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Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an internet-based treatment for Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder (GPPPD) which adversely affects women's sexuality and is associated with reduced well-being and mental health comorbidities. Method: Two-hundred women with GPPPD (no penetrative intercourse ≥6 months) were randomly allocated to the intervention group (IG) or a waitlist control group (WCG). The intervention included eight modules and one booster session and was delivered through an eHealth platform. Participants were supported by an eCoach regarding treatment adherence. The primary outcome was intercourse penetration behavior. Online assessments were scheduled at baseline (T1), after Session 8/12 weeks (T2), and 6 months (T3) after randomization. Intention-to-treat analyses were reported. Results: Significantly more participants (31.00%, n = 31/100) in the IG were able to have sexual intercourse at T2 compared to those in the WCG, 13.00%, n = 13/100; χ2(1) = 9.44, p <.01. At T3, still more participants in the IG had sexual intercourse (29%) compared to those in the WCG (20%) but the groups no longer differed significantly, χ2(1) = 2.19, p =.19. Genital pain, painful and noncoital penetration behavior, and negative penetration-related cognitions significantly improved with medium to large effects at T2 (d = 0.66−1.25) and small to large effects at T3 (d = 0.23−1.32), whereas fear of sexuality, overall sexual functioning, trait anxiety, and well-being improved with small to medium effects (T2: d = 0.20−0.49, T3: d = 0.23−0.46) in the IG compared to the WCG. On average, participants completed 79% of the intervention. Conclusion: Internet-based treatment has been shown to be effective for GPPPD symptoms and could therefore be a promising treatment modality. What is the public health significance of this article?: This study suggests that internet-based treatment can be an acceptable and effective approach to enable intercourse penetration behavior and reduce associated symptoms of Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder in comparison to a waitlist condition. Internet-based treatment might be recommended for women preferring self-help and who cannot and will not access face-to-face therapy due to structural and attitudinal barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: As emotion regulation is widely considered to be a primary motive in the misuse of alcohol, our aim in the study was to investigate whether deficits in adaptive emotion-regulation skills maintain alcohol dependence (AD). Method: A prospective study investigated whether emotion-regulation skills were associated with AD and whether these skills predicted alcohol use during and after treatment for AD. Participants were 116 individuals treated for AD with cognitive-behavioral therapy. Emotion regulation and severity of AD symptoms were assessed by self-report. Alcohol use during treatment was assessed by Breathalyzer and urine analysis for ethyl glucuronide; alcohol use during the 3-month follow-up interval was assessed by self-report. Results: Pretreatment emotion-regulation skills predicted alcohol use during treatment, and posttreatment emotion-regulation skills predicted alcohol use at follow-up, even when controlling for other predictors potentially related to emotion regulation. Among a broad range of specific emotion-regulation skills, the ability to tolerate negative emotions was the only skill that negatively predicted subsequent alcohol consumption when controlling for the other skills. Individuals in the AD sample reported significantly larger deficits in emotion-regulation skills than did those in a nonclinical control sample but significantly less than did those in a sample of individuals exclusively meeting criteria for major depressive disorder. Conclusions: Enhancement of general emotion-regulation skills, especially the ability to tolerate negative emotions, appears to be an important target in the treatment of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deficits in emotion-regulation skills have widely been shown to be associated with poor emotional adjustment. However, it is still unclear whether these deficits are a cause or a consequence of poor adjustment. The purpose of the present research was to clarify the reciprocal effects between these 2 concepts. In 2 studies (Ns = 446 and 635), self-reports of emotion regulation and emotional adjustment were assessed twice with a 2-week interval. Cross-lagged regression analyses demonstrated that self- reports of emotion regulation predicted subsequent adjustment, over and above the effects of previous adjustment, whereas emotional adjustment did not predict subsequent emotion regulation. Thus, a focus on emotion-regulation skills may be important in the prevention and treatment of affect-related mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: As a common experience in the general population, dissatisfaction with one's body is associated with a variety of psychological problems and unhealthy behaviors, including the development of eating disorders. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to develop and evaluate an app-based intervention to reduce body dissatisfaction. Method: Participants reporting elevated levels of body dissatisfaction were randomly allocated to an app-based intervention (n = 26) or to a wait list group (n = 27). The app-based intervention included a brief counseling session and 14 days of training with the Mindtastic Body Dissatisfaction app (MT-BD), The MT-BD app uses gamification strategies to systematically foster approach of functional and avoidance of dysfunctional stimuli. The primary outcome was body dissatisfaction as assessed with the Body Dissatisfaction scale of the Eating Disorder lnventory-2 (Garner, 1991). Secondary outcome measures included severity of eating disorder symptoms and depressive symptoms. Results: Participants in the intervention group showed significantly greater reductions in body dissatisfaction compared to the wait list group (d = --0.62). The intervention group also showed greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms compared to the wait list group (d = -0.46). Reductions in body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms were sustained at a 1-month follow-up. Conclusion: We found preliminary evidence that an app-based intervention may significantly reduce body dissatisfaction. Further research using larger samples and targeting clinical populations is necessary to evaluate the potential of interventions such as MT-BD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Deficits in emotion regulation (ER) skills are considered a putative maintaining factor for major depressive disorder (MDD) and hence a promising target in the treatment of MDD. However, to date, the association between the successful application of arguably adaptive ER skills and changes in depressive symptom severity (DSS) has yet to be investigated over the course of treatment. Thus, the primary aim of this study was to clarify reciprocal prospective associations between successful ER skills application and DSS over the course of inpatient cognitive behavioral therapy for MDD. Additionally, we explored whether such associations would differ across specific ER skills. Method: We assessed successful ER skills application and DSS 4 times during the first 3 weeks of treatment in 152 inpatients (62.5% women, average age 45.6 years) meeting criteria for MDD. We first tested whether successful skills application and depression were cross-sectionally associated by computing Pearson's correlations. Then, we utilized latent curve modeling to test whether changes in successful skills application were negatively associated with changes in DSS during treatment. Finally, we used latent change score models to clarify whether successful skills application would predict subsequent reduction of DSS. Results: Cross-sectionally, successful ER skills application was associated with lower levels of DSS at all assessment times, and an increase of successful skills application during treatment was associated with a decrease of DSS. Moreover, successful overall ER skills application predicted subsequent changes in DSS (but not vice versa). Finally, strength of associations between successful application and DSS differed across specific ER skills. Among a broad range of potentially adaptive skills, only the abilities to tolerate negative emotions and to actively modify undesired emotions were significantly associated with subsequent improvement in DSS. Conclusions: Systematically enhancing health-relevant ER skills with specific interventions may help reduce DSS in patients suffering from MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]