JustKiddo/KiddosVault huggingface dataset:
Treatment of atypical depression: post-hoc analysis of a randomized controlled study testing the efficacy of sertraline and cognitive behavioural therapy in mildly depressed outpatients.

Atypical features are common among depressed primary care patients, but clinical trials testing the efficacy of psychopharmacological and/or psychotherapeutic treatment are lacking. This paper examines the efficacy of sertraline and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) among depressed patients with atypical features. Analyses involve a double-blind comparison of sertraline versus placebo (N=47) and a single-blind comparison between CBT versus a guided self-help group (GSG) (N=48), with primary efficacy endpoints being the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS(C)) and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17). In intent-to-treat (ITT) analyses, the decrease on the IDS(C) scale (and HAMD-17) was greater after CBT compared to GSG: p=0.01 (HAMD-17: p=0.01). The difference between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) versus placebo was not significant: p=0.22 (HAMD-17: p=0.36). The number of cases in each treatment group was small, thereby limiting statistical power. Patients medicated with sertraline were 10 to 15 years younger than those included in the other groups of treatment. CBT may be an effective alternative to GSG for mildly depressed patients with atypical features. Although SSRI were not superior to placebo, it would be premature to rule out SSRI as efficacious in atypical depression.
Autobiographical memory style and clinical outcomes following mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT): An individual patient data meta-analysis.

The ability to retrieve specific, single-incident autobiographical memories has been consistently posited as a predictor of recurrent depression. Elucidating the role of autobiographical memory specificity in patient-response to depressive treatments may improve treatment efficacy and facilitate use of science-driven interventions. We used recent methodological advances in individual patient data meta-analysis to determine a) whether memory specificity is improved following mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), relative to control interventions, and b) whether pre-treatment memory specificity moderates treatment response. All bar one study evaluated MBCT for relapse prevention for depression. Our initial analysis therefore focussed on MBCT datasets only(n = 708), then were repeated including the additional dataset(n = 880). Memory specificity did not significantly differ from baseline to post-treatment for either MBCT and Control interventions. There was no evidence that baseline memory specificity predicted treatment response in terms of symptom-levels, or risk of relapse. Findings raise important questions regarding the role of memory specificity in depressive treatments.
Do distance-delivery group interventions improve depression in people with epilepsy?

About one-third of people with epilepsy experience comorbid depression. The present study examined outcomes of a distance-delivery group intervention program designed to improve emotional well-being. Participants were 55 adults with epilepsy and self-reported depressive symptoms who were randomly assigned to take part in either a mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program (UPLIFT, n = 20), an epilepsy information and self-management program (EpINFO, n = 24) that served as an active control group, or a wait-list control (WLC) group (n = 11). The Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS), Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (NDDIE), and the psychological health subscale of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) scale were used to assess depression and psychological quality of life before and after treatment, and at short-term (six months) and long-term follow-up (one year) upon program completion. From pre- to posttreatment, a main effect of time was found, with participants in both the UPLIFT and EpINFO groups having reported to a similar degree a significant decrease in depressive symptoms and improved psychological health, improvements that were not seen in the WLC group. The time by group interaction effect was not significant. The effects seen at posttreatment in the UPLIFT and EpINFO groups remained at six months and one year after treatment. These data suggest that distance-delivery group intervention programs are effective at improving depression and psychological quality of life, with the EpINFO program offering benefits similar to the UPLIFT program.
Behavioral evidence for an impairment of affective theory of mind capabilities in chronic depression.

The only treatment specifically developed for chronic depression, the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), is based amongst others on the hypothesis that chronically depressed patients (CD) show considerable deficits of affective theory of mind (ToM) capabilities. Data are scarce, however, and it remains unclear if ToM deficits are specific or if they arise from global cognitive deficits associated with depression. This study investigates the specific deficits of affective ToM abilities in CD. ToM abilities were assessed in 26 medication-free CD and 26 matched healthy controls (HC) by means of a previously established false-belief ToM cartoon task. Since the task allowed an intern control for cognitive factors - operationalized in a visuospatial ToM task - it was possible to investigate specific affective ToM deficits. As hypothesized, the CD showed a significant specific slowdown of affective ToM compared to cognitive ToM (3rd person perspective) when compared to HC. Simultaneously, we observed a general deterioration of all ToM functions in CD. This study provides evidence that CD have a mentalization deficit, specifically for affective ToM functions. This deficit is combined with a general deterioration of ToM functions, most likely attributable to frequently described cognitive deficits in depression.
Better to give than to take? Interactive social decision-making in severe major depressive disorder.

