The Engagement Problem: a Review of Engagement with Digital Mental Health Interventions and Recommendations for a Path Forward
Abstract      Purpose of the reviewDigital mental health interventions (DMHIs) are an effective and accessible means of addressing the unprecedented levels of mental illness worldwide. Currently, however, patient engagement with DMHIs in real-world settings is often insufficient to see a clinical benefit. In order to realize the potential of DMHIs, there is a need to better understand what drives patient engagement.Recent findingsWe discuss takeaways from the existing literature related to patient engagement with DMHIs and highlight gaps to be addressed through further research. Findings suggest that engagement is inf...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - August 25, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

A Systematic Review and Exploration of Smartphone App Interventions for Perinatal Depression With Case Study
AbstractPurpose of reviewIn this review, we aim to summarize the availability and features of smartphone apps in both the commercial marketplace and academic literature for perinatal depression with the goal of informing patients and clinicians along with giving clinical recommendations related to the integration of mobile apps into perinatal care.Recent findingsThere are few apps targeted towards perinatal depression, and of those that exist, most lack evidence and a robust privacy policy. Recent reviews have also highlighted the dearth of quality apps for perinatal mental health care.SummaryUsing keywords, searches of th...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - August 25, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Neighborhood-Level Factors in the Development and Treatment of Trauma and Stress-Related Disorders
AbstractPurpose of ReviewCommunity- and neighborhood-level factors are important, but understudied, influences on trauma-related disorders and their treatment. In this review, we describe how neighborhood factors are evaluated including through aggregate measures, geospatially derived indices, and individual assessments.Recent FindingsPrior work suggests that neighborhood factors, particularly broadly defined neighborhood disadvantage, contribute to changes in threat-related neurobiology. Overall, neighborhood-level factors like community violence, access to greenspace, and air pollution levels, among others, are related t...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - August 7, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Connecting the Spirit of a Horse with the Soul of a Veteran: Chaplain and Equine-Assisted Learning for Moral Injury
This article seeks to explore the potential efficacy of combining chaplain care and equine-assisted interventions (EAI) as a therapeutic intervention in veterans with moral injury through a review of EAL research that has been conducted and the presentation of preliminary data from an ongoing EAL program being conducted.Recent FindingsThere is extensive research on the links of suicidality and moral injury in veterans and chaplain care to addressing moral injury. But there are minimal studies on the efficacy of equine-assisted interventions as a treatment modality within the veteran population to address PTSD, even less th...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - August 1, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Moral Injury in Healthcare: Adapting the Building Spiritual Strength (BSS) Intervention to Health and Strength (HAS) for Civilian and Military Healthcare Workers
AbstractPurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has increased moral distress and injury (MD&I) among healthcare workers (HCWs) and has highlighted a need for intervention. Most MD&I interventions have been with service members and veterans; only five have been empirically tested. Further, with the Defense Health Agency calling for civilian HCWs to provide care for military members, it is necessary to adapt an MD&I intervention that has been shown successful.Recent FindingsBuilding Spiritual Strength (BSS), one of the five evidence-based MD&I interventions, was adapted for HCWs and renamed Health and Strength (HAS). Th...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - July 11, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Toward a Dimensional Contextual Model of Moral Injury: A Scoping Review on Healthcare Workers
AbstractPurpose of ReviewHealthcare workers (HCWs) may be exposed to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) while on the job and consequently experience acute, functional moral distress to prolonged, impairing moral injury.Recent FindingsWe reviewed 185 articles on moral distress and/or injury among HCWs. This included 91 empirical studies (approximately 50% of the retained articles), 68 editorials (37%), 18 reviews (10%), and 8 protocol papers (4%). Themes were explored using bibliometric network analysis of keyword co-citation. Empirical studies found evidence of PMIE exposure among a considerable proportion of HCW...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - July 4, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

The Status of Evidence-Based Treatments for Moral Injury Syndrome: Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
AbstractPurpose of reviewThe goals of this report were to (a) review the empirical evidence of interventions for moral injury syndrome (MIS) symptoms, (b) quantitatively synthesize these effects through a preliminary meta-analysis, and (c) provide treatment and research recommendations for MIS based on our qualitative and quantitative review.Recent findingsParticipants in MIS treatment improved on targeted MIS symptoms and general mental health, with scores decreasing across measured adverse mental health outcomes compared to control conditions. Increased scores on positive outcomes such as self-forgiveness were also repor...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - June 30, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

