Negative Cognitive Errors Research Articles

Effects of COVID-19 Outbreak on Children’s Mental Health: A Comparative Study with Children Diagnosed and Isolated from Their Parents

Objective The COVID-19 outbreak has negatively affected children in many ways. This study aimed to compare the psychological responses of children exposed to different levels of stress during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods The anxiety levels, negative thoughts, and quality of life of COVID-19-positive children with COVID-19-positive parents (Child+ group, n=17), COVID-19-negative children who are separated from COVID-19-positive parents (Parent+ group, n=59), and a control group (n=64) were compared. The participants completed the Screen for Child Anxiety and Related Disorders (SCARED), Children’s Negative Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (CNCEQ), and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Results The statistical analysis revealed that the Parent+ group recorded higher SCARED and CNCEQ scores and lower PedsQL scores in comparison with the control group. No statistically significant difference was found between the scores of the Child+ and control groups. Furthermore, high CNCEQ scores and low PedsQL scores in the Parent+ group predicted an increase in their SCARED scores. Conclusion Our study indicates that separating children from their parents during the COVID-19 outbreak negatively influences their mental health and increases their anxiety levels.

Do adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME) and co-morbid anxiety and/or depressive symptoms think differently to those who do not have co-morbid psychopathology?

BackgroundCo-morbid anxiety and/or depression is common in adolescents with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME). Adolescents with psychopathology typically endorse more negative cognitive errors. We do not know whether they make negative cognitive errors in response to fatigue. We examined the thinking patterns of adolescents with CFS/ME and co-morbid psychopathology compared to those without this co-morbidity. MethodsThis cross-sectional study recruited 205 adolescents (age 11–18) with CFS/ME, who completed measures of anxiety and depression, information processing biases and responses to fatigue. We grouped participants as having co-morbid psychopathology (or not) by applying a threshold score. We compared groups’ thinking pattern subscale scores using independent samples T tests. We examined the association between psychopathology and general negative thinking and specific responses to fatigue symptoms. ResultsAdolescents with CFS/ME with co-morbid psychopathology more strongly endorsed general negative cognitive errors (d = 0.61–1.31). They also more strongly endorsed damage beliefs (d = 0.49), embarrassment avoidance (d = 1.05), catastrophising (d = 0.97) and symptom focusing (d = 0.75) in response to fatigue but did not differ significantly on fear avoidance from those without co-morbid psychopathology. Both negative cognitive errors and unhelpful responses to symptoms explained 43% of the variance in psychopathology. ConclusionsAdolescents with CFS/ME with co-morbid psychopathology tend to be negatively biased in their thinking, both generally and about their symptoms of fatigue specifically. This may have implications for the sequencing of cognitive and behavioural strategies to address both fatigue and psychopathology.

Moderating Role of Gender in the Relationship between Cognitive Errors and Anxiety among Adolescents

Background: Widespread social paradigms on which the status variances are grounded in any society, gender plays pivotal role in manifestation of mental health problems (Rutter, 2007). A hefty volume of research has addressed the issue in adults nonetheless, little is vividly known about the role of gender in adolescent psychopathology. Sample: A sample of 240 adolescents (125 boys, 115 girls) aging 12-18 years was amassed from various secondary schools of Islamabad with the approval of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), relevant authorities of the schools and the adolescents themselves. Instruments: Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (Taylor & Spence, 1953) and Children’s Negative Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (CNCEQ) by Leitenberg et al., (1986) were applied in present study. Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that cognitive errors jointly accounted for 78% of variance in predicting anxiety among adolescents. Findings also exhibited that gender significantly moderated the relationship between cognitive errors and adolescent anxiety. Implications of the findings are discoursed for future research and clinical practice.

Streamlined Prevention and Early Intervention for Pediatric Anxiety Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

There is a need to optimize the fit between psychosocial interventions with known efficacy and the demands of real-word service delivery settings. However, adaptation of evidence-based interventions (EBI) raises questions about whether effectiveness can be retained. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated a streamlined package of cognitive, behavior, and social skills training strategies known to prevent and reduce anxiety symptom and disorder escalation in youth. A total of 109 youth (Mage = 9.72; 68% girls; 54% Latinx) at risk based on high anxiety were randomized to the streamlined prevention and early intervention (SPEI) (n = 59) or control (n = 50) and were assessed at pretest, posttest, and 12-month follow-up. A main objective was to determine whether our redesign could be delivered by community providers, with acceptable levels of fidelity, quality, and impact. In terms of process evaluation results, there was high protocol fidelity, excellent clinical process skills, few protocol adaptations, and high satisfaction with the SPEI. In terms of outcomes, there were no significant main or moderated effects of the SPEI at the immediate posttest. However, at the follow-up, youth in the SPEI reported greater self-efficacy for managing anxiety-provoking situations, greater social skills, and fewer negative cognitive errors relative to controls. Collectively, findings suggest that the redesigned SPEI might be an attractive and efficient solution for service delivery settings.

