Emetophobia (fear of vomiting) is an understudied disorder that affects .2 % of people, with extreme (non-phobic) fear affecting up to 8 % of people. The most effective treatment for specific phobias is exposure therapy, and virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), has become a viable treatment alternative to traditional in-vivo or imaginal exposure therapy. However, using VRET to treat emetophobia has not yet been explored. We used a within-subjects, multiple-baseline-across-participants design with six participants to evaluate the emetophobia programme of oVRcome; a low-cost, Aotearoa New Zealand-based VRET app. After using the oVRcome VRET app, we saw visible improvements in self-reported phobia symptoms for four of the six participants (P2, P4, P5, and P6). For half the participants (P4, P5, and P6), the reported decreases were large, with two participants scoring below the threshold for a likely phobia diagnosis. The emetophobia programme of the oVRcome VRET app may be effective at reducing emetophobia severity, and our results support research showing eHealth apps can be a low-cost and effective treatment for a range of psychological issues.

patients with schizophrenia have deficits in social cognition and functioning. Virtual reality is a 3D real-world simulation created by a computer. Virtual reality-based cognitive behavioral therapy might increase effectiveness and acceptability of treatment for these patients. This study investigated the efficacy of VR-CBT compared to traditional CBT in improving these outcomes in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia.

Therapeutic climbing (TC) is increasingly used as a therapy form in psychosomatic settings. Recent studies have shown its effectiveness in terms of symptom severity and other psychological factors compared to other sports and even to group cognitive behavioural therapy. To gain a deeper understanding of TC, the present study aimed to qualitatively explore the patients' perspectives.

Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is the most widely researched cognitive bias in schizophrenia. Notwithstanding meta-analyses demonstrating a higher level of JTC across the psychosis spectrum, important research questions remain unanswered. First, whether JTC is a primary process or in part an epiphenomenon reflecting contributions of other variables is still unresolved, which may explain why interventions targeting cognitive biases are effective on positive symptoms but less so on reducing JTC. Secondly, the beads task, the traditional procedure to capture JTC, is a complex procedure prone to misunderstanding and vulnerable to inattentive and careless responding. In this study, we tested a video assessment of the beads task aiming to reduce errors due to misunderstanding and to gain more insight into the processes contributing to JTC.

Habits are underexplored in research on evidence-based psychological treatments (EBPTs). We recruited participants (N = 286) with sleep problems via Mechanical Turk for an experiment to shift wake-up habits, a key target of EBPTs for sleep problems. Participants were randomly assigned to a control (i.e., psychoeducation about healthy wake-up habits) or one of five active habit-change strategies: substitution with RISE UP, awareness training, vigilant monitoring, implementation intentions, and values. New and old wake-up habit strength, sleep disruption, and sleep-related impairment were assessed at baseline, six-week follow-up, and three-month follow-up. Aim 1 tested within- and between-condition change in the outcomes. Aim 2 tested whether change in wake-up habit strength predicted improvements in sleep disruption and sleep-related impairment. Except the values condition, all habit-change strategies and the control were significantly associated with within-condition improvements at 6-week follow-up and 3-month follow-up in: new habit strength (d = 0.81 to 1.68), old habit strength (d = -0.63 to -1.04), sleep disruption (d = -0.97 to -1.98), and sleep-related impairment (d = -0.60 to -1.65). Few differences between conditions emerged. Across conditions, more than 50% of participants met thresholds for clinically meaningful improvement, except the values condition at 3-month follow-up. Change in new and old habit strength significantly predicted change in sleep problems. Key limitations included: an exclusively online study design, dropout rate, and sample collected via Mechanical Turk using self-report measures without formal assessment of sleep diagnoses. Future research should investigate the clinical presentations and EBPT skills for which these habit-change strategies are most effective.

