Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a significant contributor to global disability, projected to emerge as the leading cause of disability by 2030. While Antidepressants (ADTs) are a prevalent...Show moreMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a significant contributor to global disability, projected to emerge as the leading cause of disability by 2030. While Antidepressants (ADTs) are a prevalent treatment option for MDD, their efficacy is constrained by low remission rates and undesirable side effects, prompting exploration of alternatives. In the last decade, the efficacy of nutraceuticals in MDD treatment has gained attention. However, there is a gap in research regarding direct comparison between the dropout rates in trials investigating the effect of ADTs and nutraceuticals on MDD. This study conducted a comprehensive comparison of efficacy and dropout rates among 17 types of ADTs and 3 types of nutraceuticals. Data were derived from RCTs included in the most recent meta-analyses on this subject. Due to a lack of previous studies on the dropout comparison of ADTs and nutraceuticals, no predictions were made in that regard. However, it was hypothesized that higher dropout rates would be associated with better treatment outcomes. The findings indicate that Nutraceuticals were more effective (Cohen’s d = -1.96, CI: -3.40 to -.53) in MDD treatment compared to ADTs (Cohen’s d = -.35, CI: -.39 to -.31). There were no significant differences in dropout rates between ADTs and nutraceuticals, except within control groups, where nutraceuticals demonstrated lower dropout rates (M =.13) compared to ADTs (M =.28). Furthermore, no relationship between dropout rates and treatment outcomes was observed, except within the ADTs control group where higher dropout rates corresponded to lower treatment outcomes (t (1,144) = -2.91, p = .004). This study shows the comparative efficacy and dropout dynamics of ADTs and nutraceuticals in the treatment of MDD.Show less
Abstract Background At this moment, there are more refugees than ever before. Refugees have more chance of developing psychopathology, which can be explained from the (biosocial) ecological models....Show moreAbstract Background At this moment, there are more refugees than ever before. Refugees have more chance of developing psychopathology, which can be explained from the (biosocial) ecological models. Individual and environmental traits influence the development, course and treatment of psychopathology. An unstable environment might cause more stress and mental health issues. The aim of this meta-analysis is to research how effective psychotherapy is for treating PTSD in refugees, and if age as individual factor and language/ cultural adaptation as environmental factor influence the treatment efficacy. Methodology A systematic review with different meta-analyses. Results Systematic researches provided 132 effect sizes within 80 suitable studies. The overall effect size of treating PTSD was significant (Cohen’s d = -0.941, p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the mean effect sizes of treating PTSD between children, adolescents and adults. There was no difference in treatment efficacy as a function of the level of language or cultural adaptation found. Discussion and conclusion These results show that psychotherapy significantly lowers PTSD symptoms in refugees. However, our results do not find evidence for the proposed (biosocial) ecological models since age and adaptation are not associated with treatment efficacy. Moreover, there is a large difference in treatment efficacy between refugees and non-refugees, this might be caused by the different structural designs between the studies included in this meta-analysis. Future research should consider these different structural designs and should research more environmental factors that can increase treatment efficacy.Show less
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone’s life since its outbreak, with the lockdown having a negative reputation on mental health. This study examined mental health levels of undergraduate...Show moreThe COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone’s life since its outbreak, with the lockdown having a negative reputation on mental health. This study examined mental health levels of undergraduate students during and one year after the lockdown, with the expectation that they would experience more mental health problems. Mood and anxiety problems were assessed through an online questionnaire in two collection waves. The first wave was conducted between September and October 2020, after the first lockdown. The participants were reassessed one year later. The sample consisted of N = 478 undergraduates (mean age = 22,3; 55,6% female). A binary logistic regression revealed that during the lockdown, half of the students (50,8%) reported that the COVID-19 crisis had impacted their mood in a negative way. One year after the lockdown fewer students reported that the COVID-19 crisis had negatively impacted their mood (41,3%), F (1, 205) = 17.91, p < .001. Less than half of the students (38,9%) reported that the COVID-19 crisis had impacted their anxiety levels. One year after the lockdown 25,6% reported that the coronavirus had negatively impacted their anxiety levels, F (1, 206) = 7.49, p = .007. Previous mental health problems were associated with mood and anxiety problems in both waves. In contrast to preregistered hypotheses, experiencing mood and anxiety problems during the COVID-19 lockdown did not predict having more mood and anxiety problems one year after the COVID-19 lockdown. Undergraduate students were found to be largely resilient to the effects of lockdown measures on mental health.Show less
