Answer Addiction

Tag: cognitive behavioral therapy

  • Is Bite-Sized Therapy A Good Option For Kids?

    Is Bite-Sized Therapy A Good Option For Kids?

    Clinicians test the effectiveness of single, 30-minute sessions to treat kids suffering from depression and anxiety.

    Despite the fact that more and more young people are struggling with depression, anxiety and other psychological obstacles, help is still hard to come by for some. 

    According to Vox, it’s estimated that about one-quarter of those under age 18 have struggled with such a problem and only about one-third receive help. 

    But Jessica Schleider is hoping to change that. 

    Teaching Kids Coping Skills Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

    Schleider is in charge of the Lab for Scalable Mental Health at Stony Brook University in New York and is an advocate of psychotherapy, which is similar to therapy but “much, much shorter.”

    Psychotherapy is also known as talk-based therapy. Traditionally, patients have hour-long sessions over the timeframe of weeks or months. 

    But Schleider’s approach differs. Her sessions are about 30 minutes and are rooted in the idea of cognitive behavioral therapy. Three such sessions are available online for free so that young patients can try them and then assist in evaluating them. 

    While Schleider is still working to determine the effectiveness of the sessions, a pilot study with 96 participants in 2018 showed encouraging results, finding that one 30-minute session decreased depression and anxiety in comparison to a control group. 

    Schleider says her hope is that these sessions can provide kids with coping skills. 

    “I don’t think what we’re doing will replace anything already out there,” Schleider says. “But there needs to be other options.”

    Short, Online Modules on Mental Health

    Because of the shortage in mental health care, Schleider says one way her sessions could be used is when a child is waiting for a one-on-one appointment with a therapist. Or, she adds, they could be used by pediatricians when a child is showing signs of depression. 

    One of the sessions available online confronts depression by teaching children that the feelings they are experiencing are temporary. Another of the sessions delves into self-hatred and being kind to oneself, while the third deals with mood management. 

    Schleider says the content in the modules are “all little pieces of what you might get in a full treatment package.”

    “But nobody’s ever bothered to test whether every aspect of those full treatment packages need to happen in order for someone to make a change,” she added. 

    As such, Schleider plans to continue collecting data on whether her programs are effective. 

    “Right now we have four or five different programs we’re evaluating,” she said. “We want to get an excellent grasp of what they do, and how they do it, and for whom they can be supportive and helpful before getting to the point of saying ‘everyone should now do this thing.’”

    “Too many kids have gone without care for too long, and that’s why I’m doing this,” she added.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Video Games Help Treat Depression?

    Can Video Games Help Treat Depression?

    Some believe that a mind at play experiences beneficial neurological effects.

    Video games could be beneficial for those suffering from depression, some experts believe. It may seem counterintuitive as players seem to use video games to isolate and distract themselves from the world, but the mind at play helps people feel more confident and energetic.

    Anyone who has played video games knows it stimulates the mind, designed to tickle a person’s reward pathways when they achieve a goal or task as well as develop memory and learning in the hippocampus.

    In depressed people, these parts of the brain shrivel. Engaging in a combination of strategy, diligence, and effort to achieve a virtual goal can yield a very real sense of accomplishment that can help restore these critical regions.

    Fighting Depression

    Researchers have even created a video game specifically tailored to combat depression. In SPARX, players navigate a fantasy world and fight creatures called GNATs (short for gloomy, negative, automatic thoughts) that represent the mental formations of depression. The game is actually a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, wherein players are lead to literally confront and defeat their negative thoughts.

    While the game may seem hokey, it works. About 44% of those who played SPARX recovered from depression, up from the 26% of patients recovered though treatment without the game. In recovery, around 66% of SPARX players felt that their depression symptoms had been reduced by at least 30%, while a relatively fewer 58% of non-players could say the same.

    This could explain why some people link depression and video games, mistakenly assuming that the lonely escapist gamer is falling deeper into depression as a result of their self-imposed isolation.

    However, this cause-and-effect explanation is probably reversed — a depressed gamer is likely already depressed and is actually managing their own symptoms through the use of video games.

    Problematic Gaming

    That said, video gaming can become problematic if it is used only as an escape and distraction from life. It’s become a prevalent enough problem that the World Health Organization has officially recognized gaming disorder in its International Classification of Diseases.

    Like many forms of media, it comes down to which titles are played. Games like Minecraft engage the creative imagination of players, while Nintendo Wii games help people stand up and get moving. Online games like Fornite provide social interaction that can be increasingly harder for children to find as public gathering places, such as malls, fall out of fashion.

    Considering that over 26% of adults in the United States suffer from depression, it’s necessary to get to the truth of what helps and harms people suffering from depression.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Treating Insomnia Ease Depression Symptoms For Menopausal Women?

    Can Treating Insomnia Ease Depression Symptoms For Menopausal Women?

    Researchers explored possible treatment options for depression and insomnia in menopausal women.

    Depression symptoms in women going through menopause may decrease when insomnia is treated, new research has found.

    According to Reuters, researchers enlisted 117 women going through menopause who also had insomnia. Most women, according to Reuters, experience menopause anywhere between age 45 and 55. Menopause occurs when the hormones estrogen and progesterone stop being produced by the ovaries. One of the main symptoms for women is insomnia.

    The women were split into three groups randomly. One group received cognitive behavioral therapy, the second group received a type of CBT called sleep restriction therapy, and the third was given information about habits to make sleeping and falling asleep easier (also referred to as sleep hygiene education).

    Of the women in the study, 4.3% had been diagnosed with moderately severe depression. Researchers found that both types of therapy helped to alleviate depression symptoms, while the sleep hygiene education did not have the same results.