Few studies have directly compared variables implicated in the etiology of dissociation within an experimental paradigm. Virtual reality (VR) has recently received empirical support as a vehicle for experimentally manipulating state dissociation to test these etiological models. We conducted a study to induce state dissociation to examine key variables in the etiology of dissociation (e.g., trauma experiences). First, participants completed demographic information and baseline measures of state and trait dissociation, positive and negative affect, and a set of theoretically important variables within the transdiagnostic and transtheoretical model (TTM; e.g., emotional dysregulation). Next, they were randomized to a VR or personal computer (PC) condition, in which they navigated a virtual cityscape for 15 minutes, followed by another set of questionnaires to capture change in state dissociation and positive and negative affect. We evaluated (a) residualized change scores for state dissociation and positive and negative affect; and (b) explored associations between variables in the TTM and these outcomes. Findings revealed that (a) VR did significantly increase state dissociation when controlling for trait dissociation; (b) positive but not negative affect increased in the VR condition from pre-to post-induction; and (c) variables in the TTM were correlated with pre- and post-induction scores of state dissociation, but these associations were not stronger in the VR condition compared to the PC condition. Combined, these findings suggest that VR is an effective laboratory paradigm for increasing state dissociation and positive affect. Furthermore, several proposed etiological variables in the TTM do relate to and explain state dissociation as hypothesized.

Excessive self-criticism has been associated with several psychiatric disorders, as well as poorer therapeutic outcomes. Compassion-based therapies are time-consuming and can be challenging because of the use of mental imagery. Virtual Reality interventions enable concrete visual representations and may be more efficient. We investigated a single-session VR intervention, based on chair dialogue exercises from schema therapy, for self-criticism and self-compassion. Furthermore, the additional effect of the novel VR technique perspective change was assessed.

Paranoia, often associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, also exists on a continuum with ordinary mistrust and is prevalent in non-clinical populations. Recent research suggests that Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU), a dispositional trait reflecting a negative response to uncertainty, may play a significant role in predicting paranoia. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationship between IU and paranoia, using data from the Covid-19 Psychological Research Consortium Study (C19PRC). 2025 participants representative of the UK population were recruited and assessed across three waves over nine months. Path analysis revealed that IU consistently predicted paranoia over time, even after controlling for negative affective traits such as neuroticism, and common co-occurring symptoms such as anxiety, and depression. Partial correlation analyses revealed stronger relationships between paranoia and Inhibitory IU than Prospective IU. These findings suggest that IU is a stable and independent predictor of paranoia. This study extends previous cross-sectional research by providing longitudinal evidence of associations between IU and paranoia and suggests that IU may represent a promising target for future research on intervention strategies.

People with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may experience heightened stress reactivity. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based treatment involving eye movements while retrieving memories. We evaluated if EMD participants had less stress reactivity than retrieval-only participants after personal trauma scripts. We also investigated changes in daily cortisol levels related to treatment outcomes.

In many of the tests used to investigate the relationship of psychopathic traits with theory of mind task perfromance, the nature of any mentalizing errors is unclear, and performance could reflect a tendency towards either under-mentalizing or over-mentalizing. In this study, a sample of 92 healthy adult participants completed a measure of psychopathic traits and the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). The MASC not only assesses mentalizing about cognitive and affective mental states but also measures the proportion of under-versus over-mentalizing errors. Psychopathic meanness, but not boldness or disinhibition, was associated with better overall mentalizing, better cognitive mentalizing, and fewer over-mentalizing errors. Our findings are discussed in the context of using a consistent and well-defined operationalization of mentalizing and the importance of assessing the tendency toward under- or over-mentalizing errors to better understand the nature of theory of mind task performance in relation to distinct psychopathic traits.

Evidence suggests that repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is underpinned by interpretation bias which is heightened among individuals with OCD. Cognitive bias modification for interpretation training (CBM-I) may reduce RNT by modifying interpretation bias which could reduce OCD symptoms. This study evaluated novel scenarios in terms of appropriateness and validity for use in a future CBM-I study targeting OCD-related RNT. This included analysis of the associations between interpretation bias and OCD symptoms, RNT, and OCD-specific rumination, respectively.

