Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are first-line pharmacological treatments for depression and anxiety. However, little is known about how pharmacological action is related to cognitive and affective processes. Here, we examine whether specific reinforcement learning processes mediate the treatment effects of SSRIs.

The PANDA trial was a multicentre, double-blind, randomized clinical trial in UK primary care comparing the SSRI sertraline with placebo for depression and anxiety. Participants (N = 655) performed an affective Go/NoGo task three times during the trial and computational models were used to infer reinforcement learning processes.

There was poor task performance: only 54% of the task runs were informative, with more informative task runs in the placebo than in the active group. There was no evidence for the preregistered hypothesis that Pavlovian inhibition was affected by sertraline. Exploratory analyses revealed that in the sertraline group, early increases in Pavlovian inhibition were associated with improvements in depression after 12 weeks. Furthermore, sertraline increased how fast participants learned from losses and faster learning from losses was associated with more severe generalized anxiety symptoms.

The study findings indicate a relationship between aversive reinforcement learning mechanisms and aspects of depression, anxiety, and SSRI treatment, but these relationships did not align with the initial hypotheses. Poor task performance limits the interpretability and likely generalizability of the findings, and highlights the critical importance of developing acceptable and reliable tasks for use in clinical studies.

This article presents research supported by NIHR Program Grants for Applied Research (RP-PG-0610-10048), the NIHR BRC, and UCL, with additional support from IMPRS COMP2PSYCH (JM, QH) and a Wellcome Trust grant (QH).

Designing and conducting clinical trials is challenging for some institutions and researchers due to associated time and personnel requirements. We conducted recruitment, screening, informed consent, study product distribution, and data collection remotely. Our objective is to describe how to conduct a randomized clinical trial using remote and automated methods.

A randomized clinical trial in healthcare workers is used as a model. A random group of workers were invited to participate in the study through email. Following an automated process, interested individuals scheduled consent/screening interviews. Enrollees received study product by mail and surveys via email. Adherence to study product and safety were monitored with survey data review and via real-time safety alerts to study staff.

A staff of 10 remotely screened 406 subjects and enrolled 299 over a 3-month period. Adherence to study product was 87%, and survey data completeness was 98.5% over 9 months. Participants and study staff scored the System Usability Scale 93.8% and 90%, respectively. The automated and remote methods allowed the study maintenance period to be managed by a small study team of two members, while safety monitoring was conducted by three to four team members. Conception of the trial to study completion was 21 months.

The remote and automated methods produced efficient subject recruitment with excellent study product adherence and data completeness. These methods can improve efficiency without sacrificing safety or quality. We share our XML file for researchers to use as a template for learning purposes or designing their own clinical trials.

Opium tincture (OT) is widely used for opioid substitution treatment (OST) in Iran.

To determine if OT is a safe and effective medication for OST.

Opium Trial was a multicenter, double‐blind, noninferiority randomized controlled trial, with 204 participants with opioid dependence in Iran. Participants were then randomized to OT or methadone arms with an allocation ratio of 1:1 and were followed for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was retention in treatment, compared between the two groups using both intention-To-Treat (ITT) and Per-Protocol (PP) analyses.

A total of 70 participants (IT: 68.6%, PP: 69.3%) in methadone arm and 61 participants (ITT: 59.8%, PP: 60.4%) in OT arm remained in the treatment. The relative retention rate was 1.15 (0.97, 1.36) in both analyses in favour of methadone. A total of 46 out of 152 (30.3%) participants in OT arm and 83 out of 168 (49.4%) participants in methadone arm reported opioid use outside the treatment. The difference in these two proportions (OT - methadone) was 19%: (10%, 28%) in favour of OT. The proportion of patients with adverse events were not different between the two arms (P = 0.06). There was no serious AE in OT arm.

Opium tincture is a clinically effective and safe medication, but this study could not conclude if it was as equally effective as methadone in retaining participants in treatment, but it showed that OT was superior to methadone in reducing opioid use outside the treatment.

No significant relationships.

Poor sleep is a modifiable risk factor for multiple disorders. Frontline treatments (e.g. cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia) have limitations, prompting a search for alternative approaches. Here, we compare manualized Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Insomnia (MBTI) with a Sleep Hygiene, Education, and Exercise Program (SHEEP) in improving subjective and objective sleep outcomes in older adults.

