Michael W. Otto

Psychotherapy, Pharmacotherapy, or Both for Chronic Insomnia?

There have been few randomized comparisons of pharmacotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and their combination for treating chronic insomnia. In

How Does Depression Alter Emotional Reactivity

There are at least three competing views of the effect of depression on emotional reactivity: (1) less reactivity to positive emotional stimuli, (2)

Hemispheric Activation and Premenstrual Dysphoria

The relation between premenstrual dysphoria and predictors of major depression remains relatively unexplored. These investigators assessed the association between relative hemispheric activation and premenstrual dysphoria in 12 college students who had high levels of …

Clarifying the Link Between Depression and Overgeneral Autobiographical Memories

Researchers have found a link between depression, including the prediction of depression recurrence, and overgeneral autobiographical memories (the

Three Types of Treatment for Depression: A Comparison

Of the psychosocial treatments for depression, cognitive therapy (CT) has been particularly well researched. Less attention has been devoted to behavioral activation (BA), a treatment approach that emphasizes a programmed return to rewarding activities and goal-directed behaviors to counteract the avoidance and withdrawal that characterizes depression. These researchers randomized 241 depressed outpatients to …

Enduring Benefits from Depression Treatment for Low-Income Minority Women

Ethnic minority, low-income individuals are less likely than white, middle-class individuals to receive treatment for major depression. These authors examined 1-year follow-up results of 267 low-income minority women recruited from community settings who had screened positive for depression and then had been randomly assigned to cognitive-behavioral therapy (group or individual sessions), …

Helping Children by Helping Alcoholic Fathers

Children of alcoholics are at increased risk for a range of distress and behavioral problems. These authors investigated the degree to which treatment

Think the Worst — and Feel Bad!

Anxiety and mood disorders are characterized by tendencies to attend to threatening stimuli or to interpret ambiguous stimuli as threats. Recent

Treating Women with PTSD from Childhood Sexual Abuse

The clinical-trial literature is sparse on women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from childhood sexual abuse. These researchers randomized 74

Beliefs About Social Failure

Patients with social phobia (i.e., social anxiety disorder) greatly overestimate the frequency and negative consequences of poor social performances.