Although recent studies focusing on major depressive disorder (MDD) suggest altered social decision-making, studies using the Ultimatum Game (UG) in patients with severe, clinical MDD do not exist. Moreover, all aforementioned studies so far focused on responder behavior and thus fairness considerations; to this date, no one investigated social interactive behavior which involves proposer behavior possibly requiring second-order mentalizing as well. Thirty-nine MDD patients and 22 healthy controls played a modified UG, both in the roles of responder and proposer against the same partner. MDD patients accepted both fair and unfair offers as many times as the healthy controls in their role as responder. Importantly, however, in the role of proposer MDD patients offered significantly more than the control group did. Most patients were treated with psychotropic medication. Responder behavior demonstrates that MDD patients are capable of making social decisions on fairness considerations in the same way as healthy controls do. The observed proposer behavior, however, could indicate that MDD patients are more focused on avoiding rejection. These findings provide unique evidence that social decision-making--as studied in a realistic context--is disturbed in MDD.
Application of the Gradient Boosted method in randomised clinical trials: Participant variables that contribute to depression treatment efficacy of duloxetine, SSRIs or placebo.

Randomised, placebo-controlled trials of treatments for depression typically collect outcomes data but traditionally only analyse data to demonstrate efficacy and safety. Additional post-hoc statistical techniques may reveal important insights about treatment variables useful when considering inter-individual differences amongst depressed patients. This paper aims to examine the Gradient Boosted Model (GBM), a statistical technique that uses regression tree analyses and can be applied to clinical trial data to identify and measure variables that may influence treatment outcomes. GBM was applied to pooled data from 12 randomised clinical trials of 4987 participants experiencing an acute depressive episode who were treated with duloxetine, an SSRI or placebo to predict treatment remission. Additional analyses were conducted on the same dataset using the logistic regression model for comparison between these two methods. With GBM, there were noticeable differences between treatments when identifying which and to what extent variables were associated with remission. A single logistic regression only revealed a decreasing or increasing relationship between predictors and remission while GBM was able to reveal a complex relationship between predictors and remission. These analyses were conducted post-hoc utilising clinical trials databases. The criteria for constructing the analyses data were based on the characteristics of the clinical trials. GBM can be used to identify and quantify patient variables that predict remission with specific treatments and has greater flexibility than the logistic regression model. GBM may provide new insights into inter-individual differences in treatment response that may be useful for selecting individualised treatments. IMPACT clinical trial number 3327; IMPACT clinical trial number 4091; IMPACT clinical trial number 4689; IMPACT clinical trial number 4298; NCT00071695; NCT00062673; NCT00036335; NCT00067912; NCT00073411; NCT00489775; NCT00536471; NCT00666757 (note that trials with IMPACT numbers predate mandatory clinical trial registration requirements).
Reducing Readmission of Hospitalized Patients With Depressive Symptoms: A Randomized Trial.

To determine if hospitalized patients with depressive symptoms will benefit from post-discharge depression treatment with care transition support. This is a randomized controlled trial of hospitalized patients with patient health questionnaire-9 score of 10 or more. We delivered the Re-Engineered Discharge (RED) and randomized participants to groups receiving RED-only or RED for Depression (RED-D), a 12-week post-discharge telehealth intervention including cognitive behavioral therapy, self-management support, and patient navigation. Primary outcomes were hospital readmission and reutilization rates at 30 and 90 days post discharge. We randomized 709 participants (353 RED-D, 356 RED-only). At 90 days, 265 (75%) intervention participants had received at least 1 RED-D session (median 4). At 30 days, the intention-to-treat analysis showed no differences between RED-D vs RED-only in hospital readmission (9% vs 10%, incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.92 [95% CI, 0.56-1.52]) or reutilization (27% vs 24%, IRR 1.14 [95% CI, 0.85-1.54]). The intention-to-treat analysis also showed no differences at 90 days in readmission (28% vs 21%, IRR 1.30 [95% CI, 0.95-1.78]) or reutilization (70% vs 57%, IRR 1.22 [95% CI, 1.01-1.49]). In the as-treated analysis, each additional RED-D session was associated with a decrease in 30- and 90-day readmissions. At 30 days, among 104 participants receiving 3 or more sessions, there were fewer readmissions (3% vs 10%, IRR 0.30 [95% CI, 0.07-0.84]) compared with the control group. At 90 days, among 109 participants receiving 6 or more sessions, there were fewer readmissions (11% vs 21%, IRR 0.52 [95% CI, 0.27-0.92]). Intention-to-treat analysis showed no differences between study groups on secondary outcomes. Care transition support and post-discharge depression treatment can reduce unplanned hospital use with sufficient uptake of the RED-D intervention.
Exploring the impact of a complex intervention for women with depression in contexts of adversity: A pilot feasibility study of COURRAGE-plus in South Africa.

