A Cognitive Control Training as Add-On Treatment to Usual Care for Depressed Inpatients

Ferrari, Gina R. A.; Vanderhasselt, Marie‐Anne; Rinck, Mike; Demeyer, Ineke; Raedt, Rudi De; Beisel, Sylvia; Lindenmeyer, Johannes; Becker, Eni S.

doi:10.1007/s10608-020-10197-y

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 54 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…as measured by the DARS) as the primary outcome, rather than positive affect. Combined with recent results finding no effect of the active comparator, CCT, on depression symptoms in an in-patient setting, 42 our results also suggest that an alternative active comparator intervention should potentially be considered; CCT may be more suitable for patients in remission or with residual symptoms. 13 , 43 It is also worth noting that the specific PMIT implementation in this study (eight sessions of 15 min each, with standardised scenarios) was a pragmatic ‘best guess’, and as such may not be optimal.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Feasibility of computerised positive mental imagery training as a treatment adjunct in in-patient mental health settings: randomised controlled trial

Westermann

Woud²,

Cwik

et al. 2021

BJPsych open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Positive affect and anhedonia are important but challenging targets for mental health treatments. Previous research indicates the potential of a computerised cognitive training paradigm involving generation of positive mental imagery, termed positive mental imagery training (PMIT), to increase positive affect and reduce anhedonia. Aims Our main aim was to investigate the feasibility of PMIT as a positive affect-focused, transdiagnostic adjunct to treatment as usual for patients in in-patient mental health settings. Method We ran an open feasibility, randomised controlled trial with three parallel arms: treatment as usual; treatment as usual plus PMIT; and treatment as usual plus an active comparator, cognitive control training. Fifty-seven patients from two different in-patient mental health treatment clinics in Germany were randomised in a 1:1:1 ratio. PMIT and cognitive control training comprised an introductory session followed by eight 15-min training sessions over 2 weeks. Clinical outcomes such as positive affect (primary outcome measure) and anhedonia were assessed at pre- and post-training, and at a further 2-week follow-up. Results Adherence was good and attrition was low. The patterns of results for the outcome data were not consistent with a specific effect of PMIT on positive affect, but were more consistent with a specific effect on anhedonia. Conclusions The results indicate feasibility and potential promise of a larger efficacy trial investigating PMIT as a treatment adjunct in in-patient mental health settings. Limitations include lack of researcher blinding, small sample size and lack of pre-specified feasibility outcomes. Anhedonia may be a more suitable primary outcome for a future larger trial.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Feasibility of computerised positive mental imagery training as a treatment adjunct in in-patient mental health settings: randomised controlled trial

Westermann

Woud²,

Cwik

et al. 2021

BJPsych open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, the inspection of response rates for generic mental health measures and intervention-specific measures in different BATD phases suggest that the effectiveness of BATD seems to be similar in each format and that none of the formats enhances its effectiveness. Even though unexpected, our findings are consistent with past studies that reported that cognitive training added to BATD or another usual treatment did not seem to potentiate the change in depressive symptoms or rumination in depressed samples ( Moshier and Otto, 2017 ; Ferrari et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Is the combination of behavioral activation and attention training technique effective to reduce depressive symptomatology? A multiple case study