The COVID-19 pandemic has created another pandemic: one of domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV). Multiple sources have indicated that there is a relationship between the use...Show moreThe COVID-19 pandemic has created another pandemic: one of domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV). Multiple sources have indicated that there is a relationship between the use of certain words and depressive symptoms, for instance the self-awareness theory of depression states that depressed people use more words referring to the self. This study aimed to see if there was a relationship between exposure to DV and depressive symptoms, indicated by word use and to examine the influence of COVID-19 on the use of these words that indicate depressive symptoms. In total 4671 texts from three different subreddits were analysed: one on DV and two control non-DV groups. The outcome variables were: first-person singular pronouns, negation words, negative emotion words, anxiety-related words. Results indicated that victims of DV used more first-person singular words, words related to negative emotions and anxiety-related words and fewer negation words, relative to the control group. The general effect of subreddit on word use was a value of Pillai’s trace of .662. No effect of time or interactions between subreddits and time were found on the use of the word categories. There is potential in the use of textual analysis to detect depressive symptoms and possibly also victimisation of DV.Show less
Victims of domestic violence have a threefold risk for developing depression and are likelier to commit suicide than non-victims. As the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of domestic...Show moreVictims of domestic violence have a threefold risk for developing depression and are likelier to commit suicide than non-victims. As the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of domestic violence and mental health problems, social media site Reddit was used to detect changes in depression and suicidality in victims word use (using more first-person singular pronouns, negative emotion words, death-related words and less positive emotion words). The present study aims to see whether the word use suggesting depression or suicidality has increased in the victims (r/domesticviolence) versus non-victims (r/changemyview) from pre-COVID19 to during COVID-19. 1669 and 2358 posts for the r/domesticviolence and r/changemyview respectively were analyzed using LIWC2015. The main effect of subreddit showed that victims used more first-person singular pronouns (Eta squared η²=.668) and negative emotion words (Eta squared η²=.167), both having a large effect. The control group used more positive emotion words and death-related words. Main effect of year showed an increase in the use of first-person singular pronouns in both victims and non-victims. There was no interaction effect between the year and the subreddits. These results indicate that COVID-19 didn’t contribute to the differences in depressive or suicidal word use between the two subreddits. However, COVID-19 had an effect in general for the increases in self-focus. Finally, overall the victims showed more word use related to depression or suicidality. Some limitations and future directions were considered in the end.Show less
Past research has shown that during natural disasters, domestic violence cases tend to increase. As a result of domestic violence, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are likely to...Show morePast research has shown that during natural disasters, domestic violence cases tend to increase. As a result of domestic violence, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are likely to develop which decrease cognitive processing capacity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on PTSD symptoms and cognitive processing in domestic violence victims through their word use. Linguistic analysis was performed on posts from the domestic violence and control subreddits from 2019 and 2020 (N = 2858). 1 st person singular pronouns and negative emotions were used as markers of PTSD symptoms, and causation, insight, and tentative were used as markers of cognitive processing. The results showed a significant effect for subreddit only with a strong effect size of η 2 = .693. Compared to the control, the domestic violence subreddit showed significantly greater use of 1st person singular and negative emotion, and significantly lower use of insight, causation, and tentative. However, there were no significant effects of year (η 2 = .003) or interaction between year and subreddit (η 2 = .001). Therefore, there was no significant effect of Covid-19. These results highlight the effect of domestic violence trauma, suggesting an increase in PTSD symptoms and a decrease in cognitive processing. Implications and suggestions for future studies are also discussed.Show less
