than 15% of syllables stuttered) achieved clinical improvement. Self-efficacy perceptions were quite accurate in predicting the performance of successfully treated patients. No consistent changes were observed on the locus of control or the Erickson Scale. The clinical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Paradoxical intention vs stimulus control in the treatment of severe insomnia.

This study compared the effectiveness of paradoxical intention, stimulus control, information and a control group on severe sleep onset insomnia. Results showed that paradoxical intention and stimulus control were equally effective but significantly better than the information and control groups. It is suggested that treatment be adapted for each individual according to data collected from the intensive behavioral analysis of each case.

Adult↗