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThis study tested whether the combination of BATD and Attention Training Technique (ATT) is effective to reduce depressive symptomatology and investigate the mechanisms of action underlying the effectiveness of treatment with a multiple N-of-1 trials.MethodsNine adults with depressive symptoms were randomly included in three different combinations of BATD and ATT, concurrent in Condition 1 and sequential in Conditions 2 and 3 (ATT followed by BATD and BATD followed by ATT, respectively). The sequential components allow investigating the specific changes that occur during the two distinct treatment phases. Multiple self-report and pre–post-assessments were conducted on generic mental health measures (depressive symptoms, life functioning, mood, and well-being) and intervention-specific measures (behavioral activation, behavioral avoidance, self-focused attention, cognitive control and rumination), with two-week and three-month follow-up assessments. We also measured treatment adherence with treatment attendance, homework compliance and a clinical interview.ResultsParticipants’ attendance, homework compliance and satisfaction were acceptable in the three conditions, with higher adherence in Condition 1 and Condition 3. Eight participants out of nine reported a reduction in depressive symptomatology and five an improvement in well-being. Most of their progress was maintained 2 weeks after the intervention but not 3 months later. Conditions 1 and 2 seemed to be associated with a higher response to generic mental health measures in comparison with Condition 3. The three conditions were not associated with consistent changes in intervention-specific measures, except for rumination with five participants out of nine reporting an improvement in rumination immediately after the intervention and eight participants 2 weeks after the intervention. The concurrent format was associated with a better improvement in rumination immediately after the intervention. No specific changes of self-focused attention and rumination characterized ATT, and no specific changes of behavioral activation, behavioral avoidance and rumination characterized BATD.ConclusionOur three interventions were judged acceptable and showed positive short-term benefit for generic mental health measures and rumination maintained 2 weeks later, but not 3 months later. Results suggest that five sessions of concurrent treatment could be a better option than sequential formats. However, our data did not support the specificity of ATT and BATD treatments.Clinical Trial Registration: This trial was previously registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04595539 registration number and the title “Does Attention Training Technique Enhance the Effectiveness of Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression: A Multiple Baseline Study.”

show abstract

“…Here, a non-gamified PASAT intervention comprising 10 training session within 2 weeks in the context of an inpatient treatment did not yield superior effects on depression severity. However, an exploratory analysis revealed significantly higher levels of subjective wellbeing in the active compared to the sham group at 1-year follow-up (71). This is consistent with prior studies showing significant between-group differences in depression symptomatology only at 3 months follow up after PASAT training (70).…”

Section: Need For Long-term Training and Follow-upsupporting

confidence: 88%

Gamification improves antidepressant effects of cognitive control training—A pilot trial

Weller¹,

Schroeder

Plewnia³

2022

Front. Digit. Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveComputerised cognitive trainings have been put forward to improve control over negatively biased information processing and associated depressive symptomatology. Yet, disease-related impairments of motivation and endurance, as well as insufficient accessibility hinder use of this promising therapeutic opportunity. Here, we developed an app (de:)press©) that utilizes a cognitive control training (paced auditory serial addition task) enriched with gamification and information elements. We compared a six-week training with de:)press© to a non-gamified version (active control group).MethodsThirty-two depressed participants were included. Each received either de:)press© or the non-gamified version and was instructed to train three times per week for two weeks. Afterwards (four weeks) they were free to train at their own discretion. Depression severity was assessed during training and two follow-up sessions. Primary endpoint was defined as difference between groups [change of Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)] four weeks after end of training.ResultsDepression severity decreased in both groups. At primary endpoint, MADRS scores were significantly lower in the de:)press©-group compared to the control group. No differences were observed at three months' follow-up. Intervention usability was consistently rated positively. Participants who had trained with de:)press© maintained the recommended training frequency without further prompting. Besides transient fatigue or frustration, no adverse effects were observed.ConclusionThis pilot demonstrates that gamification and information elements can substantially increase cognitive control training efficacy in alleviating depressive symptoms. Moreover, it provides first evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of de:)press© as an add-on intervention to treat depression.Clinical trial registrationThe study is registered under ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT04400162.

show abstract

A Cognitive Control Training as Add-On Treatment to Usual Care for Depressed Inpatients

Cited by 17 publications

References 54 publications

Feasibility of computerised positive mental imagery training as a treatment adjunct in in-patient mental health settings: randomised controlled trial

Feasibility of computerised positive mental imagery training as a treatment adjunct in in-patient mental health settings: randomised controlled trial

Is the combination of behavioral activation and attention training technique effective to reduce depressive symptomatology? A multiple case study

Gamification improves antidepressant effects of cognitive control training—A pilot trial

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About