One key ingredient for guided imagery interventions' effectiveness is their capacity to increase emotional arousal. However, individual responses vary, as some people can have negative experiences that undermine treatment adherence or effectiveness. Research is needed to understand predictors of negative reactions to experiencing negative events during imagery. One idea suggests that some individuals struggle to return to baseline, making the experience unpleasant or distressing. Which predictors contribute to slower recovery after imagery of negative events?

Trigger warnings are alerts that intend to help people emotionally prepare for, or avoid, potentially distressing material likely to trigger memories or emotions related to past experiences. Lab studies suggest that warnings overwhelmingly result in approach behaviour rather than avoidance. However, no research to date has tracked exposure and responses to trigger warnings in daily life. Here 261 young adults (aged 17-25) completed a 7-day daily diary study in which they tracked exposure to trigger warnings on social media and reported if they approached or avoided the content marked by the warnings. Because trigger warnings are intended for use by certain groups of vulnerable people (e.g., trauma survivors/people with mental health concerns), we also measured various psychopathological characteristics (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms, trauma exposure, etc.). Consistent with lab-based studies, we found that most people (∼90 %) reported approaching content marked by a trigger warning, and most commonly did so out of "curiosity". Moreover, only ∼10 % of participants reported always avoiding content marked by a trigger warning when they saw it-signalling a tendency to approach warned material in the real world. We also found no relationship between self-reported avoidance of content marked with trigger warnings that was encountered in daily life and any mental health risk marker (e.g., PTSD symptoms, trauma exposure). Our findings therefore further question claims that trigger warnings are an effective online mental health intervention.

Schema modes have been theorized and tested as mechanisms of change in the treatment of personality disorders. We investigated whether schema modes also function as mechanisms of change in borderline personality disorder (BPD) treatment.

Cognitive reappraisal is a cognitive emotion regulation strategy that involves reinterpreting the meaning associated with a situation. It has been shown to alter emotional responses. In recent years, the human capability of voluntary regulation of emotion has been employed to regulate conditioned fear responses. The aim of the current systematic review is to provide a review of studies investigating the effect of reappraisal on the attenuation of conditioned fear responses in healthy participants. Following the PRISMA guideline for reporting, two digital databases, PubMed and Scopus, were used to search for relevant published articles. A total of eleven studies and twelve separate experiments fulfilled the selection criteria of the analysis. This systematic review discusses experimental studies assessing the effect of cognitive reappraisal on attenuation of conditioned fear responses, its effect on different phases of conditioning, its underlying neural mechanisms, and factors that influence successful reappraisal outcome. The current review also highlights the need for standardized cognitive reappraisal practice. Although the studies differ and have limitations in their methodology, the results suggest a positive effect of cognitive reappraisal.

Depressive rumination is characterized by repetitive dwelling on one or more self-relevant, past-oriented topics. However, little empirical evidence links depressive rumination to the perseveration of specific themes in autobiographical memory (AM) retrieval. This study examined whether ruminators are more likely to retrieve semantically overlapping AMs across different times and locations using the experience sampling method (ESM). Participants (N = 58 Japanese-speaking university students) generated AMs in response to negative and positive cues three times daily for seven days. In total, 3063 AMs were collected and analyzed. For each participant, we computed cosine similarity to quantify semantic overlap among the reported AMs. The results indicated that individuals with higher levels of rumination exhibited greater semantic overlap among negative AMs (r = 0.33), suggesting that ruminators' AMs tended to revolve around similar topics and themes across different cues and assessment occasions. These findings suggest that semantic overlap serves as an underlying mechanism of depressive rumination (and vice versa), wherein different cues activate a specific network that encodes similar or identical negative memory representations.

