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Sustained attention, a key cognitive skill that improves during childhood and adolescence, tends to be worse in some emotional and behavioural disorders. Sustained attention is typically studied in non-affective task contexts; here, we used a novel task to index performance in affective versus neutral contexts across adolescence ( N  = 465; ages 11-18). We asked whether: (i) performance would be worse in negative versus neutral task contexts; (ii) performance would improve with age; (iii) affective interference would be greater in younger adolescents; (iv) adolescents at risk for depression and higher in anxiety would show overall worse performance; and (v) would show differential performance in negative contexts. Results indicated that participants performed more poorly in negative contexts and showed age-related performance improvements. Those at risk of depression performed more poorly than those at lower risk. However, there was no difference between groups as a result of affective context. For anxiety there was no difference in performance as a function of severity. However, those with higher anxiety showed less variance in their reaction times to negative stimuli than those with lower anxiety. One interpretation is that moderate levels of emotional arousal associated with anxiety make individuals less susceptible to the distracting effects of negative stimuli.

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) poses a significant global health challenge, with symptom presentation potentially varying between adolescents and adults. Adolescence is a critical period marked by heightened vulnerability to interpersonal stresses, yet the impact of these stresses on the structure of depressive symptoms is not well understood. Recognizing the cultural nuances in how depression manifests among adolescents is crucial. To this end, this paper employs a network analysis approach, utilizing a comprehensive symptom checklist from the Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS). Our study investigates the role of interpersonal symptoms within the broader cluster of emotional, cognitive, and somatic symptoms and explores variations in adolescent groups in four Asian and European regions., Methods: We recruited a diverse sample of 6,348 adolescents aged 12 to 18 from Hong Kong, Taiwan, the UK, China, and the Netherlands using the Qualtrics platform. Employing the Gaussian Graphical Model, we established a network model of depressive symptoms as measured by the MDAS, segregating the sample into Asian and European regions to examine the interconnections between them. The study focused on identifying central symptom nodes and comparing the network structures between the two groups., Results: The analysis identified feeling worthless, low energy, being a burden to others, and low mood as central symptoms of depression. Notably, there were significant differences in the connections between depressive symptoms among Asian (Hong Kong, China and Taiwan) and European (UK and the Netherlands) adolescents, highlighting cultural variations in how interpersonal symptoms interact with emotional, cognitive, and somatic symptoms., Conclusion: This study is pioneering in applying network analysis to include interpersonal symptoms in examining depression among a diverse adolescent population. It demonstrates that interpersonal symptoms are integral to the central features of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, our findings suggest that, compared to their UK and Dutch peers, interpersonal symptoms in Asian adolescents are uniquely connected to other symptom clusters, reflecting distinct cultural patterns., Limitations: The study engaged a broad community sample; however, future research could benefit from including a larger sample size to allow for a more detailed analysis of a greater number of symptom nodes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: There is an increasing research interest in conceptualizations of mental illness, examined in association with help-seeking, stigma and treatment preferences. A recent focus on young people's concepts has been identified, with depression being one of the most examined conditions., Methods: The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize evidence on children and adolescents' conceptualizations of depression, adopting the model of illness representations. The review further aims to examine developmental trends, gender differences and the role of experience. A systematic review and narrative meta-synthesis were conducted, reviewing 36 studies identified through a systematic search of six databases in March 2016., Results: Thirty-six quantitative and qualitative studies were included. Half of the young people are able to recognize depression, and recognition increases when symptoms are more severe (e.g. suicidality). Young people are able to name a variety of causes for depression. Mental health professionals are considered the appropriate source of help by half of the young people, followed by family and peers. However, stigma constitutes a major barrier to help-seeking. There are developmental trends and gender differences in young people's conceptualization of depression, while experience with depression is associated with a broader conceptualization., Conclusions: Young people's concepts of depression resemble aspects of adult conceptualizations, however are sometimes incomplete. Further research on younger children and clinical populations is needed. Research on young people's conceptualizations informs both clinical practice and mental health literacy interventions., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: To date the effect of cognitive behavioural therapy modified for bipolar disorder has been inconsistent and sometimes disappointing. However studies exploring cognitive style in bipolar disorder have not identified the unique patterns of beliefs specific to bipolar disorder. The current study examines whether Mansell's hypomania-related dysfunctional belief scale specifically identifies bipolar disorder patients., Method: Forty remitted bipolar patients, twenty remitted unipolar patients and twenty healthy controls completed the Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive Prediction Inventory (HAPPI) and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS)., Results: The remitted bipolar group scored higher than the unipolar and healthy control groups on the HAPPI scale overall score and on three subscales that measured self-catastrophic beliefs, beliefs related to negative responses from other people when in elevated mood and beliefs related the response style to activation and elevation., Conclusion: The study finds evidence of unique dysfunctional beliefs elevated only in remitted bipolar patients. Such findings could be used to inform the development of a specific cognitive behavioural therapy for bipolar disorder., (Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Previous research has shown that both depressed (Williams & Scott, 1988) and elderly (Winthorpe & Rabbitt, 1988) people have difficulties in being specific in autobiographical memory. However, no study has examined the joint impact of cognitive impairment and affective disturbance. In this preliminary study, 22 elderly people with memory complaints were tested with the Autobiographical Memory Test, the Brief Assessment Schedule Depression Cards, Geriatric Depression Scale and the Mini-Mental State Examination. Results showed that autobiographical specificity decreased with increasing levels of cognitive impairment. Participants were more likely to produce overgeneral memories (omissions or generic memories) than extended or specific memories. There was little relation between severity of depression and specificity in autobiographical memory, consistent with previous suggestions that overgenerality in depression is a long-term cognitive style unaffected by state depression (Brittlebank, Scott, Williams & Ferrier, 1993).

