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Background. Aberrant activity of the subcallosal cingulate (SCC) is a common theme across pharmacologic treatment efficacy prediction studies. The functioning of the SCC in psychotherapeutic interventions is relatively understudied, as are functional differences among SCC subdivisions. We conducted functional connectivity analyses (rsFC) on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, collected before and after a course of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in patients withmajor depressive disorder (MDD), using seeds from three SCC subdivisions. Methods. Resting-state data were collected from unmedicated patients with current MDD (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 > 16) before and after 14-sessions of CBT monotherapy. Treatment outcome was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Rostral anterior cingulate (rACC), anterior subcallosal cingulate (aSCC), and Brodmann's area 25 (BA25) masks were used as seeds in connectivity analyses that assessed baseline rsFC and symptom severity, changes in connectivity related to symptom improvement after CBT, and prediction of treatment outcomes using whole-brain baseline connectivity. Results. Pretreatment BDI negatively correlated with pretreatment rACC ~ dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and aSCC ~ lateral prefrontal cortex rsFC. In a region-of-interest longitudinal analysis, rsFC between these regions increased post-treatment (p < 0.05FDR). In whole-brain analyses, BA25 ~ paracentral lobule and rACC ~ paracentral lobule connectivities decreased post-treatment. Whole-brain baseline rsFC with SCC did not predict clinical improvement. Conclusions. rsFC features of rACC and aSCC, but not BA25, correlated inversely with baseline depression severity, and increased following CBT. Subdivisions of SCC involved in top-down emotion regulation may be more involved in cognitive interventions, while BA25 may be more informative for interventions targeting bottom-up processing. Results emphasize the importance of subdividing the SCC in connectivity analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Identifying the predictors of response to psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment may be useful for increasing treatment efficacy in pharmacoresistant depressive patients. Objectives: The goal of this study was to examine the influence of dissociation, hope, personality trait and selected demographic factors in treatment response of this group of patients. Methods: Pharmacoresistant depressive inpatients were enrolled in the study. All patients completed Clinical Global Impression - both objective and subjective form (CGI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) at baseline and after six weeks of combined pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy treatment as outcome measures. Internalized Stigma Of Mental Illness Scale (ISMI), Dissociative Experience Scale (DES), Adult Dispositional Hope Scale (ADHS), and Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R) were completed at start of treatment with intention to find predictors of treatment efficacy. Results: The study included 72 patients hospitalized for the pharmacoresistant major depression, 63 of them finished the study. Mean scores of BDI-II, BAI, subjCGI, and objCGI significantly decreased during the treatment. BDI-II relative change statistically significantly correlated with the total ISMI score, Discrimination Experience, and Harm Avoidance. Strongest factors connected to BDI-II relative change were duration of disorder and Discrimination Experience. The strongest factor connected to objCGI relative change was Discrimination Experience. The existence of comorbid personality disorder did not influence the treatment response Conclusions: According to our results, the patients with pharmacoresistant depressive disorders, who have had more experience with discrimination because of their mental struggles, showed a poorer response to treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Dissociation is imporant feature of the patients wiht anxiety disorders and depressive disorders. Objectives: Goal of the study was to analyze the impact of dissociation on the treatment of the patients with anxiety/neurotic spectrum and depressive disorders, and with or without personality disorders. Methods: The sample consisted of inpatients with neurotic spectrum disorders and depressive disorder. The participants completed Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, subjective version of Clinical Global Impression-Severity, Sheehan Patient-Related Anxiety Scale, and Dissociative Experience Scale, at the start and the end of the therapeutic program Results: The total of 840 patients with anxiety or depressive spectrum disorders, who were resistant to pharmacological treatment were referred for hospitalization for the six-week complex therapeutic program, were enrolled in this study. 606 of them were statistically analyzed. The patients' ratings significantly reduced during the treatment. Patients without comorbid personality disorder improved significantly more than patients with comorbid personality disorder in the reduction of depressive symptoms. However, there were no significant differences in change of anxiety and severity of disorder between the patients with and without personality disorders. The higher degree of dissociation at the beginning of the treatment predicted minor improvement. Conclusions: Dissociation presents an important factor influencing treatment effectiveness in the treatmentresistant patients with anxiety/depression with or without personality disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Differential diagnostics of the hypochondriacal and anxiety-depressive disorder still remains an issue. The symptomatic picture of somatic complaints adds more difficulties and that can lead to various medical errors and conflicts. Objectives: The research aim is the analysis of individual personality characteristics of the patients with the hypochondriacal and anxiety-depressive disorders. Methods: The research sample includes 74 patients in the age 19-45 years: (1) Experimental group A, 25 persons with the diagnosis 45.2 Hypochondriacal disorder - 12 males and 13 females; (2)Experimental group B, 23 persons with the diagnosis 41.2 Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder - 10 males and 13 females; (3) Control group - 26 persons (12 males and 14 females) with no neurological or psychiatric disorder. Research methods: Viability test in Osina &Rasskazova adaptation; Tolerance-Intolerance Scale in Kornilova's modification; Zalevskiy's Invenory of Rigidness; Beck Depression Inventory; Hamilton Depression Inventory; Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results: The research shows that the patients with the depressionanxiety disorder have more pronounced depression than those with hypochondriacal disorder, who have a medium level. The patients with the mixed disorder have the high level of both state and trait anxiety whereas the hypochondriacal patients demonstrate a high level of the state anxiety and a medium one of the personal anxiety. The hypochondriacal patients also show a low level of viability which means that their relations with other people are limited, they feel fear and helplessness. Conclusions: Those data can be applied in differential diagnostics as well as when designing a program of psychotherapeutic help for those patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hope has a direct effect on the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Dissociation