Depression is a leading cause of disease burden worldwide but is often undertreated in low- and middle-income countries. Reasons behind the treatment gap vary, but many highlight a lack of interventions which speak to the socio-economic and structural realties that are associated to mental health problems in many settings, including South Africa. The COURRAGE-PLUS intervention responds to this gap, by combining a collective narrative therapy (9weeks) intervention, with a social intervention promoting group-led practical action against structural determinants of poor mental health (4weeks), for a total of 13 sessions. The overall aim is to promote mental health, while empowering communities to acknowledge, and respond in locally meaningful ways to social adversity linked to development of mental distress. To pilot and evaluate the effectiveness of a complex intervention - COURRAGE-PLUS on symptoms of depression as assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) among a sample of women facing contexts of adversity in Gauteng, South Africa. PHQ-9 scores were assessed at baseline, post collective narrative therapy (midline), and post social intervention (endline). Median scores and corresponding interquartile ranges were computed for all time points. Differences in scores between time points were tested with a non-parametric Friedman test. The impact across symptom severities was compared descriptively to identify potential differences in impact across categories of symptom severity within our sample. Participants' (n=47) median depression score at baseline was 11 (IQR=7) and reduced to 4 at midline (IQR=7) to 0 at endline (IQR = 2.5). The Friedman test showed a statistically significant difference between depression scores across time points, χ2(2)=49.29, p<.001. Median depression scores were reduced to 0 or 1 Post-Intervention across all four severity groups. COURRAGE-PLUS was highly effective at reducing symptoms of depression across the spectrum of severities in this sample of women facing adversity, in Gauteng, South Africa. Findings supports the need for larger trials to investigate collective narrative storytelling and social interventions as community-based interventions for populations experiencing adversity and mental distress.
Psychological treatments for depression and anxiety disorders in low- and middle- income countries: a meta-analysis.

The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the efficacy of psychological treatments for depression and anxiety disorders in low- and middle- income countries (LAMIC). Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials on psychological treatment of depression and anxiety disorders in low-and middle income countries using an existing database (www.evidencebasedpsychotherapies.org), PubMed, Embase, Psychinfo, Dissertation Abstracts International and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched for studies published in all languages. Additional studies were identified from reference lists of found studies. Randomized controlled trials in which a psychological intervention for anxiety or depression was compared to a control condition (care-as-usual, waiting list, placebo, or another control group) were included. The randomized controlled trials needed to be conducted in a LAMI country (classification of LAMI countries according to the World Bank's list of economies) to be eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Psychological treatments were defined as interventions in which the core element of treatment consisted of verbal communication between a therapist and a patient. Seventeen studies met our inclusion criteria, with a total of 3,010 participants. The mean standardized difference between the treatment and control groups at post-test was 1.02 (95% CI: 0.76∼1.28) which corresponds well with the effects found in high-income countries. These results indicate that psychological treatments of depression and anxiety disorders are also effective in LAMI countries, and may encourage global dissemination of these interventions.
The feasibility, acceptability, and outcomes of PRIME-D: A novel mobile intervention treatment for depression.

Despite decades of research and development, depression has risen from the fifth to the leading cause of disability in the United States. Barriers to progress in the field are (1) poor access to high-quality care; (2) limited mental health workforce; and (3) few providers trained in the delivery of evidence-based treatments (EBTs). Although mobile platforms are being developed to give consumers greater access to high-quality care, too often these tools do not have empirical support for their effectiveness. In this study, we evaluated PRIME-D, a mobile app intervention that uses social networking, goal setting, and a mental health coach to deliver text-based, EBT's to treat mood symptoms and functioning in adults with depression. Thirty-six adults with depression remotely participated in PRIME-D over an 8-week period with a 4-week follow-up, with 83% retained over the 12-week course of thestudy. On average, participants logged into the app 5 days/week. Depression scores (PHQ-9) significantly improved over time (over 50% reduction), with coach interactions enhancing these effects. Mood-related disability (Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS)) also significantly decreased over time with participants no longer being impaired by their mood symptoms. Overall use of PRIME-D predicted greater gains in functioning. Improvements in mood and functioning were sustained over the 4-week follow-up. Results suggest that PRIME-D is a feasible, acceptable, and effective intervention for adults with depression and that a mobile service delivery model may address the serious public health problem of poor access to high-quality mental health care.
Effectiveness of psychological treatments for depression and alcohol use disorder delivered by community-based counsellors: two pragmatic randomised controlled trials within primary healthcare in Nepal.

