Effectiveness of group CBT in treating adolescents with depression symptoms: a critical review.

Depression is among the most common psychological disorders of adolescents. Its management is based on pharmacological treatment, psychological therapy, or a combination thereof. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most extensively tested intervention for adolescent depression. A PubMed search was conducted for randomized controlled trials (RCT) of the efficacy of CBT in treating adolescents with depressive symptoms published in 2005-2015. Keywords were "cognitive behavioral therapy", "group therapy", "depression" and "adolescent". Of the 23 papers that were retrieved, only six met all inclusion criteria. Three of them reported a significant reduction in depressive symptom severity after either individual or group (G)-CBT compared with the control group, even with a small number of CBT sessions (six rather than 10-12), with a medium or medium-to-large effect size. One study reported improved self-awareness and a significantly greater increase in perceived friend social support compared with bibliotherapy and check with brochure. Two studies reported clinical symptom reduction without significant differences compared with the control group (activity contrast). This review highlighted primarily that very few RCT have applied CBT in adolescents; moreover, it confirmed the effectiveness of G-CBT, especially as psychotherapy, although it was not always superior to other interventions (e.g. other activities in prevention programs). Comparison showed that G-CBT and group interpersonal psychotherapy were both effective in reducing depressive symptoms. Successful G-CBT outcomes were related to the presence of peers, who were an important source of feedback and support to observe, learn, and practice new skills to manage depressive symptoms and improve social-relational skills.

Evaluación de la calidad de vida en mujeres con vaginismo primario mediante el WHOQOL-BREF / Evaluation of the quality of life in women with primary vaginismus by WHOQOL-BREF

Antecedentes: El vaginismo es una disfunción sexual que impide Ia penetración y que afecta a cerca de un 5 por ciento de las mujeres y que les genera malestar tanto a ellas como a sus parejas. Objetivo: Conocer la calidad de vida de mujeres con vaginismo primario y comparar con un grupo control. Método: Aplicación presencial del WHOQOL-BREF a 50 mujeres con vaginismo primario y a 47 mujeres sin patología, socio-demográficamente similares. Resultados: El nivel de calidad de vida en las mujeres con vaginismo fue menor a aquella del grupo de comparación respecto a la calidad general de la vida y la salud, y en tres de los cuatro dominios del WHOQOL-BREF. Conclusión: El vaginismo es una condición que afecta la calidad de vida de las mujeres con ese diagnóstico.

Background: Vaginismus is a sexual dysfunction that prevents the penetration and affects about 5 percent of women and makes them feel upset both them and their partners. Objective: Determine the quality of life of women with primary vaginismus and compared with a control group. Method: Application of the WHOQOL-BREF to 50 women with primary vaginismus and 47 women without pathology and similar demographically status. Results: The level of quality of life in women with vaginismus was lower than that of the comparison group regarding the overall quality of life and health, and in three of the four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF. Conclusion: Vaginismus is a condition that affects the quality of life of women with this diagnosis.

Role of 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in the development of the inward/outward personality organization: a genetic association study.

Reciprocity with primary caregivers affects subjects' adaptive abilities toward the construction of the most useful personal meaning organization (PMO) with respect to their developmental environment. Within cognitive theory the post-rationalist approach has outlined two basic categories of identity construction and of regulation of cognitive and emotional processes: the Outward and the Inward PMO. The presence of different, consistent clinical patterns in Inward and Outward subjects is paralleled by differences in cerebral activation during emotional tasks on fMRI and by different expression of some polymorphisms in serotonin pathways. Since several lines of evidence support a role for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in mediating individual susceptibility to environmental emotional stimuli, this study was conducted to investigate its influence in the development of the Inward/Outward PMO. PMO was assessed and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism investigated in 124 healthy subjects who were subdivided into an Inward (n = 52) and an Outward (n = 72) group. Case-control comparisons of short allele (S) frequencies showed significant differences between Inwards and Outwards (p = 0.036, χ2 test; p = 0.026, exact test). Genotype frequencies were not significantly different although values slightly exceeded p ≤ 0.05 (p = 0.056, χ2 test; p = 0.059, exact test). Analysis of the 5-HTTLPR genotypes according to the recessive inheritance model showed that the S/S genotype increased the likelihood of developing an Outward PMO (p = 0.0178, χ2 test; p = 0.0143, exact test; OR = 3.43, CI (95%) = 1.188-9.925). A logistic regression analysis confirmed the association between short allele and S/S genotypes with the Outward PMO also when gender and age were considered. However none of the differences remained significant after correction for multiple testing, even though using the recessive model they approach significance. Overall our data seem to suggest a putative genetic basis for interindividual differences in PMO development.

The Mini Questionnaire of Personal Organization (MQPO): preliminary validation of a new post-rationalist personality questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: The Mini Questionnaire of Personal Organization (MQPO) has been constructed in order to comply with the inward/outward Personal Meaning Organization's (PMO) theory. According to Nardi's Adaptive Post-Rationalist approach, predictable and invariable caregivers' behaviours allow inward focus and a physical sight of reciprocity; non-predictable and variable caregivers' behaviours allow outward focus and a semantic sight of reciprocity. METHODS: The 20 items of MQPO have been selected from 29 intermediate (n = 160) and 40 initial items (n = 204). Psychometric validation has been conducted (n = 296), including Internal Validity (Item-Total Correlation; Factor Analysis), Internal Coherence by Factor Analysis, two analyses in Discriminant Validity (n = 132 and n = 80) and Reliability by Test-Retest Analysis (n = 49). All subjects have been given their written informed consent before beginning the test. RESULTS: The validation of the MQPO shows that the ultimate version is consistent with its post-rationalist paradigm. Four different factors have been found, one for each PMO. Validity of the construct and the internal reliability index are satisfying (Alpha = 0.73). Moreover, the results obtained are constant (from r = 0.80 to r = 0.89). There is an adequate agreement between the MQPO scales and the clinical evaluations (72.5%), as well as an excellent agreement (80.0%) between the scores of the MQPO and those of the Personal Meaning Questionnaire. CONCLUSION: The MQPO is a tool able to study personality as a process by focusing on the relationships between personality and developmental process axes, which are the bases of the PMO's theory, according to the APR approach.