Evaluation of quality of life and tendency to negative cognitive errors in children with primary nocturnal enuresis

Evaluation of quality of life and tendency to negative cognitive errors in children with primary nocturnal enuresis

Associations between cognitive errors and mental health status in New Zealand adolescents.

Cognitive models of psychopathology suggest that negatively biased thinking styles are involved in the development and maintenance of emotional disturbances. The present study examined the relationships between negative cognitive errors and indices of mental health status (i.e. anxiety and depression) in New Zealand adolescents. A community sample of 490 youth aged 16-18 years completed an anonymous online survey consisting of the Children's Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CNCEQ), the Trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Negative cognitive errors correlated positively with greater levels of anxious and depressive symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that overall cognitive error score was a strong predictor of adolescents' self-reported anxious symptoms and, to a lesser extent, depressive symptoms. Moreover, cognitive errors significantly differentiated between adolescents with high scores from adolescents with low scores on both the anxiety (STAI-T) and the depression (CES-D) scales. These findings lend support to the generalizability of Beck's cognitive theory to a New Zealand adolescent population and highlight the importance of focusing on prevention and early intervention programmes that directly target these faulty or biased ways of thinking in adolescents with anxious and/or depressive symptoms before meeting diagnostic criteria.

Cognitieve gedragstherapie voor depressieve klachten bij jongeren in residentiële zorg met een LVB in vergelijking met normaal begaafde jongeren

Abstract Cognitive behavioural therapy and depressive symptoms among youth with and without Mild Intellectual Disability in residential care: an exploratory study investigating ‘Op Volle Kracht’ Depression is at least as prevalent in youth with a mild intellectual disability (MID) as it is in youth without disabilities. Little is known however about the etiology and treatment of depression in this group. This paper aims to investigate the possiblities for cognitive behavioural therapy in youth with MID by (1) testing the validity of Beck’s cognitive theory and Nolen-Hoeksema’s response style theory in youth with and without a MID in residential youth care; and (2) to examine the effects of Op Volle Kracht (OVK), a CBT-based depression prevention program among youth with and without a MID in a residential treatment setting. In study 1 the relationship between negative cognitive errors (Beck), response styles (Nolen- Hoeksema) and depressive symptoms was examined in 135 adolescents (age 9-17 years) using linear regression. Study 2 was an initial cluster randomized controlled trial in which twenty residential treatment groups (including in total N=92 adolescents aged 9-17 years), half of which targeted adolescents with a MID, were randomly assigned to either treatment as usual (TAU), or a combination of TAU and the group-CBT-program Op Volle Kracht (OVK+TAU). Depressive symptoms, cognitive errors and response styles were assessed at pre-test, post-test and 3 months follow-up. The data were analyzed by mixed effects linear regression analyses with age and gender as covariates. Results Study 1 showed that only the cognitive error ‘underestimation of the ability to cope’, and a ruminative and distractive response style predicted depressive symptoms in both youth with- and without MID. The negative cognitive error ‘underestimation of the ability to cope’ was more prevalent among youth with MID than among youth without MID. Study 2 showed that the group CBT-program OVK was effective in reducing rumination, but not in reducing depressive symptoms or cognitive errors. This effect was the same for youth with and without a MID. The main premises of Beck’s cognitive theory and Nolen-Hoeksema’s response style theory of depression are applicable to both youth with and without a MID. The cognitive error ‘underestimation of the ability to cope’ poses a specific risk factor for developing a depression for youth with a MID and may require special attention in treatment and prevention of depression. The specifically adapted program OVK did not show effectiveness in reducing symptoms of depression in youth in residential care.

Evaluation of Early Maladaptive Schemas and Metacognition in Vaginismus Patients

According to the cognitive approach in the vaginismus etiology, it is accepted that the development of the vaginismic response is caused by the cognitive processes, meaning, interpretation and perception disorders. Many researchers have described negative cognitive schemas and information processing errors in patients with sexual dysfunction. Metacognition and schemas in vaginismus patients have not been studied together. We performed 30 women in the vaginismus group and 30 healthy women as a control group in order to test the hypothesis that our study was different in terms of early maladaptive schemas and metacognition according to the control group in vaginismus patients and that there were some early maladaptive schema subtypes and metacognition subtypes. Participants were assessed by sociodemographic data form, young schema scale short form, metacognition scale, Arizona sexual experience scale, Glombock Rust sexual satisfaction scale. When we looked at the scales in our study, there were differences in four subscale scores ('pessimism', 'approval seeking', 'punishment' and 'high standards') from the control group in the vaginismus group. When the metacognitive characteristics were examined, there was a difference in the scores of 'uncontrollability and danger', 'control of thinking', 'cognitive awareness' subscale scores in the control group. Our study is significant in that it is a guide for future studies that will examine the change in cognitive parameters before and after treatment on a larger scale.