We conducted a single-site, parallel-arm trial, with blinded assessments collected at baseline, post-intervention and 6-months follow-up. We randomized 127 participants aged 50–80, with a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score ⩾5, to either MBTI (n = 65) or SHEEP (n = 62), both 2 hr weekly group sessions lasting 8 weeks. Primary outcomes included PSQI and Insomnia Severity Index, and actigraphy- and polysomnography-measured sleep onset latency (SOL) and wake after sleep onset (WASO).

Intention-to-treat analysis showed reductions in insomnia severity in both groups [MBTI: Cohen's effect size d = −1.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) −1.61 to −0.89; SHEEP: d = −0.69, 95% CI −0.96 to −0.43], with significantly greater improvement in MBTI. Sleep quality improved equivalently in both groups (MBTI: d = −1.19; SHEEP: d = −1.02). No significant interaction effects were observed in objective sleep measures. However, only MBTI had reduced WASOactigraphy (MBTI: d = −0.30; SHEEP: d = 0.02), SOLactigraphy (MBTI: d = −0.25; SHEEP: d = −0.09), and WASOPSG (MBTI: d = −0.26; SHEEP (d = −0.18). There was no change in SOLPSG. No participants withdrew because of adverse effects.

MBTI is effective at improving subjective and objective sleep quality in older adults, and could be a valid alternative for persons who have failed or do not have access to standard frontline therapies.

Violent criminal offenders with personality disorders (PD's) can cause immense harm, but are often deemed untreatable. This study aimed to conduct a randomized clinical trial to test the effectiveness of long-term psychotherapy for rehabilitating offenders with PDs.

We compared schema therapy (ST), an evidence-based psychotherapy for PDs, to treatment-as-usual (TAU) at eight high-security forensic hospitals in the Netherlands. Patients in both conditions received multiple treatment modalities and differed only in the individual, study-specific therapy they received. One-hundred-three male offenders with antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, or paranoid PDs, or Cluster B PD-not-otherwise-specified, were assigned to 3 years of ST or TAU and assessed every 6 months. Primary outcomes were rehabilitation, involving gradual reintegration into the community, and PD symptoms.

Patients in both conditions showed moderate to large improvements in outcomes. ST was superior to TAU on both primary outcomes – rehabilitation (i.e. attaining supervised and unsupervised leave) and PD symptoms – and six of nine secondary outcomes, with small to moderate advantages over TAU. ST patients moved more rapidly through rehabilitation (supervised leave, treatment*time: F(5308) = 9.40, p < 0.001; unsupervised leave, treatment*time: F(5472) = 3.45, p = 0.004), and showed faster improvements on PD scales (treatment*time: t(1387) = −2.85, p = 0.005).

These findings contradict pessimistic views on the treatability of violent offenders with PDs, and support the effectiveness of long-term psychotherapy for rehabilitating these patients, facilitating their re-entry into the community.

This study examined the efficacy of attention bias modification training (ABMT) for the treatment of depression.

In this randomized clinical trial, 145 adults (77% female, 62% white) with at least moderate depression severity [i.e. self-reported Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-SR) ⩾13] and a negative attention bias were randomized to active ABMT, sham ABMT, or assessments only. The training consisted of two in-clinic and three (brief) at-home ABMT sessions per week for 4 weeks (2224 training trials total). The pre-registered primary outcome was change in QIDS-SR. Secondary outcomes were the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HRSD) and anhedonic depression and anxious arousal from the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ). Primary and secondary outcomes were administered at baseline and four weekly assessments during ABMT.

Intent-to-treat analyses indicated that, relative to assessment-only, active ABMT significantly reduced QIDS-SR and HRSD scores by an additional 0.62 ± 0.23 (p = 0.008, d = −0.57) and 0.74 ± 0.31 (p = 0.021, d = −0.49) points per week. Similar results were observed for active v. sham ABMT: a greater symptom reduction of 0.44 ± 0.24 QIDS-SR (p = 0.067, d = −0.41) and 0.69 ± 0.32 HRSD (p = 0.033, d = −0.42) points per week. Sham ABMT did not significantly differ from the assessment-only condition. No significant differences were observed for the MASQ scales.

Depressed individuals with at least modest negative attentional bias benefitted from active ABMT.

Emotional disorders are highly prevalent in primary care. We aimed to determine whether a transdiagnostic psychological therapy plus treatment-as-usual (TAU) is more efficacious than TAU alone in primary care adult patients.