proved to be one of the important factors influencing treatment efficacy in anxiety disorders. Selfstigma complicated adherence of the patients to the treatment. Objectives: The hypothesis is that the increase of self-stigma is connected with the level of dissociation and both lead to a decrease in self-esteem and could also decrease treatment effectiveness in patients with anxiety disorders. Methods: A total of 109 patients were evaluated the start and end of therapy by the following scales: Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview; The Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale; Adult Dispositional Hope Scale; Temperament and Character Inventory - Revised Version; Clinical Global Impression (CGI; objective and subjective); Beck Anxiety Inventory; Beck Depression Inventory - Second Edition; Dissociative Experiences Scale. The therapeutic program included 25 group sessions and 5 individual therapy sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic therapy in combination with pharmacotherapy. Results: Greater improvement in psychopathology, assessed by the relative change of the objective CGI, was associated with lower initial levels of dissociation, pathological dissociation, harm-avoidance, and self-stigma, and higher levels of hope and self-directedness. There were differences in the relative changes in objective CGI between the subgroups with and without a comorbid personality disorder. The patients without comorbid personality disorder improved significantly more than those with that disorder. Conclusions: Treatment effectiveness in anxiety disorders is related to self-stigma, hope, harm-avoidance, self-directedness, and dissociation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction In the last decade, accumulating evidence has been produced on the role of dissociation in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Understanding which dissociation dimensions are specific to OCD could suggest the integration of therapeutic strategies for dissociation in the treatment of patients with OCD. Objectives The current study explored the role of dissociation in a sample of patients with OCD, patients with anxiety disorders and healthy controls with the aim to understand which dissociation dimensions could be specific to OCD. Method One hundred seventy-one participants were included in the study (56% females, mean age = 35.96, SD = 12.61), of which 52 were patients with primary OCD, 59 were patients with Anxiety Disorders (AD), and 60 were healthy controls. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) were administered. Results Patients with OCD had significantly higher dissociative amnesia symptoms than patients with AD and health controls ( F = 6.08, P < 0.01) and higher depersonalization/derealization symptoms than healthy controls but not than patients with AD. Patients with OCD did not report significantly higher dissociative absorption than healthy controls and patients with AD. Conclusions Strategies targeting dissociative amnesia and depersonalization/derealization symptoms in OCD are discussed. Future studies should examine which OCD subtypes are more strongly associated to dissociation dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective Today, overweight, depression and anxiety are the major diseases which are growing all over the world and threat the human health. The findings of previous studies concerning the association between overweight, obesity and psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety are conflicting. Some studies have reported a positive association and some a negative association while some found no association at all. This study evaluates depression and anxiety in people who were overweight. Method In a cross-sectional study, 162 cases with overweight (BMI above 25 and under 30) who referred to diet clinic of Kashan University of Medical Sciences (IRAN, 2015) were selected by using simple random sampling. Depression and anxiety severity were determined by Beck Depression inventory and Beck Anxiety inventory. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistic and t -test, and Chi 2 . Results The mean age of cases was 32.12 ± 7.51 and the mean score of BMI was 26.56 ± 1.31.prevalence of anxiety in the subjects was 63.1% and 8.8% of the subjects in the study have varying degrees of depression. There was a significant correlation between mean scores of anxiety and depression in cases with overweight. There was no significant difference between sex, age, job and education incases. Conclusion Anxiety in persons with overweight is prevalent. Detection and treatment anxiety disorders are recommended for better healthy life and prevention obesity in these cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction In this study we compare the levels of depression and anxiety among Kuwaiti and Iraqi females and males. Iraqi people have been living in war while Kuwaitis were not directly exposed to this experience. Objectives to examine the relationship between culture, gender, depression and anxiety. Methods Standard Arabic Versions of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Kuwait University Anxiety Scale (KUAS) were administered to undergraduates from Kuwait and Iraq, (511 Kuwaiti & 726 Iraqi), (618 males & 619 females). The mean age of the sample was 20.81±1.80. Results Reliabilities ranged from .80 to .89 (alpha) for the BDI-II & from .80 to .89 for the KUAS, denoting good internal consistency. The correlation between the BDI-II & KUAS ranged from .50 to .73 denoting a divergent validity of the scales. Females significantly had higher depression scores than males in both societies (f=35.89, p, <.001), Iraqi had higher scores than Kuwaiti (f=46.44, p, <.001). Similarly, in Anxiety females had higher results than males (f=45.25, p, <001), Iraqis higher than Kuwaitis (25.9, p, <.001). This indicates that culture and gender play an important role in people's self report of depression and anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of study was to establish the efficacy of CBT or short psychodynamic psychotherapy on non-selected and medication-resistant patients with anxiety disorders and to search for predictors of response. Method: Short psychodynamic psychotherapy or systematic CBT was tailored according the needs of each patient. Pharmacology treatment remained mainly unchanged during the trial period. Outcome measures were: Clinical Global Impression - Severity of Illness scale (CGI), Dissociative Experience Scale (DES), Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The primary outcome measures were clinical response defined as 30% decrease in BAI and remission defined as a 1 or 2 points in CGI. Results: 190 patients were included into the study and 15 dropped out. Altogether 175 patients completed at least 5 of 6 weeks of intensive psychotherapy program. Patients of all diagnostic groups showed significant improvement in CGI, BAI, BDI. At the end of the treatment 51.1% of the patients achieved clinical response and 42.3% clinical remission. The main characteristics present at the beginning of the trial increasing probability of achieving response or remission during the treatment were BAI score lower than 25, BDI score lower than 20, no comorbidity with personality disorder, no comorbid depression, no being divorced or widowed. Conclusion: Therapeutic efficacy of the intensive psychotherapeutics programs for anxiety disorders was predicted with level of anxiety and depression, comorbidity with depression and personality disorders and marital status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]