Efficacy of a two-session repetitive negative thinking-focused acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) protocol for depression and generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized waitlist control trial.

This parallel randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) focused on disrupting repetitive negative thinking (RNT) versus a waitlist control (WLC) in the treatment of depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Forty-eight participants with a main diagnosis of depression and/or GAD were allocated by means of simple randomization to a 2-session RNT-focused ACT intervention or to the WLC. The primary outcomes were emotional symptoms as measured by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21. Process outcomes included ACT- and RNT-related measures: general RNT, experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, values, and generalized pliance. At the 1-month follow-up, linear mixed effects models showed that the intervention was efficacious in reducing emotional symptoms (d = 2.42, 95% confidence interval [1.64, 3.19]), with 94.12% of participants in the RNT-focused ACT condition showing clinically significant change in the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21 total scores versus 9.09% in the WLC condition (70% vs. 8% in intention-to-treat analysis). The intervention effects were maintained at the 3-month follow-up. No adverse events were found. A very brief RNT-focused ACT intervention was highly effective in the treatment of depression and GAD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Single-case experimental design evaluation of repetitive negative thinking-focused acceptance and commitment therapy in generalized anxiety disorder with couple-related worry

Young adults suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) show high levels of worry about different domains, with couple relationships being the most frequent one. Excessive worry in this domain might lead to couple dysfunction, which is associated with lower outcomes of cognitive behavioral therapy. The current study analyzes the effect of an individual, 3-session, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) protocol focused on repetitive negative thinking (RNT) in the treatment of GAD with couple relationship as the main worry domain. Three young adults with GAD participated in this study. A delayed multiple-baseline design was implemented. All participants completed a 5 to 7-week baseline without showing improvement trends in couple-related worry (Experiences in Close Relationships -Anxiety; ECR-A) and general pathological worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire; PSWQ). Afterwards, they received the ACT protocol, and a 3-month follow-up was conducted. All 3 participants showed evidence of intervention effects on the ECR-A and PSWQ. The standardized mean difference effect sizes for single-case experimental design were very large for the ECR-A (g= 5.93) and PSWQ (g= 3.19). No adverse events were found. Brief, RNT-focused ACT protocols for treating GAD with couple relationship as the main worry domain deserve further empirical tests

No disponible

General Health Questionnaire-12 validity in Colombia and factorial equivalence between clinical and nonclinical participants.

The General Health Questionnaire - 12 (GHQ-12) is a widely used screening self-report for emotional disorders among adults. However, there is little evidence concerning the validity of the GHQ-12 in Colombia and its factorial invariance between nonclinical and clinical samples. Accordingly, the current study aims to explore the GHQ-12 validity in Colombian nonclinical and clinical samples. The GHQ-12 was administered to a total of 1641 participants, including a sample of undergraduates, one of general population, and a clinical sample. The internal consistency of the GHQ-12 across samples was good (overall alpha of .90). The one-factor model showed a good fit to the data and was considered theoretically more coherent than the two-factor model with positive and negative items loading in separate factors. Metric and scalar invariance were observed across nonclinical and clinical samples. The GHQ-12 scores were strongly and positively related to emotional symptoms and experiential avoidance, and negatively related to life satisfaction. According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, a threshold score of 11/12 was optimal to identify emotional disorders. In conclusion, the GHQ-12 is a valid screening self-report in Colombia that provides scores that can be compared across clinical and nonclinical participants.