A randomized, two-arm, single-blind clinical trial was conducted in 22 primary care centres in Spain. A total of 1061 adult patients with emotional disorders were enrolled. The transdiagnostic protocol (n = 527) consisted of seven 90-min sessions (8–10 patients) delivered over a 12–14-week period. TAU (n = 534) consisted of regular consultations with a general practitioner. Primary outcome measures were self-reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatizations. Secondary outcome measures were functioning and quality of life. Patients were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and at 3, 6, and 12 months. Intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses were performed.

Post-treatment primary outcomes were significantly better in the transdiagnostic group compared to TAU (anxiety: p < 0.001; Morris's d = −0.65; depression: p < 0.001; d = −0.58, and somatic symptoms: p < 0.001; d = −0.40). These effects were sustained at the 12-month follow-up (anxiety: p < 0.001; d = −0.44; depression: p < 0.001; d = −0.36 and somatic symptoms: p < 0.001; d = −0.32). The transdiagnostic group also had significantly better outcomes on functioning (d = 0.16–0.33) and quality of life domains (d = 0.24–0.42), with sustained improvement at the 12-month follow-up in functioning (d = 0.25–0.39) and quality of life (d = 0.58–0.72). Reliable recovery rates showed large between-group effect sizes (d > 0.80) in favour of the transdiagnostic group after treatment and at the 12-month follow-up.

Adding a brief transdiagnostic psychological intervention to TAU may significantly improve outcomes in emotional disorders treated in primary care.

isrctn.org identifier: ISRCTN58437086

Two types of mentalization-based treatment (MBT), day hospital MBT (MBT-DH) and intensive outpatient MBT (MBT-IOP), have been shown to be effective in treating patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). This study evaluated trajectories of change in a multi-site trial of MBT-DH and MBT-IOP at 36 months after the start of treatment.

All 114 patients (MBT-DH n = 70, MBT-IOP n = 44) from the original multicentre trial were assessed at 24, 30 and 36 months after the start of treatment. The primary outcome was symptom severity measured with the Brief Symptom Inventory. Secondary outcome measures included borderline symptomatology, personality and interpersonal functioning, quality of life and self-harm. Data were analysed using multilevel modelling and the intention-to-treat principle.

Patients in both MBT-DH and MBT-IOP maintained the substantial improvements made during the intensive treatment phase and showed further gains during follow-up. Across both conditions, 83% of patients improved in terms of symptom severity, and 97% improved on borderline symptomatology. No significant differences were found between MBT-DH and MBT-IOP at 36 months after the start of treatment. However, trajectories of change were different. Whereas patients in MBT-DH showed greater improvement during the intensive treatment phase, patients in MBT-IOP showed greater continuing improvement during follow-up.

Patients in both conditions showed similar large improvements over the course of 36 months, despite large differences in treatment intensity. MBT-DH and MBT-IOP were associated with different trajectories of change. Cost-effectiveness considerations and predictors of differential treatment outcome may further inform optimal treatment selection.

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy was found superior to usual treatment among borderline patients and should be further investigated in subject samples with adequate adherence to effective treatment and careful evaluation of psychotherapy process and its relationship to outcome. According to this rationale we tested the comparative cost-effectiveness of an innovative model of time limited psychoanalytic psychotherapy aimed at working-out conflicting mourning process associated with traumatic abandonment from a romantic partner.

Eighty patients aged 18-60, who had been referred to medical emergency room with self-intoxication, DSMIV-R major depression and DSMIV-R borderline personality disorder were investigated in a 3-month randomized clinical trial. At general hospital discharge consecutive subjects were allocated to time-limited mourning focused psychoanalytic psychotherapy and venlafaxine and psychodynamic crisis intervention and venlafaxine. Reliable evaluations were conducted at intake, treatment discharge and 6-month follow-up on a battery of standardized instruments. Service consume was assessed via the computerized case register of the Geneva state health services system.

Intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy was found a cost-effective treatment choice among borderline patients in a suicidal crisis.

A combination of ambulatory psychoanalytic psychotherapy and venlafaxine protocol is a feasible, safe and cost-effective treatment for acutely suicidal borderline patients.

The diet of most adults is low in fish and, therefore, provides limited quantities of the long-chain, omega-3 fatty acids (LCn-3FAs), eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids (EPA, DHA). Since these compounds serve important roles in the brain, we sought to determine if healthy adults with low-LCn-3FA consumption would exhibit improvements in neuropsychological performance and parallel changes in brain morphology following repletion through fish oil supplementation.

