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Integrating Dialectical Behavior Therapy-Accepting the Challenges of Employment and Self-Sufficiency (DBT-ACES) Strategies into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
AbstractDBT-ACES (Dialectical Behavior Therapy —Accepting the Challenges of Employment and Self-Sufficiency) is an expansion and adaptation of Standard DBT developed to assist clients to achieve their employment, social, and financial independence goals. This paper provides an overview of several DBT-ACES strategies and considerations for thei r use in standard CBT as well as DBT treatment settings to increase employment among clients with significant emotion dysregulation difficulties including borderline personality disorder. These novel strategies include conceptualizing specific Recovery Goals, tracking Normative Pro...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - March 30, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Self-injury Functions, Romantic Relationship Stress, and Suicide Attempts in Adolescents
This study suggests targeting these distinct interpersonal factors will help to identify high-risk youth who may go on to attempt suicide. (Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy)
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - January 24, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

“I Need You!” Patients’ Care Dependency Patterns During Psychotherapy for Personality Disorders and Its Association with Symptom Reduction and Wish for Treatment Continuation
AbstractDifferent views exist regarding the nature of patients ’ dependency in psychotherapy (trait versus contextual dependency), and its impact on treatment outcome and duration. Therefore we examined whether patients’ levels of care dependency changed over time during a 9-month treatment period, and whether care dependency was related to symptom redu ction and patients’ wish for treatment continuation at the end of the treatment. Participants in this longitudinal study were 113 patients (Mage = 33.6, 78% female) with personality disorders receiving inpatient or daycare group psychotherapy. Both increases ...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - January 5, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

The Therapeutic Alliance as Active Inference: The Role of Trust and Self-Efficacy
AbstractThe therapeutic alliance has a robust association with positive outcome in psychotherapy. It is considered a common factor of change independent of the diagnosis and type of therapy. The alliance is commonly defined phenomenologically as a relationship between a client and a therapist characterized by such attributes as agreement on the goals of the treatment, agreement on the tasks, and a personal bond made up of reciprocal positive feelings. There is no commonly accepted mechanistic model of the alliance. In this paper, we present the alliance in active inference terms as an affiliative behavioral strategy meant ...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - December 7, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Exposure to Promote Healthy Eating
AbstractAdopting a healthier lifestyle includes replacing long-standing unhealthy eating habits with new healthier ones and maintaining these newly acquired healthy eating habits. A permanent behavior change appears to be difficult to maintain, which may follow from some basic learning processes. In the last decades, a lot was learned about the learning mechanisms that promote relapse into old behaviours. Taking these learning processes into consideration, a new exposure intervention was developed to combat several forms of unhealthy eating. Exposure is a powerful strategy to change behaviours and cognitions. This theoreti...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - December 7, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Incorporating Skills for Managing Mood, Stress, and Sleep into a Gestational Weight Gain Intervention
AbstractExcessive gestational weight gain is associated with negative health outcomes for birthing individuals and their infants. Existing gestational weight gain interventions primarily address dietary intake and physical activity and have been minimally effective in preventing excess gestational weight gain. During pregnancy, psychosocial changes are common. Pregnant individuals may report changes in mood, increased stress, and poorer sleep quality, which may influence gestational weight gain. However, few gestational weight gain interventions target these psychosocial factors. To address this gap, we developed an eight-...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - December 2, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Examining Goal, Task, and Bond in Therapeutic Alliance Ruptures
This study examined whether fracturing of specific facets of the therapeutic alliance —goal, task, and bond—were more likely to be associated with a therapeutic alliance rupture by evaluating 988 psychotherapy sessions for ruptures. Furthermore, we used the frequency of alliance ruptures to predict treatment outcome in a sample of outpatient psychotherapy clients (N = 399). Results indicated that a disagreement of the goals and tasks of treatment were both more likely to result in an alliance rupture than a deterioration in the relational bond. The frequency of alliance ruptures was also found to predict treatment ...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - November 22, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Exploring the Relationship Between Compassion and Attachment in Individuals with Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review
