Elucidating the Cognitive Mechanisms Underpinning Behavioural Activation

Abstract

Depression represents a pervasive and devastating psychological difficulty. It affects over 21% of the population at some point in their lives and can have an unimaginable impact on both individuals and society. Behavioural activation represents a popular intervention for depression and is commonly used by psychologists internationally. Despite its popularity, the cognitive mechanisms underpinning the efficacy of behavioural activation remain elusive. This paper will review the literature on this intervention and propose an account of the cognitive mechanisms underlying its therapeutic efficacy. Specifically, it is argued that behavioural activation is effective because it increases both the density of outcomes in ones environment and the density of highly salient action-outcome contingencies, which may otherwise be absent due to reduced motivation. The clinical implications are subsequently discussed, with reference to future research.

Alexithymia, Intolerance to Uncertainty and Psychopathological Dynamics in Subjects Suffering from Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: A Preliminary Exploratory Study

“…Second, di culties in recognizing and managing affective dynamics can be considered as a specular phenomenon of alexithymia, where the impossibility to recognize emotions assume the same direction of intolerance to uncertainty. Moreover, the absence of a speci c object appears to be closer to anguish than to anxiety, whose distinction is clear in psychopathology and phenomenological studies concerning object-relations (113,114).…”

Oral and periodontal manifestation related during human papilloma virus infections: Update on early prognostic factors

“…Nowadays, more than 200 types of HPV are known https://pave.niaid.nih.gov/search/search_database . Recently, the available data about the variants of HPV suggests that each variant of the same type of HPV may induce different pathogenic risks [ 22 , [24] , [25] , [26] ] and important related psychological risks [ [27] , [28] , [29] ].…”

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Psychopathology, Uncertainty and Alexithymia: A Clinical and Differential Exploratory Study

“…In line with various studies in the literature, chronic medical difficulties can cause psychological difficulties [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Indeed, the role of psychological variables has been studied with regard to the physical consequences of chronic medical difficulties, the role that psychopathology plays in the progression of chronic medical difficulties and finally, the management of physical therapies [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”