Investigating the effects of therapist accuracy in cognitive behavioural therapy for depression

ABSTRACTThis study presents a means to address therapist accuracy in CBT as it relates to discussion of cognitive errors and coping strategies. Therapist interventions from CBT therapy sessions of 43 patients with depression were identified using the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale, and focus of interventions on negative or positive cognitive errors, or affective, behavioural, or cognitive coping strategies was identified using the Cognitive Errors Rating Scale and Coping Patterns Rating Scale, respectively. Patients’ depression symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory. Prior to alpha adjustment, therapist accuracy of cognitive and behavioural coping strategies was found to significantly predict better coping. Tentative conclusions are provided on the value of attuning to patients’ coping strategies.

Change in Biased Thinking in a Treatment Based on the Motive-Oriented Therapeutic Relationship for Borderline Personality Disorder.

Biased thinking is a common feature of patients presenting with borderline personality disorder (BPD). For the treatment of BPD, it was shown that the individualizing of the treatment, by using the motive-oriented therapeutic relationship (MOTR), had a beneficial short-term effect on process and outcome. So far, it remains unclear what the role of early change in biased thinking is in these treatments. The present study aims to assess whether there is a link between the MOTR, change in biased thinking, and outcome. The sample (N = 60) is based on a randomized controlled trial with two conditions: (a) 30 patients in a 10-session version of psychiatric management, and (b) 30 patients in a 10-session version of psychiatric management augmented with the MOTR. For each patient, three sessions (intake, middle, late) were selected, transcribed, and rated using the Cognitive Errors Rating Scale (CERS). An overall decrease of negative cognitive errors during 10 sessions of treatment was observed, independently of the treatment condition. No specific effect related to change in biased thinking may be attributed to the individualizing of the treatment. These results are discussed with regard to mechanisms of change in treatments for BPD, in particular with regard to the central role that biased thinking, as well as the MOTR, might play early in treatment.

Beck’s cognitive theory and the response style theory of depression in adolescents with and without mild to borderline intellectual disability

AimThis study tests the validity of Beck’s cognitive theory and Nolen-Hoeksema’s response style theory of depression in adolescents with and without MBID. MethodsThe relationship between negative cognitive errors (Beck), response styles (Nolen-Hoeksema) and depressive symptoms was examined in 135 adolescents using linear regression. ResultsThe cognitive error ‘underestimation of the ability to cope’ was more prevalent among adolescents with MBID than among adolescents with average intelligence. This was the only negative cognitive error that predicted depressive symptoms. There were no differences between groups in the prevalence of the three response styles. In line with the theory, ruminating was positively and problem-solving was negatively related to depressive symptoms. Distractive response styles were not related to depressive symptoms. The relationship between response styles, cognitive errors and depressive symptoms were similar for both groups. ConclusionThe main premises of both theories of depression are equally applicable to adolescents with and without MBID. The cognitive error ‘Underestimation of the ability to cope’ poses a specific risk factor for developing a depression for adolescents with MBID and requires special attention in treatment and prevention of depression. What this paper adds?Despite the high prevalence of depression among adolescents with MBID, little is known about the etiology and cognitive processes that play a role in the development of depression in this group. The current paper fills this gap in research by examining the core tenets of two important theories on the etiology of depression (Beck’s cognitive theory and Nolen-Hoeksema’s response style theory) in a clinical sample of adolescents with and without MBID. This paper demonstrated that the theories are equally applicable to adolescents with MBID, as to adolescents with average intellectual ability. However, the cognitive bias ‘underestimation of the ability to cope’ was the only cognitive error related to depressive symptoms, and was much more prevalent among adolescents with MBID than among adolescents with average intellectual ability. This suggests that underestimating one’s coping skills may be a unique risk factor for depression among adolescents with MBID. This knowledge is important in understanding the causes and perpetuating mechanisms of depression in adolescents with MBID, and for the development of prevention- and treatment programs for adolescents with MBID.