In a randomized, controlled trial, 271 mid-life adults (30–54 years of age, 118 men, 153 women) consuming ⩽300 mg/day of LCn-3FAs received 18 weeks of supplementation with fish oil capsules (1400 mg/day of EPA and DHA) or matching placebo. All participants completed a neuropsychological test battery examining four cognitive domains: psychomotor speed, executive function, learning/episodic memory, and fluid intelligence. A subset of 122 underwent neuroimaging before and after supplementation to measure whole-brain and subcortical tissue volumes.

Capsule adherence was over 95%, participant blinding was verified, and red blood cell EPA and DHA levels increased as expected. Supplementation did not affect performance in any of the four cognitive domains. Exploratory analyses revealed that, compared to placebo, fish oil supplementation improved executive function in participants with low-baseline DHA levels. No changes were observed in any indicator of brain morphology.

In healthy mid-life adults reporting low-dietary intake, supplementation with LCn-3FAs in moderate dose for moderate duration did not affect neuropsychological performance or brain morphology. Whether salutary effects occur in individuals with particularly low-DHA exposure requires further study.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an urgent global health problem. Root causes for VAWG include the individual- and family-level factors of alcohol abuse, mental health problems, violence exposure, and related adverse experiences. Few studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have assessed the effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing VAWG. This randomized controlled trial, part of the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls consortium, examines the effectiveness of a common elements treatment approach (CETA) for reducing VAWG and comorbid alcohol abuse among families in Zambia.

Study participants are families consisting of three persons: an adult woman, her male husband or partner, and one of her children aged 8–17 (if available). Eligibility criteria include experience of moderate-to-severe intimate partner violence by the woman and hazardous alcohol use by her male partner. Family units are randomized to receive CETA or treatment as usual. The primary outcome is VAWG as measured by the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale, assessed along with secondary outcomes at 24 months post-baseline. Interim assessments are also conducted at 4–5 months (following CETA completion) and 12 months post-baseline.

This ongoing trial is one of the first in sub-Saharan Africa to evaluate the use of an evidence-based common elements approach for reducing VAWG by targeting a range of individual- and family-level factors, including alcohol abuse. Results of this trial will inform policy on what interventions work to prevent VAWG in LMIC with local perspectives on scale up and wider implementation.

Placebo responses raise significant challenges for the design of clinical trials. We report changes in agitation outcomes in the placebo arm of a recent trial of citalopram for agitation in Alzheimer's disease (CitAD).

In the CitAD study, all participants and caregivers received a psychosocial intervention and 92 were assigned to placebo for nine weeks. Outcomes included Neurobehavioral Rating Scale agitation subscale (NBRS-A), modified AD Cooperative Study-Clinical Global Impression of Change (CGIC), Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) Agitation/Aggression domain (NPI A/A) and Total (NPI-Total) and ADLs. Continuous outcomes were analyzed with mixed-effects modeling and dichotomous outcomes with logistic regression.

Agitation outcomes improved over nine weeks: NBRS-A mean (SD) decreased from 7.8 (3.0) at baseline to 5.4 (3.2), CMAI from 28.7 (6.7) to 26.7 (7.4), NPI A/A from 8.0 (2.4) to 4.9 (3.8), and NPI-Total from 37.3 (17.7) to 28.4 (22.1). The proportion of CGI-C agitation responders ranged from 21 to 29% and was significantly different from zero. MMSE improved from 14.4 (6.9) to 15.7 (7.2) and ADLs similarly improved. Most of the improvement was observed by three weeks and was sustained through nine weeks. The major predictor of improvement in each agitation measure was a higher baseline score in that measure.

We observed significant placebo response which may be due to regression to the mean, response to a psychosocial intervention, natural course of symptoms, or nonspecific benefits of participation in a trial.

Several studies have suggested that cognitive training is a potentially effective way to improve cognition and postpone cognitive decline in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The MEMO+ study is a randomized, controlled, single-blind trial designed to test the efficacy, specificity, and long-term effect of a cognitive training intervention and a psychosocial intervention in persons with MCI.

One hundred and sixty-two participants with MCI will be recruited. They will be randomized into three groups: cognitive training, psychosocial intervention, and no-contact. Each intervention will last for eight weeks (one session per week) and a booster training session will be provided three months after the end of the intervention. Various proximal and distal outcomes will be measured at pre-intervention as well as at one week, three months, and six months post-training. Proximal outcomes include memory and psychological health measures. Distal outcomes focus on self-rated functioning in complex daily activities and strategies used in daily life to enhance function. Socio-demographic factors (age, gender, and education), general cognition, personality traits, engagement in activities, and self-efficacy will be used as moderators. Enrolment began in April 2012 and will be completed by December 2014.