This paper reports the results of a study designed to explore the validity of a shiftwork model of affective disorders. Fifty-five student nurses doing nightwork for the first time were recruited to a study designed both to replicate an earlier study of the effects of nightwork on cognitive, emotional and neurovegetative measures and to assess the effects of nightwork on personality measures and the role of personality factors and nightwork induced disturbances in predicting accommodation to nightwork. As in the earlier study, concentration, interest, energy, sleep and appetite were significantly disturbed by nightwork and there was an increased perception of recent criticism from other. The findings from both studies were, therefore, aggregated to explore further possible relations between outcomes and the pre-nightwork level of affective symptoms and sensitivity to interpersonal criticism. These predicted poor response. In contrast, measures of cognitive style and symptom interpretation did not predict outcome. The findings are not inconsistent with proposals that disturbance of circadian rhythms consequent on psychosocial disruptions may play a part in the genesis of or maintenance of depression. They also support a proposal that nightwork induced changes may be a suitable human model for investigation of aspects of the affective disorders.

Despite its status as a general assumption, the idea that mood disturbance is associated with reduced complexity of cognitive representations has received little in the way of empirical support. It is suggested that this may arise because of a failure to make distinctions concerning the severity and type of mood disturbance, as well as not being specific about what the representations actually refer to. Using repertory grid methodology (Bieri et al., 1966) with a group of moderately mood-disturbed 'worriers', results showed that this group are significantly more complex than matched controls, but only for representations concerned with themselves. Moreover, this was related to chronic rather than current mood disturbance. The results are interpreted as indicating that cognitive complexity may follow an inverted-U pattern, where the self-representations of severely mood-disturbed and control subjects, although differing in valence, are similar in their lack of complexity. On the other hand, those who are chronically but moderately disturbed are, as a result of their ongoing tendency towards introspection, more complex in their self-representations. Possible implications for vulnerability to emotional disorder are discussed.

Two self-report scales--the Cognitions Questionnaire (Fennell & Campbell, 1984) and the Attitudes to Self Scale (Carver & Ganellen, 1983)--which attempt to measure overgeneralization in depression are described. In line with previous research, both measures correlated with levels of depression, but the lack of a direct relationship between them implies that the construct of overgeneralization may not be a homogeneous one. Suggestions are made for future research which include elaboration of the construct and the development of new methods for measuring it.

The study addressed the question of the significance of intervening life-events in linking attributional style and depression. Twenty male subjects who had experienced an uncontrollable event, job redundancy, were compared with 20 controls on measures of attributional style, depression and self-esteem. The reformulated helplessness hypothesis implies that attribution and depression should be correlated only after the uncontrollable event. This was found to be the case for internal--external dimension, providing tentative support for the reformulated helplessness model.

Objective: This study was designed to determine whether greater reliance on general memory retrieval in children was related to depression, and whether family violence affected the specificity of children's memory retrieval. Method: We compared children who had experienced some form of family violence with children who had never experienced any form of family violence, based on their responses to questions concerning child-parent and interparental disagreements. Results: As expected, there was a positive correlation between the extent of "generic-categoric" memory retrieval and depression level. There was no evidence, however, that autobiographical memory was affected by family violence. Conclusions: This study is the first to report significant associations between depression and autobiographical memory style in children. The results suggest that the effect of family violence on children's memory retrieval may be mediated by depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]