Clinical psychology review
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Review Meta Analysis
Do people with chronic pain have impaired executive function? A meta-analytical review.
A widely held belief within the clinical community is that chronic pain is associated with cognitive impairment, despite the absence of a definitive systematic review or meta-analysis on the topic. The current systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to establish the current evidence concerning the difference in executive function between people with chronic pain and healthy controls. Six databases were searched for citations related to executive function and chronic pain from inception to June 24, 2013. ⋯ The current evidence suggests impairment of executive function in people with chronic pain, however, important caveats exist. First, executive function involves many cognitive components and there is no standard test for it. Second, moderators of executive function, such as medication and sleep, were seldom controlled for in studies of executive function performance.
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Review Meta Analysis
Can mindfulness and acceptance be learnt by self-help?: a systematic review and meta-analysis of mindfulness and acceptance-based self-help interventions.
There is growing evidence that mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions have positive consequences for psychological and physical health. The most well-established of these interventions typically involve relatively large resource commitments, in terms of both the provider and participant. A number of recent studies have begun to explore whether the benefits of such interventions can be generalised to less intensive methods. ⋯ Engagement with the self-help interventions varied but on average two-thirds of participants completed post-intervention measures. Emerging research into low-intensity mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions is hopeful. Recommendations for research and practice are presented.
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Mindfulness-based therapy (MBT) has become a popular form of intervention. However, the existing reviews report inconsistent findings. ⋯ MBT is an effective treatment for a variety of psychological problems, and is especially effective for reducing anxiety, depression, and stress.
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Meta Analysis
Efficacy of hypnosis in adults undergoing surgery or medical procedures: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
This meta-analysis investigates the efficacy of hypnosis in adults undergoing surgical or medical procedures compared to standard care alone or an attention control. Through a comprehensive literature search N=34 eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included, comprising a total of 2597 patients. ⋯ In conclusion, benefits of hypnosis on various surgically relevant outcomes were demonstrated. However, the internal validity of RCTs seems limited and further high methodological quality RCTs are needed to strengthen the promising evidence of hypnosis for adults undergoing surgery or medical procedures.
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Review Meta Analysis
A meta-analytic review of exposure in group cognitive behavioral therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.
Although the efficacy of exposure is well established in individual cognitive behavioral treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), some clinicians and researchers have expressed concerns regarding the use of in-session disclosure of trauma details through imaginal exposure in group cognitive behavioral therapy (GCBT) for PTSD. Thus, the aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of the empirical support for GCBT in the treatment of PTSD and to compare GCBT protocols that encourage the disclosure of trauma details via in-session exposure to GCBT protocols that do not include in-session exposure. Randomized controlled trials that assessed the efficacy of GCBT for PTSD were included in the meta-analysis. ⋯ No significant differences in effect sizes were found between GCBT treatments that included in-group exposure and those that did not. Although the attrition rate was higher in treatments that included exposure in-group, this rate is comparable to attrition rates in individual CBT treatments and pharmacotherapy for PTSD. The results from this meta-analysis suggest that concerns about the potentially negative impact of group exposure may be unwarranted, and support the use of exposure-based GCBT as a promising treatment option for PTSD.