This study is likely to have a significant impact on the well-being of persons with MCI by contributing to the development of adapted and scientifically supported cognitive and psychosocial interventions.

The aim of this study is to investigate factors contributing to the failure of a randomized clinical trial designed to implement and test clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of depression in primary health care (PHC).

Although the occurrence of depression is increasing globally, many patients with depression do not receive optimal treatment. Clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of depression, which aim to establish evidence-based clinical practice in health care, are often underused and in need of operationalization in and adaptation to clinical praxis. This study explores a failed clinical trial designed to implement and test treatment of depression in PHC in Sweden.

Qualitative case study methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants from the clinical trial researcher group and 11 health care professionals at five PHC units. Additionally, archival data (ie, documents, email correspondence, reports on the clinical trial) from the years 2007–2010 were analysed.

The study identified barriers to the implementation of the clinical trial in the project characteristics, the medical professionals, the patients, and the social network, as well as in the organizational, economic and political context. The project increased staff workload and created tension as the PHC culture and the research activities clashed (eg, because of the systematic use of questionnaires and changes in scheduling and planning of patient visits). Furthermore, there was a perception that the PHC units’ management did not sufficiently support the project and that the project lacked basic incentives for reaching a sustainable resolution. Despite efforts by the project managers to enhance and support implementation of the innovation, they were unable to overcome these barriers. The study illustrates the complexity and barriers of performing clinical trials in the PHC.

Cannabis abuse in psychotic patients is associated with rehospitalizations, reduced adherence and increased symptom severity. Previous psychosocial interventions have been ineffective in cannabis use, possibly because of low sample sizes and short interventions. We investigated whether adding CapOpus to treatment as usual (TAU) reduces cannabis use in patients with cannabis use disorder and psychosis.

A total of 103 patients with psychosis and cannabis use disorder were centrally randomized to 6 months of CapOpus plus TAU (n = 52) or TAU (n = 51). CapOpus consisted mainly of motivational interviewing and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). TAU was targeted primarily at the psychotic disorder. The primary outcome was self-reported days with cannabis use in the preceding month.

Pre-randomization cannabis use frequency was 14.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) 12.7–17.1] days/month. Post-treatment, the ratio of days/month with cannabis use in CapOpus versus TAU was 0.76 (95% CI 0.38–1.50) (p = 0.42), and 0.80 (95% CI 0.21–3.10) (p = 0.75) at the 4-month follow-up. From 46.4 (95% CI 36.4–56.3) monthly joints pre-randomization, consumption fell to 27.3 (95% CI 12.6–41.9) joints in CapOpus and 48.2 (95% CI 31.8–64.6) in TAU (p = 0.06). Follow-up amounts were 28.4 (95% CI 13.5–43.2) and 41.6 (95% CI 25.2–58.0) joints (p = 0.23). Several subgroup analyses suggested benefits of CapOpus.

CapOpus did not reduce the frequency, but possibly the amount, of cannabis use. This is similar to the findings of previous trials in this population. Implementation of CapOpus-type interventions is thus not warranted at present but subgroup analyses call for further trials.

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) seems to be as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the treatment of major depression. Because the onset of panic attacks is often related to increased interpersonal life stress, IPT has the potential to also treat panic disorder. To date, a preliminary open trial yielded promising results but there have been no randomized controlled trials directly comparing CBT and IPT for panic disorder.

This study aimed to directly compare the effects of CBT versus IPT for the treatment of panic disorder with agoraphobia. Ninety-one adult patients with a primary diagnosis of DSM-III or DSM-IV panic disorder with agoraphobia were randomized. Primary outcomes were panic attack frequency and an idiosyncratic behavioral test. Secondary outcomes were panic and agoraphobia severity, panic-related cognitions, interpersonal functioning and general psychopathology. Measures were taken at 0, 3 and 4 months (baseline, end of treatment and follow-up).

Intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses on the primary outcomes indicated superior effects for CBT in treating panic disorder with agoraphobia. Per-protocol analyses emphasized the differences between treatments and yielded larger effect sizes. Reductions in the secondary outcomes were equal for both treatments, except for agoraphobic complaints and behavior and the credibility ratings of negative interpretations of bodily sensations, all of which decreased more in CBT.

CBT is the preferred treatment for panic disorder with agoraphobia compared to IPT. Mechanisms of change should be investigated further, along with long-term outcomes.