This study is registered on PROSPERO number CRD42021296279. (Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy)
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - November 18, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Correction: Finding the Person in the Disorder: Adapting Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy for Bipolar Mood Disorder (MERIT-BD)
(Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy)
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - November 3, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Promoting Affect Regulation Among Individuals Experiencing Psychosis in Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT)
AbstractTheorists have suggested that individuals experiencing psychosis have significant affective dysregulation, and that expressions of psychosis may in fact serve as one form of expression of painful affect. As such, therapeutic approaches to work with individuals experiencing psychosis may incorporate therapist actions targeted to promote affect regulation in clients. Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) is an integrative approach to psychotherapy that incorporates eight elements to target metacognition among individuals experiencing psychosis. MERIT has been shown to promote improvement in metacogniti...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - October 31, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Navigating an Impasse in the Psychotherapy for Psychosis
AbstractDespite pessimism in the field, persons experiencing psychosis can benefit from psychotherapy and recover. However, there are multiple factors that can interfere with the formation of a positive therapeutic alliance and lead to the premature termination of therapy, which is associated with poorer long-term outcomes. In this article, common therapist, patient, and intersubjective factors are identified that can inhibit personal growth and lead to stalled treatments. After reviewing these various roadblocks, four principles (e.g., an intersubjective orientation to realty, therapeutic openheartedness/vulnerability, �...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - October 17, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Re-owning Motherhood in Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) with A Woman Diagnosed with Schizophrenia: Lessons from A Case Study
AbstractMothers coping with a serious mental illness often face familial, social, and cultural barriers that challenge their identity as a mother and hinder their recovery process. Research has shown that enhancing a positive coherent multidimensional sense of self and sense of mastery promote recovery. To further explore this possibility, the current paper presents a course of therapy with a mother coping with schizophrenia. The therapist sought to facilitate recovery and a positive experience of motherhood by targeting the client ’s sense of self and mastery within a framework of metacognitive reflection and insight th...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - October 5, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Conceptualisation and Measurement of Reflective Process in Psychotherapy: A Systematic Scoping Review
AbstractPsychological therapies use talk as a means to produce change for individuals who are experiencing distress. Despite a significant body of research comparing approaches, there is little evidence for the superiority of one model over another. The process of reflection has been suggested as a common factor across modalities, and research aiming to measure this phenomenon is emerging. This scoping review is focussed on the conceptualisations, measurement and process outcomes of reflective talk as it occurs during therapy. Twenty-two studies were selected from a total of 3712 papers identified following a systematic se...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - September 23, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Finding the Person in the Disorder: Adapting Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy for Bipolar Mood Disorder (MERIT-BD)
AbstractMetacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) was originally developed as an integrative recovery-oriented therapeutic approach to address the needs of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and other forms of severe mental illness. The approach, conceptualized as transtheoretical, aims to promote a more coherent and synthetic sense of self, through stimulating insight, sense of coherence, and metacognitive capacity. We argue that MERIT therapy, designed to facilitate peoples ’ ability to form complex ideas about themselves and others and to use this knowledge to respond to psychological problems, has ap...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - September 23, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Recovery-Focused Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy (MIT) for Adolescents with First-Episode Psychosis
AbstractAccess to evidence-based early intervention for adolescents with psychosis is critically important. The aim of this work was analysing the feasibility, acceptability and potential effects of a psychological intervention based on metacognitive interpersonal therapy (MIT) in adolescents presenting with early psychosis. Twenty-three participants (aged 14 –18) experiencing first-episode psychosis or an at-risk mental state for psychosis were offered up to 40h of individual MIT over a 12-month period. Effect sizes were calculated for changes in subjective recovery experience (primary outcome), psychotic symptoms (seco...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - September 22, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research