Nicolas Rohleder

Biopsychosocial approach to understanding resilience: Stress habituation and where to intervene

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 18-10-2018

DOI: 10.1111/JEP.13052

Abstract: Resilience in the face of adversity is a human experience that leads to better health, both mentally and physically. We briefly review its historical origins rooted in ecological biology and its adoption into health care. Resilience is the common response to adversity or potential traumatic events. In idual differences in emotion regulation and coping skills as well as social capital and one's physical environment influence a person's ability to achieve resilience. One potential biopsychosocial measure of resilience includes stress habituation to repeated stress as demonstrated in the laboratory, possibly providing a tool to observe mastery of resilience training in the clinic. Evidence-based interventions at the in idual and small group level (eg, family, classroom) have successfully shown development of resilient behaviours and improved mental and physical health outcomes. However, the role of social context and public policy clearly influence an in idual's ability to be resilient. Despite the current limited evidence of the effectiveness of resilience building interventions, clinicians, researchers, and other health care professions have an obligation to become advocates for laws and policies that support the most vulnerable, and least resilient, in our society to attain resilience for their health. This salutary effect will enable them to become socially as well as economically productive members of the community at large. It is not possible to remove stress or adversity from life, but we can influence the development of regulatory flexibility and decrease the sociocultural factors linked to the nonresilient experience, thus mitigating adversity's long-term effects on health.

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of online interpretation bias intervention on stress reactivity in the children of parents with depression: the CoCo study

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 30-05-2023

DOI: 10.1186/S12888-023-04803-Y

Abstract: Current preventive interventions for the children of parents with depression demonstrate modest effects on depression incidence. This may be because existing interventions tend to comprise general psychotherapeutic tools, rather than targeting the specific mechanisms underlying familial transmission. Improved theoretical models of familial transmission could enhance the development of targeted interventions. Although existing models assume that cognitive and biological vulnerability factors influence one another, the precise mechanisms are unknown. This project is the first to experimentally test whether negative interpretation bias has an impact on cortisol response in children of parents with depression. This study protocol reports a randomised controlled trial of an interpretation bias intervention which aims to shift participants’ interpretation bias in a more positive direction and thereby alter their stress response. Children aged 10–14 years who have i) one parent with a current or previous depression diagnosis, with at least one episode occurring during the child’s lifetime and ii) do not have a current or previous psychiatric diagnosis themselves, will be assigned to one of two conditions: an interpretation bias intervention ( n = 50) or a structurally similar placebo intervention ( n = 50). The interpretation bias intervention consists of a short lab-based cognitive reappraisal of interpretations training, a four-week app-based Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations intervention and interpretation bias specific if–then plans. Interpretation bias will be assessed before and after the intervention using the Scrambled Sentences Task. The effect of the intervention on participants’ stress response will be assessed by salivary cortisol collected at five different time points: from immediately before until 45 min after administering the Trier Social Stressor Test for Children. Stress reactivity will be measured via baseline to peak cortisol and stress recovery will be measured via the 45 min cortisol marker. We hypothesise that children who participate in the interpretation bias intervention will display a positive shift in interpretation bias and this, in turn, will alter their stress response. Children who receive the placebo intervention are expected to show a smaller positive shift in interpretation bias and stress reactivity. The findings of the present study will contribute to models of familial depression transmission as well as informing preventive interventions. If training a more positive interpretation bias subsequently alters participants’ stress response, then incorporating such tools may increase the efficacy of existing preventive interventions. Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien DRKS00028842. Registered August 19, 2022.

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Location: Germany

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Brandeis University

Location: United States of America

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Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Location: No location found

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