Cognitive Errors in Greek Adolescents: The Linkages Between Negative Cognitive Errors and Anxious and Depressive Symptoms

The present cross-sectional study investigated the relationships between negative cognitive errors and self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression in a community sample of Greek adolescents, aged 12 to 18 years (N = 883). The Children's Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CNCEQ) was used to measure four types of cognitive errors and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Trait subscale (STAI-T), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) were used to assess anxious and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that, as expected, cognitive errors were significantly associated with greater levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression. Of the four types of cognitive errors measured, only overgeneralization was independently related to anxiety (and none was independently related to depression). Finally, results indicated that even though younger adolescents exhibited more cognitive distortions than older adolescents, they reported less anxious and depressive symptoms, indicating tha...

The Relationship between Depression Severity and Cognitive Errors.

Cognitive errors (CEs) are evidenced to be related to depressive thinking in major depressive disorder (Beck Et Al., 1979; Dozois & Beck, 2008). Studies using self-report questionnaires demonstrate that CEs are more prevalent in individuals with depression than in non-depressed individuals (Gupta & Kar, 2008) and that CEs are related to depression severity (Miranda & Mennin, 2007). The study discussed in this paper aimed to describe CEs in depressed patients and examined the relationship between CEs and severity of depression. Participants (N = 45) undergoing cognitive therapy were assessed for CEs and for depression at session three using the Cognitive Errors Rating System (CERS; Drapeau et al., 2008) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck et al., 1979). Participants had more negative CEs than positive, and the most prevalent cluster of CEs was selective abstraction. Participants deemed as being "high distorters" on the CERS had significantly more negative CEs, but not positive CEs, than "low distorters" despite not differing on BDI scores. Psychotherapy research and practice implications are discussed.

Changes in Cognitive Errors Over the Course of Cognitive Therapy for Depression.

Cognitive therapy (CT) aims to treat major depression symptomatology by restructuring the patients' cognitive distortions to more adaptive thinking patterns. This study examined changes in cognitive errors (CEs) as patients undergo CT for depression. Forty-five participants were assessed at early and late therapy for CEs using the Cognitive Errors Rating System (Drapeau, Perry, & Dunkley, 2008) and for depression using the Beck Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). Although the total number of CEs did not change from early to late therapy, negative CEs significantly decreased, and positive CEs increased. Recovered participants had fewer total CEs, negative CEs, and negative overgeneralization than nonrecovered participants. Depressive symptoms were inversely related to late therapy positive CEs among the nonrecovered participants. Research and clinical implications are discussed.

Measuring Self-Debasing Cognitive Distortions in Youth

The purpose of the study was to develop Self-Debasing Cognitive Distortions Scale (SDCDS) and to investigate its psychometric properties in Indian sample of adolescents. This study was cross-sectional and used purposive sampling. To assess the content validity, the experts evaluated the 21-items scale constructed by the researchers based on Beck et al. (1979) Model of Negative Cognitive Errors, with emphasis on the cultural appropriateness. 16 items were finalized in the final draft. Data on 858 participants (426 male and 432 female students) aged 16 to 20, collected from different higher secondary institutions of Srinagar and Baramulla area of Kashmir valley was examined. Principle Component Analysis was conducted to assess the construct Validity. The model was further tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. To establish the validity of the test interpretations, the convergent validity of the test was assessed by correlating the test with Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS; Beevers et al. (2007)) Beck Depression Inventory; and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BDI & BAI; Beck and Steer (1993)) on a sample of 271 adolescents. Cronbach’s Alpha was then computed to assess the internal consistency of the measure. The results indicated that the SDCDS has satisfactory content, construct and convergent validity; and has appropriate internal consistency. Therefore, the SDCDS is more appropriate than the western-context developed measures to measure the self-debasing cognitive distortions in Indian Adolescents.

Negative Cognitive Errors in Youth: Specificity to Anxious and Depressive Symptoms and Age Differences.

