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- Pile, Victoria, et al.
(author)
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A brief early intervention for adolescent depression that targets emotional mental images and memories : protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial (IMAGINE trial).
- 2018
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In: Pilot and Feasibility Studies. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2055-5784. ; 4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Adolescent depression is common and impairing. There is an urgent need to develop early interventions to prevent depression becoming entrenched. However, current psychological interventions are difficult to access and show limited evidence of effectiveness. Schools offer a promising setting to enhance access to interventions, including reducing common barriers such as time away from education. Distressing negative mental images and a deficit in positive future images, alongside overgeneral autobiographical memories, have been implicated in depression across the lifespan, and interventions targeting them in adults have shown promise. Here, we combine techniques targeting these cognitive processes into a novel, brief psychological intervention for adolescent depression. This feasibility randomised controlled trial will test the feasibility and acceptability of delivering this imagery-based cognitive behavioural intervention in schools.Methods/design: Fifty-six adolescents (aged 16-18) with high symptoms of depression will be recruited from schools. Participants will be randomly allocated to the imagery-based cognitive behavioural intervention (ICBI) or the control intervention, non-directive supportive therapy (NDST). Data on feasibility and acceptability will be recorded throughout, including data on recruitment, retention and adherence rates as well as adverse events. In addition, symptom assessment will take place pre-intervention, post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Primarily, the trial aims to establish whether it is feasible and acceptable to carry out this project in a school setting. Secondary objectives include collecting data on clinical measures, including depression and anxiety, and measures of the mechanisms proposed to be targeted by the intervention. The acceptability of using technology in assessment and treatment will also be evaluated.Discussion: Feasibility, acceptability and symptom data for this brief intervention will inform whether an efficacy randomised controlled trial is warranted and aid planning of this trial. If this intervention is shown in a subsequent definitive trial to be safe, clinically effective and cost-effective, it has potential to be rolled out as an intervention and so would significantly extend the range of therapies available for adolescent depression. This psychological intervention draws on cognitive mechanism research suggesting a powerful relationship between emotion and memory and uses imagery as a cognitive target in an attempt to improve interventions for adolescent depression.Trial registration: ISRCTN85369879.
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2. |
- Pile, Victoria, et al.
(author)
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A feasibility randomised controlled trial of a brief early intervention for adolescent depression that targets emotional mental images and memory specificity (IMAGINE)
- 2021
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In: Behaviour Research and Therapy. - : Elsevier. - 0005-7967 .- 1873-622X. ; 143
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Brief, evidence-based interventions for adolescent depression are urgently required, particularly for schoolsettings. Cognitive mechanisms research suggests dysfunctional mental imagery and overgeneral memory could be promising targets to improve mood. This feasibility randomised controlled trial with parallel symptomatic groups (n = 56) compared a novel imagery-based cognitive behavioural intervention (ICBI) to nondirective supportive therapy (NDST) in school settings. Blind assessments (of clinical symptoms and cognitive mechanisms) took place pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow-up three months later. The trial aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the methodology and interventions, and estimate the likely range of effects of the intervention on self-reported depression. The pre-defined criteria for proceeding to a definitive RCT were met: full recruitment occurred within eleven months; retention was 89%; ICBI acceptability was above satisfactory; and no harm was indicated. Intention-to-treat analysis found large effects in favour of ICBI (relative to NDST) at post-intervention in reducing depressive symptoms (d = -1.34, 95% CI [-1.87, -0.80]) and improving memory specificity (d = 0.79 [0.35, 1.23]), a key cognitive target. The findings suggest that ICBI may not only improve mood but also strengthen abilities associated with imagining and planning the future, critical skills at this life stage. A fully powered evaluation of ICBI is warranted. Trial Registration: https://www.isrctn.com/; ISRCTN85369879.
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3. |
- Pile, Victoria, et al.
(author)
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Active Ingredients for Addressing Youth Anxiety and Depression 3 Harnessing emotional mental imagery to reduce anxiety and depression in young people : an integrative review of progress and promise
- 2021
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In: Lancet psychiatry. - : Elsevier. - 2215-0374 .- 2215-0366. ; 8:9, s. 836-852
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Emotional mental imagery is a powerful part of our mental landscape. Given its capacity to depict, process, and generate emotional events, mental imagery could have an important role in psychological therapies. This Series paper explores whether harnessing emotional mental imagery is meaningful to young people; ways in which interventions use emotional mental imagery; contextual and individual factors influencing intervention effectiveness; and mechanisms underpinning imagery techniques. We completed a systematic review of imagery interventions and consulted young people with lived experience (n=10) and leading international experts (n=7). The systematic search identified 86 papers covering a diverse range of imagery interventions. Across the seven categories of techniques reviewed, imagery rescripting for aversive memories, techniques targeting positive imagery, and imagery-enhanced protocols indicated the most potential. The report suggests that harnessing emotional mental imagery in psychological interventions could be a promising approach to reduce anxiety and depression and that mental health science could infoun the development of new interventions and help to maximise intervention effectiveness.
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4. |
- Pile, Victoria, et al.
(author)
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Harnessing Mental Imagery and Enhancing Memory Specificity : Developing a Brief Early Intervention for Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence
- 2021
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In: Cognitive Therapy and Research. - : Springer Nature. - 0147-5916 .- 1573-2819. ; 45, s. 885-901
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Treatment innovation for depressive symptoms in adolescence is urgently needed. Adult research suggests interventions targeting underlying cognitive mechanisms, such as dysfunctional mental imagery and overgeneral memory, are promising. Here, we describe and evaluate in a case series a brief imagery-based intervention for depressive symptoms that targets these cognitive mechanisms.Methods: Nine participants completed the four-session intervention, whose principle components were imagery rescripting and memory specificity training. Questionnaires and experimental tasks (assessing symptomatology and cognitive mechanisms) were administered at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up.Results: The intervention was feasible to deliver and acceptable to participants. There was a large reduction in depression symptom scores from pre to post intervention (d = 1.32; 67% showed reliable improvement, RI) and this was maintained at follow-up (d = 1.46; RI = 75%). There were also reductions in anxiety (post: d = 1.15, RI = 44%; follow-up: d = 1.67, RI = 63%), increases in self-esteem (post: d = - 0.70, RI = 44%; follow-up: d = - 1.20, RI = 50%) and noteworthy changes in memory specificity (post: d = - 1.80, RI = 67%; follow-up: d = - 0.94, RI = 63%).Conclusions: This is the first study to use imagery rescripting and memory specificity training in adolescence. Initial evidence is provided that the intervention is acceptable and may have clinical utility. Future randomised controlled trials are needed to further assess the intervention.
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