    “We can add targeted cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia to the current arsenal of treatments available to alleviate menopausal associated insomnia and with this treatment we have the added benefit of reductions in depressive symptoms which frequently co-occur with sleep disturbance associated with menopause,” senior study author Christopher Drake of the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, told Reuters via email. “We hope to one day show that targeting insomnia symptoms early when depression is mild or yet to develop can prevent depression from ever developing in the first place.”

    When it comes to insomnia, CBT helps people learn techniques that address the mental aspects of insomnia, like overcoming negative emotions, anxiety and a racing mind.

    Previous research has found that CBT can help those with insomnia to create better bedtime routines and improve their sleep patterns.

    When it comes to sleep restriction therapy, it can be done solo or in addition to CBT. The goal of this type of therapy is to limit how many times a person wakes during the night and to decrease the total amount of time they spend in bed but not the total amount of time they spend asleep.

    In this particular study, women receiving CBT went through six face-to-face therapy sessions with a medical professional in the behavioral sleep medicine field. Those undergoing sleep restriction therapy had two face-to-face sessions and three phone sessions. The remaining group undergoing sleep hygiene education received six emails per week, each with tips for better sleep routines and information on sleep and its connection to health and lifestyle. 

    Researchers do note that this study has some limitations, such as the fact that women with major depression were not included in the study. The study also did not take into account hot flashes, which are a common symptom of menopause that could interfere with sleep.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Internet-Based Therapy Effectively Treat Depression?

    Can Internet-Based Therapy Effectively Treat Depression?

    Scientists investigated whether internet-based platforms that offer treatment for depression were actually effective. 

    Technology may soon have a larger role in treating severe depression, as new research has determined that cognitive behavioral therapy sessions via an app can be effective.

    Cognitive behavioral therapy, according to Medical News Today, is a type of therapy that works to change people’s thought patterns over time. When delivered via an app, it is referred to as internet-based CBT or iCBT. 

    In the past, it has been deemed effective for depression, anxiety and panic disorder, bipolar, substance use disorders and various other mental health disorders. 

    However, until recently, it was unknown whether iCBT was effective for severe depression or for those struggling with both depression and anxiety/alcohol use disorder. 

    According to Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces, a clinical professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University in Bloomington and lead study author, iCBT is effective in such cases. 

    Lorenzo-Luaces says the criteria for major depressive disorder is met by about one in four people.

    “If you include people with minor depression or who have been depressed for a week or a month with a few symptoms, the number grows, exceeding the number of psychologists who can serve them,” he told Medical News Today.

    In the study, Lorenzo-Luaces and his team analyzed 21 existing studies and determined that iCBT apps were, in fact, effective for treating mild, moderate and severe levels of depression.

    Many of the existing studies compared iCBT apps to “sham apps,” or apps that are meant to make weaker recommendations to their users. In these cases, the iCBT apps were far more effective for users. 

    “Before this study, I thought past studies were probably focused on people with very mild depression, those who did not have other mental health problems and were at low risk for suicide,” Lorenzo-Luaces said.



    “To my surprise, that was not the case,” he added. “The science suggests that these apps and platforms can help a large number of people.”

    Even so, Lorenzo-Luaces says it’s important that people don’t interpret this evidence as a reason to stop taking a medication and rely solely on iCBT.

    In conclusion, Lorenzo-Luaces and his team note that iCBT is on par with other treatment methods for severe depression.

    “A conservative interpretation of our findings is that the patient population sampled in the literature on self-guided iCBT is relatively comparable with that of studies of antidepressants or face-to-face psychotherapy.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Are Teens' Brains More Vulnerable To Addiction?

    Are Teens' Brains More Vulnerable To Addiction?

    It all comes down to the developing brain. 

    While teenagers have always experimented with mind-altering substances, they are at more risk of addiction than ever. The combination of modern drug availability and the specific vulnerability of the teen brain make the teen years a higher risk for addiction than in adulthood.

    The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 35.6% of high school students say they have tried marijuana, 60.4% have tried alcohol, while 14% say they have misused opioids to get high.

    The teenage human brain is not “fully wired” Dr. Frances Jensen, chair of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, told the Philly Voice. Because the teenage brain is literally still growing—still building the synapses that connect portions of the brain and create connections for memories, skills and rewards—it has high synaptic plasticity.

    And this, the Philly Voice note, makes the teenage brain is specifically vulnerable to addiction.

    While this plasticity allows for powerful healing properties as well as learning abilities, it also leaves the brain more vulnerable to addiction.

    It has been widely discussed in the last decade that the teen brain has an undeveloped frontal lobe, the area that primarily responsible for ultimately making decisions.

    Teens are notoriously prone to impulsive decisions and struggle to see future consequences as a reality.

    The connections in the teen frontal lobe are not yet covered with the myelin sheath, the covering that allows signals to travel rapidly throughout the brain.

    “That plays into getting addicted in the first place,” Jensen told Philly Voice. “There’s this increased propensity to take risks and try substances – despite the fact that you might know it’s really bad for you.”

    Yet Jensen points out a bright side, “If you can get them into rehab, you have better results in rehab. You can undo the circuit. You still have a better ability to remold the circuit – if you can capture it.”

    This is why programs for drug and alcohol rehabilitation often incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy for teenagers struggling with addiction.

    “They are really good learners at this age,” Jensen told the Philly Voice. “They’re very interested in their brains. They’re very interested in what drives their behavior and why they did that stupid thing on Saturday night.”

    View the original article at thefix.com