Negative cognitive errors are important in the etiology and treatment of youth internalizing problems, but less is known about their unique relations with anxiety and depression. The major purpose of this study was to examine associations between distinct negative cognitive errors and anxiety and depression in youth. In a community sample of children and adolescents (aged 9-17; N = 278) negative cognitive errors were assessed using the revised version of the Children's Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CNCEQ-R). Anxiety and depression were assessed with the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and Children's Depression Inventory, respectively. The strongest predictors of anxiety were the negative cognitive errors "underestimation of the ability to cope" and "mind reading". The strongest predictors of depression were the errors "selective abstraction" and "overgeneralizing", with the first error explaining most variance. Analyses of age effects showed that, in comparison to adolescents, children reported higher scores on the total CNCEQ-R score, and on the errors "overgeneralizing", "personalizing", and "mind reading". The findings underscore the importance of researching the role of distinct cognitive processing in youth with anxiety and depression and further development of the CNCEQ-R. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Effectiveness of depression and anxiety prevention in adolescents with high familial risk: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundDepression and anxiety disorders during adolescence can have detrimental consequences. Both disorders are related to negative outcome in various areas during adolescence and are also predictive of depression and anxiety disorders later in life. Especially parental psychopathology and being female are risk factors that increase the probability of developing one of these disorders during adolescence. Research has shown that prevention programs have promising results, especially for adolescents who have these risk factors. Therefore, in this study, we will focus on the effectiveness of a prevention program ‘A jump forward’ that has been developed for adolescent girls with a familial risk of depression and/or anxiety.Methods/DesignWe designed a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of an indicated and selective prevention program aimed at depression and anxiety in adolescent girls. Adolescents aged between 11 and 15 years old with depressive and/or anxiety symptoms and with parents who show indicators of parental psychopathology will be randomly assigned to the experimental (N = 80) or control groups (N = 80). Participants in the experimental group will follow a preventive intervention, consisting of six sessions of 90 minutes each. All participants will complete baseline, intervention phase 1 (after session 2), intervention phase 2 (after session 4), post-intervention, 6 month follow-up, and 12 month follow-up assessments. Furthermore, parents will be asked to complete assessments at baseline, post-intervention, and 12-month follow-up. Primary outcome will be depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes will be anxiety symptoms, suicidal ideation, response style, negative cognitive errors, parental emotional support and parental control, parental psychopathology, parenting stress and adolescents’ depression and anxiety symptoms according to the parents.DiscussionThis paper described the study designed to evaluate a program for preventing depression and/or anxiety in high-risk adolescents over a 12-month follow-up period. If the program showed to be effective in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety and preventing adolescents from developing clinical levels of these disorders, our results would be relevant to practice. Thus, the intervention could be used on a large scale. Moreover, this study aims to contribute to the evidence-based prevention of depression and anxiety of adolescents.Trial registrationDutch Trial Register NTR3720

Negative automatic thoughts and emotional and behavioural problems in adolescence.

The aim of this study was to test whether maladaptive cognitions or difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the association between change in number of adverse life events (i.e. change in life stress) and emotional and behavioural problems in adolescence. Our sample consisted of 557 young people, aged 10-19years from a state secondary school in London. We fitted a multiple mediator model to contrast five mediators: three maladaptive cognitions (negative cognitive errors, negative automatic thoughts, and dysfunctional attitudes) and the two emotion regulatory processes of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We adjusted for gender, age, ethnicity, special educational needs and family poverty. Taken as a set, our mediators explained the effect of change in life stress on adolescent emotional and behavioural problems. However, cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, dysfunctional attitudes and negative cognitive errors did not contribute to the indirect effect above and beyond negative automatic thoughts. Only negative automatic thoughts mediated the association between change in life stress and emotional and behavioural problems. This suggests the possibility that negative automatic thoughts is the pathway through which an increase in life stress may lead to emotional and behavioural problems in adolescents.

Cognitive errors and anxiety in school aged children

Cognitive models of emotional disorders emphasize the role of biased information processing in the psychological functioning of anxious individuals. So far, the role of cognitive errors in problems of childhood anxiety disorders has received little empirical attention. This study analyzes the relations between cognitive errors and symptoms of anxiety in a sample of school aged children. The sample, comprised by 205 children (8 to 13 years old), answered the Children's Negative Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (CNCEQ) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders - Revised (SCARED-R). Results show a positive and statistically significant relationship between cognitive errors and symptoms of anxiety, suggesting the importance of modifying these cognitive processes for prevention and intervention targeting anxiety problems in school aged children.

Inappropriate and excessive guilt: instrument validation and developmental differences in relation to depression.

Inappropriate or excessive guilt is listed as a symptom of depression by the American Psychiatric Association (1994). Although many measures of guilt have been developed, definitional and operational problems exist, especially in the application of such measures in childhood and adolescence. To address these problems, the current study introduces the Inappropriate and Excessive Guilt Scale (IEGS), assesses its validity for use with children and adolescents, and tests its relation to depression across development. From a sample of 370 children between 7 and 16 years old, results provided (1) evidence that items designed to assess inappropriate and excessive guilt converged onto a single underlying factor, (2) support for the convergent, discriminant, and construct validity of the IEGS in a general youth population, and (3) evidence of incremental validity of the IEGS over-and-above other measures of guilt. Results also supported the hypothesis that inappropriate and excessive guilt as well as negative cognitive errors become less normative and more depressotypic with age.