A Systematic Review of using Virtual and Augmented Reality for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychotic Disorders
ConclusionsVR is efficacious in diagnosing and treating individuals experiencing psychosis and is a valuable augmentation of evidence-based treatments. (Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry)
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - June 14, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Alternative Treatments for Postpartum Depression
AbstractPurpose of reviewWhile pharmacotherapy is often used in the treatment of postpartum depression, there have been few positive randomized controlled trials that have supported this practice. Prior studies eliciting the treatment preferences of postpartum women have shown that this population is often hesitant to use antidepressant medications and have expressed a strong preference for psychotherapeutic interventions. Despite this, access to high-quality psychotherapy remains problematic in many regions. Given the concerns that many postpartum women have around the safety of antidepressant medications, it is important...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - June 6, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Substance Use Disorders in the Geriatric Population: a Review and Synthesis of the Literature of a Growing Problem in a Growing Population
AbstractPurpose of reviewSubstance use disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent in the geriatric population, necessitating an updated understanding of the existing literature. This review aims to describe the epidemiology, special considerations, and management of substance use disorders in older adults.Recent findingsPubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and PsychINFO databases were searched from their inception through June 2022 using the following keywords: “substance use disorder,” “substance abuse,” “abuse,” “illicit substances,” “illicit drugs,” “addiction,” “geriatric,” “elderly,” “older adult...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - June 5, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Out of Control: How to Design Digital Placebos
AbstractPurposePlacebo terminology and their applications are well embedded in clinical and research contexts. This review seeks to clarify the principles of good placebo control design and to offer recommendations for improving placebos in digital mental healthcare.Recent FindingsTerminological confusions associated with understanding the function of placebos in pharmacology and psychotherapy reveal an underappreciation of the challenges associated with designing adequate placebo controls in clinical trials. It would be surprising if similar challenges did not arise with the testing of digital therapeutics, and emerging e...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - June 2, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

The Promise of Digital Health Interventions for Addressing Loneliness in Serious Mental Illness
AbstractPurpose of reviewPeople living with serious mental illness (SMI) experience high rates of loneliness, though few evidence-based psychosocial treatments directly target this experience. Mobile and web-based digital health interventions offer unique opportunities to translate psychosocial treatments to address loneliness in daily life.Recent findingsIn this paper, we review the common types of psychosocial treatments aimed at addressing loneliness in the general population (social skills training, social prescribing, and cognitive-based therapies), their efficacy, and their ability to address the specific concerns of...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - June 1, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Methods for Navigating the Mobile Mental Health App Landscape for Clinical Use
Opinion statementThere are over 10,000 mental health and wellness apps on the market. Apps offer the opportunity to increase access to mental health care. However, with many apps to choose from and an app landscape that is largely unregulated, it can be difficult to incorporate this technology into clinical practice. The first step towards achieving this goal is to identify clinically relevant and appropriate apps. The purpose of this review is to discuss app evaluation, raise awareness of considerations involved in implementing mental health apps into clinical care, and provide an example of how apps can be used effec...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - May 24, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Asynchronous Technologies in Mental Health Care and Education
AbstractPurpose of reviewPatients, providers, and trainees should understand the current types of asynchronous technologies that can be used to enhance the delivery and accessibility of mental health care. Asynchronous telepsychiatry (ATP) removes the need for real time communication between the clinician and patient, which improves efficiency and enables quality specialty care. ATP can be applied as distinct consultative and supervisory models inclinician-to-clinician,clinician-to-patient, andpatient-to-mobile health settings.Recent findingsThis review is based on research literature and the authors ’ clinical and medic...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - May 4, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Treatment of Co-occurring PTSD and Aggression: Current Psychotherapy and Pharmacological Approaches
AbstractPurpose of reviewA substantial number of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also experience problems with aggression; yet co-occurring PTSD and aggression have gained relatively little empirical attention. Given the functional impairment associated with both of these conditions, there is a clear need for empirically supported treatments that address both PTSD and aggression. The current review aims to summarize the existing literature on empirically supported treatments (including psychotherapy and psychopharmacology) for co-occurring PTSD and aggression.Recent findingsOverall, a few treatments emer...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - February 4, 2023 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research