OVID-19 has shown to have significant negative impact on mental health, especially in vulnerable groups. One of these groups is experiencers of domestic violence, a group that seems to be growing...Show moreOVID-19 has shown to have significant negative impact on mental health, especially in vulnerable groups. One of these groups is experiencers of domestic violence, a group that seems to be growing during the epidemic. Linguistic markers of high stress sensitivity have been identified in earlier research but not used to discover groups vulnerable to developing or possessing high stress sensitivity. The aim of this paper is to determine whether experiencers of domestic violence show more signs of high stress sensitivity as compared to other groups and to test whether COVID-19 has affected the population's levels of mental distress. In this paper, 4186 posts from three subreddits were analysed from pre- and during COVID-19 periods. The results showed a significant positive correlation between the indicators of mental distress and COVID-19 related words (rs = .120, p < .001), as well as between the linguistic indicators of stress sensitivity and anxiety (rs = .352, p < .001). Scores of linguistic indicators of stress sensitivity are significantly higher for 1st person experiencers of domestic violence than for other groups. From this it is concluded that there is a positive relationship between mental distress and the use of COVID-19 related words, as well as between stress sensitivity and anxiety. It also indicates that 1st person experiencers of domestic violence tend to show higher stress sensitivity than others. Further research, specifically non-linguistic research, is needed to provide extra support for the aforementioned relationships found, so as to not rely on linguistic indicators alone.Show less
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), is a strong determinant of mental health, and increases throughout any crisis, making the COVID19 pandemic no exception. Current literature implies that word use...Show moreIntimate Partner Violence (IPV), is a strong determinant of mental health, and increases throughout any crisis, making the COVID19 pandemic no exception. Current literature implies that word use can give insight into one’s mental health. The current study aimed to see to what extent word use changes in those who do, and those who do not experience IPV; and what effect does COVID19 have. It is also explored whether staying or leaving the relationship, or being of a particular gender has an impact on the well-being of the IPV experiencer. A total of 1173 posts were extracted from the Reddit social platform. The posts were put through an LIWC software to acquire the linguistic scores of well-being. The results show that experiencing IPV contributes to lower cognitive processes, personal concerns and religion, while reporting higher negative emotions and drives, accounting for 29.3% of variance explained. COVID19 accounts for only 0.3% of variance explained, as writing during COVID19 leads to significant differences in the drives category, with bystanders reporting the highest scores. Differences between staying or leaving the relationship account for a small variance explained of 0.9%, as those who stay report higher negative emotions and personal concerns, whereas those who leave report higher cognitive processes and drives. Females reported higher cognitive processes than males (r = -.12). Finally, future studies should aim to match control and IPV experienced writers when assessing the linguistic scores by age, cultural background and writing skill for more comparable and reliable resultsShow less
Objectives: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the effects of COVID-19 on alcohol consumption. Studies were included if they reported results on two measures of the...Show moreObjectives: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the effects of COVID-19 on alcohol consumption. Studies were included if they reported results on two measures of the short version of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT-C), pre and post pandemic. The databases that were used were PubMed and Web of Science for articles published in English. Data were extracted on demographics and details of measures used to assess alcohol consumption. A random-effects meta-analyses was performed and calculated the standardized mean difference in scores on the AUDIT-C questionnaire. Results: The effect size was low, 0.1993 (95% CI: -0.0442 to 0.4429) and of none statistical significance (p= 0.109, > 5%). Conclusion: The results may be the outcome of the only six studies that were included in the analysis. It is also possible that alcohol consumption did not increased significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or that for some populations has instead, decreased.Show less
A person’s mental state can be shown by their word use. Patterns that can be seen in a person’s word use can reflect markers which can indicate symptoms of psychiatric disorders. Studies showed...Show moreA person’s mental state can be shown by their word use. Patterns that can be seen in a person’s word use can reflect markers which can indicate symptoms of psychiatric disorders. Studies showed that stressors can have an impact on a person’s word use and reveal symptoms of psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to investigate linguistic changes in individuals with a psychiatric disorder during the Covid-19 pandemic. Blog posts of Dutch, English and German female bloggers with a psychiatric disorder and those without a psychiatric disorder were used to analyse changes in first-person singular and plural personal pronouns, negative and positive emotion words and cognitive processing words. Furthermore, the changes over time in these word categories were assessed by means of random-effects meta-analyses over cases. It appeared that patients used more first-person singular and plural personal pronouns and cognitive processing words compared to the control group. There were no changes over time in the emotional tone of the blog posts between the patients and the controls. However, patients had a more negative or a less positive tone during Covid-19 compared to before the pandemic. To conclude, patients were more focused on themselves as well as on others and may have been more preoccupied with cognitive processes than the control group. It was also evident that patients were perhaps more likely to experience negative emotions during stressors such as the Covid-19 pandemic.Show less
