Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Jun;75(3):409-421.
doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.75.3.409.

Discontinuities and cognitive changes in an exposure-based cognitive therapy for depression

Adele M Hayes  1 , Greg C Feldman  1 , Christopher G Beevers  1 , Jean-Philippe Laurenceau  1 , LeeAnn Cardaciotto  1 , Jamie Lewis-Smith  1
Affiliations

Discontinuities and cognitive changes in an exposure-based cognitive therapy for depression

Adele M Hayes et al. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2007 Jun.

Abstract

Significant shifts or discontinuities in symptom course can mark points of transition and reveal important change processes. The authors investigated 2 patterns of change in depression-the rapid early response and a transient period of apparent worsening that the authors call a depression spike. Participants were 29 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder who enrolled in an open trial of an exposure-based cognitive therapy. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed an overall cubic shape of symptom change and that both the rapid response and spike patterns predicted lower posttreatment depression. Patients wrote weekly narratives about their depression. Early narratives of rapid responders were coded as having more hope than those of nonrapid responders. The narratives of patients with a depression spike had more cognitive-emotional processing during this period of arousal than those without a spike. Findings are discussed in the context of cognitive-emotional processing theories in depression and anxiety disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Modified Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (MHRSD) scores for case example administered biweekly across the course of therapy. This case illustrates the rapid early response and depression spike patterns.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alloy LB, & Clements CM (1998). Hopelessness theory of depression: Tests of the symptom component. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 22, 303–335.
    1. Atchley RA, Ilardi SS, & Enloe A (2003). Hemispheric asymmetry in the lexical processing of emotion: The effect of current and past depression. Brain and Language, 84, 105–119. - PubMed
    1. Baron RM, & Kenny DA (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182. - PubMed
    1. Baumeister RF (1991). Meanings of life. New York: Guilford Press.
    1. Beck AT, Freeman A, Davis DD, & Associates. (2004). Cognitive therapy of personality disorders. New York: Guilford Press.

Publication types