While studying appetitive and aversive conditioning is common in psychopathology research, studies that measure both types of learning simultaneously are rare. To gain insight into the role of appetitive and aversive learning in the complex interaction of positive mood, negative mood, worry, craving, avoidance and impulsive behavior, this study used a relative measure of the strength of appetitive versus aversive learning - the learning asymmetry - as a predictor of network dynamics of mood states and behavior. 100 healthy volunteers performed an appetitive and aversive conditioning task and completed an ecological momentary assessment study, where they were surveyed six times per day for 21 days. Groups were defined based on higher sensitivity to appetitive learning (positive learning asymmetry) or aversive learning (negative learning asymmetry). The positive asymmetry group was hypothesized to be more sensitive to positive mood changes, and the negative asymmetry group was hypothesized to be more sensitive to negative mood changes. Contrary to our hypothesis, results show that impulsive behavior was more likely to follow negative mood, specifically anger, in the positive but not the negative asymmetry group. These results demonstrate the potential for network analysis to elucidate complex interactions between mood and behavior associated with individual differences in learning.

Laboratory-based inductions of dissociative states promise to facilitate understanding of the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of dissociation and dissociative disorders. In the present scoping review, we identified articles via a systematic search of PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, PubMed, and Google Scholar, resulting in 59 articles that met a priori inclusion criteria. Of the 19 techniques described, numerous elicited changes in dissociative symptoms. However, studies were highly heterogeneous regarding their definition and measurement of dissociation. We call attention to relevant validity concerns presented by laboratory-based inductions and offer directions and recommendations for future research.

Disturbed body image is a potential precursor and maintaining factor when it comes to eating disorders. One of the dominant treatment approaches for eating disorders, enhanced cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT-E), includes the cognitive-affective body image dimension as a core treatment target. Adding a component that focuses on the lived body dimension, could improve body image. In the current study, the feasibility of a psychomotor body image treatment as an add-on to CBT-E was examined.

Cognitive bias modification for interpretation bias (CBM-I) is an effective low-intensity intervention that targets interpretation biases associated with the development and maintenance of social anxiety. Few studies to-date have examined the extent to which individual mental imagery ability affects the efficacy of CBM-I.

Individuals with acrophobia (fear of heights) can experience severe anxiety or panic attacks when they are located at height. This randomized controlled study aimed to verify the effects of a novel scalable virtual reality-based exposure (VR exposure) tool in individuals with acrophobia, by exposing them to a predefined set of situations they usually tend to avoid.

Anxiety is prevalent among pregnant women with suspected fetal malformation. Hence, this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of IECBT in alleviating pregnancy-specific stress and anxiety in anxious women with suspected fetal malformation.

Attentional bias (AB) is characterized by preferential cognitive and emotional processing of mood-congruent stimuli and considered a central mechanism in mood disorders. Considerable research has focused on improving AB measures to enhance mechanistic understanding and clinical utility. The present study examines psychometric properties of a range of AB measures with a multimodal setup.

Hikikomori is a condition of prolonged social withdrawal (at least six months) characterized by not working or attending school, not socializing outside one's home, and staying at home on most days except for solitary outings. Currently, there are no adequate tools for the assessment of individual differences in hikikomori functions. This study involved the development of the Hikikomori Functional Assessment Scale (HFAS), which quantitatively assesses the perceived functions of hikikomori. Three data samples were collected at different time periods and included 490 participants with hikikomori and 251 without hikikomori. An item pool was analyzed resulting in 17 items and three factors: intrapersonal-positive (pursuing activities and self-stimulatory behaviors), intrapersonal-negative (alleviating discomfort), and social-negative (avoiding social interactions) reinforcement. The HFAS showed good internal consistency reliability, moderate-to-good test-retest reliability, acceptable construct validity, and good criterion-related validity. Furthermore, social-negative reinforcement correlated positively with measures of depressive symptoms and subjective social functioning impairment and negatively with adaptive behavior and quality of life. Intrapersonal-negative reinforcement was weakly correlated with most of the related scales, and intrapersonal-positive reinforcement showed no significant correlations. Future studies are needed to confirm the consistency of functional assessment results with those of the HFAS, using behavioral observations by researchers and clinicians, and follow the changes in hikikomori functioning longitudinally.