Introduction: Reluctance is an important factor in treating patients with severe anorexia. Sometimes the pursuit of weight-loss gets so out of control that somatic values drop to become life...Show moreIntroduction: Reluctance is an important factor in treating patients with severe anorexia. Sometimes the pursuit of weight-loss gets so out of control that somatic values drop to become life threatening. In that case, involuntary treatment can be imposed, raising the question whether a treatment with resistance can be effective. In this study, an involuntary treatment group was compared with a voluntary group in terms of growth in BMI. Additionally, this study examined the relation between personal characteristics and BMI over time. Method: 31 patients participated who were currently being treated in an inpatients program. Quantitative data such as BMI, age, resistance, feeding-tube administration and history of admissions was collected from both groups. The collected data was analyzed through a multi-regression analysis. Results: The groups differ in BMI growth; the voluntary patients gain more weight in the early stages of admission, however it is the involuntary group who takes the lead in a later phase. Furthermore, it has been found that the BMI growth curve of patients who receive nutrition from a feeding-tube rise faster compared to patients who eat naturally and involuntary patients experience more resistance to recovery. However, that does not mean that scoring high on resistance equals less effective recovery. Discussion: This study suggests that involuntary treatment may be effective when a situation has become dire. Although there are negative sides, such as disrespecting autonomy and damaging the client-therapist relationship, patients can often reflect the importance of treatment afterwards. Further long-term research needs to be done to determine whether any future relapses play a role in recovery.Show less
Depression, obesity and T2D are growing healthcare and societal burdens worldwide. Several studies showed that there are relationships between these burdens. T2D often coincides with depression and...Show moreDepression, obesity and T2D are growing healthcare and societal burdens worldwide. Several studies showed that there are relationships between these burdens. T2D often coincides with depression and vice versa, whereas elevated glucose levels can indicate T2D. Current study focuses on depressive mood, postprandial- and glucose levels. This cross-sectional cohort study utilized secondary, quantitative data from the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO) study (N = 6671), which included a meal challenge. The Inventory of Depressive Symptoms (IDS), was used to assess depressive mood. It was expected that depressive mood predicts elevated postprandial- and fasting glucose levels. Sex, BMI and Total Body Fat were expected to be moderators. Depressive mood significantly predicted elevated postprandial- and fasting glucose levels, before adding covariates other than age and sex. Sex, BMI and TBF all significantly moderated the associations between depressive mood and elevated postprandial- and fasting glucose. The effect of depressive mood on postprandial glucose, but not fasting glucose, was stronger in females than in males, with B = .017, p < .001 and B = 007, p < .001, respectively. Subjects with depressive mood are more at risk for developing IGM, IFG, and ultimately T2D. Women are more at risk than men, whereas excess weight also seems a risk factor for elevated glucose levels. It is suggested that future research focusses on the impact of confounding variables and depressive symptoms by itself, to more accurately study the effect of depression on IGM, IFG and T2D.Show less
As previous studies show a positive relationship between present time orientation and psychological well-being, the purpose of the current within-subjects study is to examine whether a present time...Show moreAs previous studies show a positive relationship between present time orientation and psychological well-being, the purpose of the current within-subjects study is to examine whether a present time orientation, and otherwise mindfulness, can be found in word use of suicidal musicians over time. Fewer words referring to the present, compared to the past and the future were expected. Moreover, a decrease in the use of present time words, and an increase in the use of past and future time words, closer to the moment of suicide, was expected. The different means of the time categories were calculated with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to test for differences in these means. To test for change over time in the time categories, the Kendall’s Tau B correlation coefficients were used. Present time orientation (M = 8.449) had a mean greater than both the mean of past time orientation (M = 2.308) and the future time orientation (M = 1.500). Moreover, future time orientation had a mean greater than past time orientation. I found that these differences were statistically significant. There was a significant decrease in words referring to the past (τb = -.113, p = .005) and a non-significant decrease in words referring to the future (τb = -.071, p = .081). Lastly, there was a significant decrease in words referring to the present (τb = -.153, p < .001). The finding of a decrease in present time, and the finding of less words referring to the future, compared to the past, are in line with previous studies on this topic. It is concluded that fewer words referring to the future, compared to the past and present, and a decrease in present time words over time can be an indication of suicide risk.Show less
