PubMed · 14766630
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Joseph J Campos. 2003. Development: panel discussion.. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1280.009
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Recent investigations have shown little evidence that written disclosure benefits bereaved individuals over a control condition. The present study hypothesized that the effectiveness of written disclosure for bereavement may be moderated by vagal tone, as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Vagal tone has been identified as an important individual difference in depression. The present study investigated 35 bereaved participants in a longitudinal design, with participants writing each week for 3 weeks, and then participating in follow-up sessions 1 week and 1 month later. As with previous studies, bereaved participants showed improvement, although no differential improvement was seen in the emotional Disclosure group compared to a Control writing group. As hypothesized, however, those participants with the highest RSA benefited most from the written disclosure, while RSA level did not predict outcome in the control condition. Future research should investigate whether vagal tone moderates the impact of written disclosure for non-bereaved individuals.
In order to examine the effect of the decreased safety behaviors on social anxiety and negative thoughts and explore the mechanism underlying this effect, this study compared three types of exposure namely, exposure with decreased safety behaviors under cognitive rationale, exposure with decreased safety behaviors under extinction rationale, and exposure with no change in safety behavior. Forty-five social phobics were randomly assigned to one of three exposure groups. Results showed that exposure with decreased safety behaviors under cognitive rationale produced significantly greater reductions in anxiety and belief ratings for feared outcomes than exposure with decreased safety behaviors under extinction rationale and exposure with no change in safety behaviors. These results imply that exposure could be more effective if social phobics are encouraged to drop their safety behaviors in the feared social situation, and that the cognitive process of disconfirmation of negative thoughts is the critical element in determining effectiveness of decreased safety behaviors.
INTRODUCTION: The negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia are poorly responsive to neuroleptic treatment. Glutamatergic dysfunction may mediate some of these symptoms. Low dose D-cycloserine (DCS) is a partial agonist at the glycine site of the NMDA-associated receptor complex, noncompetitively enhancing NMDA neurotransmission. Prior studies suggest a beneficial effect of DCS on negative symptoms and cognition. This treatment trial was initiated to confirm and extend these findings. METHODS: Twenty-two male schizophrenic subjects displaying prominent negative symptoms who were stabilized on typical neuroleptics completed the study. A randomized double-blind parallel group design was used to compare the effects of 50 mg p.o. QD of DCS to placebo over 4 weeks. The two subject groups did not differ significantly in age, age of onset of illness or time on current neuroleptic treatment. Symptoms were rated by means of the SANS, BPRS and Abrams and Taylor rating scale. Cognition was assessed with the Sternberg Memory Test and the Continuous Performance Test. RESULTS: Both medication groups improved over the 4 weeks of treatment. However, there were no significant differences between the DCS and placebo group on any symptom rating. DCS effects on cognition did not differ from placebo. DISCUSSION: This study did not detect improvement in negative symptoms or cognitive performance with DCS treatment that has been found in some prior studies. This negative finding may be attributed to small sample size, relatively short duration of treatment and the overall modest effect of DCS. Future studies of DCS should be adequately powered to detect a small to medium effect size and should provide for a longer treatment phase than was used in this study in order to avoid a type II error.