Bodily weight is a physical characteristic involved in body dissatisfaction. We investigated whether the cognitive body representation can be updated to include weight variations using the Rubber Hand Illusion. Moreover, we aimed to explore the role of the individual expression of weight concerns and fat-phobia. Twenty-eight healthy-weight women participated to a Rubber Hand Illusion study, in which an over- and an under-weight rubber hand were tested together with a normal-weigh rubber hand. We verified the effect of hand's weight on the proprioceptive drift and the subjective experience of illusion. Moreover, we measured the individual expression of weight concerns. As with the normal-weight rubber hand, both the underweight and overweight ones produced significant rubber hand illusion effects, as quantified by proprioceptive judgments and questionnaire ratings. Moreover, higher levels of body image concerns were linked to higher shift towards the under-weight rubber hand, as well as higher expression of fat-phobia increased higher illusory subjective experience towards the normal-weight hand. Hands of different weights can be successfully embodied, in line with previous evidence relative to whole body illusions. Nevertheless, we underlined the role of weight concerns in modulating the illusion. Our results are meaningful for those psychopathological conditions characterized by profound changes in individual weight.

The psychotherapeutic memory is vital for sustaining the therapy's effect for longer, as it serves as a resource for coping with future mental distress. This study used "problem-solution" micro-counselling dialogues (MCDs) to investigate whether memory for psychotherapy in people with anxiety could be promoted by enhancing encoding and retrieval of memory. Experiment 1 examined whether metaphorical encoding of solutions could obtain better memory of solutions in people with anxiety. Experiment 2 examined whether high retrieval motivation (HRM) of problems could promote memory retrieval of solutions, especially metaphorical ones, compared with low retrieval motivation (LRM) in people with anxiety. The results revealed that (1) metaphorical encoding increased memory performance, with higher memory discrimination (d') and correct recognition numbers (CR) of solutions compared with literal solutions in both the anxious and healthy group. (2) High retrieval motivation increased memory performance only in anxious participants, with the d' of HRM higher than LRM and the d' of HRM in metaphorical solutions higher than literal ones. These results indicated optimal memory of psychotherapy for anxious individuals can be achieved by simultaneously employing metaphorical encoding of solutions and increasing the retrieval motivation of problems.

This study investigated whether non-clinical high-schizotypal adults exhibit pragmatic language impairments like those observed in schizophrenia patients. 664 participants completed a novel metaphor comprehension task designed to assess three types of interpretations: figurative, literal, and concrete, alongside the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Findings reveal that individuals with high SPQ scores show significant difficulties in understanding metaphors, aligning with patterns seen in schizophrenia. Errors predominantly favored literal and concrete interpretations. The study emphasizes the importance of utilizing novel metaphors to measure the ability to process figurative language, as lexicalized metaphors may only reflect associative thinking rather than true comprehension.

This study explored the relationships between dissociative experiences, childhood trauma, maladaptive schemas, schema modes, and schema coping in a nonclinical sample. Three theoretical models were tested: (1) dissociative experiences resulting from schema mode activation, (2) dissociative experiences as an innate trait shaping schema coping, and (3) dissociative experiences arising from childhood trauma that influence coping strategies. Data from 401 Dutch psychology students were analyzed using path analyses to compare model fit. While all models showed good fit, Model 2 emerged as the best based on AIC and BIC values. This model linked dissociative experiences to avoidance and surrender coping styles and specific schema modes, such as the punitive parent and detached self-soother. Findings suggest dissociative experiences shape responses to schema-related stress through disengagement or immersion. Future research in clinical populations is recommended to further explore these dynamics and their therapeutic relevance.

Perceiving a threat as constantly evolving, coming closer and escalating quickly can result in looming vulnerability (LV). LV may be a distal factor in contamination-based OCD (C-OCD) influencing disorder-specific mechanisms such as disgust. The aim of this study was to gain knowledge about three components of LV: speed, proximity and acceleration, and their influence on the relationship between disgust and C-OCD symptoms.