Evidence shows benefits of psychological treatments in low-resource countries, yet few government health systems include psychological services.AimEvaluating the clinical value of adding psychological treatments, delivered by community-based counsellors, to primary care-based mental health services for depression and alcohol use disorder (AUD), as recommended by the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). Two randomised controlled trials, separately for depression and AUD, were carried out. Participants were randomly allocated (1:1) to mental healthcare delivered by mhGAP-trained primary care workers (psychoeducation and psychotropic medicines when indicated), or the same services plus individual psychological treatments (Healthy Activity Program for depression and Counselling for Alcohol Problems). Primary outcomes were symptom severity, measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 item (PHQ-9) for depression and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test for AUD, and functional impairment, measured using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS), at 12 months post-enrolment. Participants with depression in the intervention arm (n = 60) had greater reduction in PHQ-9 and WHODAS scores compared with participants in the control (n = 60) (PHQ-9: M = -5.90, 95% CI -7.55 to -4.25, β = -3.68, 95% CI -5.68 to -1.67, P &lt; 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.66; WHODAS: M = -12.21, 95% CI -19.58 to -4.84, β = -10.74, 95% CI -19.96 to -1.53, P= 0.022, Cohen's d = 0.42). For the AUD trial, no significant effect was found when comparing control (n = 80) and intervention participants (n = 82). Adding a psychological treatment delivered by community-based counsellors increases treatment effects for depression compared with only mhGAP-based services by primary health workers 12 months post-treatment.Declaration of interestNone.
Discharge management strategies and post-discharge care interventions for depression - Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Patients with depression require treatment continuity when discharged from inpatient care. Interventions aimed at optimizing transition into outpatient care may be effective in preventing symptom deterioration and readmission. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of care transition interventions for patients with depression after psychiatric hospitalization. Systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis of controlled trials. Primary outcomes were readmissions and symptoms of depression. The control condition was treatment as usual. We included 16 publications reporting the results of 13 different studies. Studies were heterogeneous concerning patient selection and interventional approach. Effects on readmissions and depression symptoms were non-significant in meta-analysis of 8 studies/710 patients and 7 studies/592 patients, respectively. Overall risk ratio for readmission during follow-up was 0.65 (95% CI [0.42;1.01], p=0.06), standardized mean difference for depression symptoms was -0.09 (95% CI [-0.37;0.19], p=0.53). Subgroup analyses indicated no preference for a specific interventional strategy. Data point to considerable risk for selection and publication bias. Included studies are heterogeneous; subgroups are often small and may not attain the power to detect effects. Reasonable classification of interventions into groups of comparable approaches was a challenge and may be arbitrary in some cases. This systematic review and meta-analysis could not identify any convincingly effective interventional transition approach for patients with depression after psychiatric hospitalization. Current evidence regarding discharge management for depression is limited, heterogeneous and potentially prone to bias. Interventions might be more appropriate for patients with other diagnoses than depression. Further high-quality randomized studies are required.
Patterns of practice in community mental health treatment of adult depression.

Community mental health therapists often endorse an eclectic orientation, but few studies reveal how therapists utilize elements of evidence-based psychotherapies. This study aimed to characterize treatment as usual patterns of practice among therapists treating depressed adults in community mental health settings. Therapists (N=165) from the USA's largest not-for-profit provider of community-based mental health services completed surveys assessing their demographics and practice element use with depressed adult clients. Specifically, therapists indicated whether they utilized each of 45 unique practice elements from the following evidence-based psychotherapies: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Behavioral Activation, Brief Psychodynamic Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Therapy, Mindfulness-Based CBT, Problem-Solving Therapy, and Self-Control Therapy. Principal component analysis was employed to identify practice patterns. The principal component analysis included 31 practice elements and revealed a three-factor model with distinct patterns of practice that did not align with traditional evidence-based practice approaches, including: (i) Planning, Practice, and Monitoring; (ii) Cognitive, Didactic, and Interpersonal; and (iii) Between Session Activities. Therapist-reported practice patterns confirmed an eclectic approach that brought together elements from theoretically distinct evidence-based psychotherapies. Future research is needed to explore how these patterns of practice relate to client outcomes to inform focused training and/or de-implementation efforts.