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Recent research: articles from spring 2015 journals

I read a lot of research.  When I find an article of particular interest I download it to my bibliographic database - Endnote - which currently contains over 22,000 abstracts.  I also regularly tweet about emerging research, so following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ (click on the relevant icon at the top of this web page) will keep you up to speed with what I'm finding interesting.  Additionally you can view this highlighted research by visiting Scoop.it (click on the "it!" icon at the top of this page).  At Scoop.it, I stream publications into five overlapping topic areas: Cognitive & General Psychotherapy, Depression, Compassion & Mindfulness, Healthy Living & Healthy Aging, and Positive Psychology. Here you can scan through abstracts (and my comments), follow hyperlinks to the original research papers, and search by keyword (click on the funnel icon or in the tag cloud on the relevant Scoop.it topic pages).

Every couple of months or so, I also provide overviews of this research - sign up for the newsletter to receive this information regularly (see the link at the bottom of this page).  Clicking on the topic heading - Cognitive & General Psychotherapy - downloads a hyperlinked PDF list of 36 good recent research studies, including a couple by Demyttenaere on how clinicians could improve response rates by better clarifying client priorities in depression treatment, Fournier's findings of better return to employment after CBT than after antidepressant treatment, Freeman's emphasis on how cannabis potency seems more important than frequency in precipitating psychosis, and the concerning result from Johnsen's meta-analysis showing decreasing effect sizes produced by CBT for depression over the last 40 years.  Click on Depression for an overlapping list of 32 relevant studies (this covers medication too), including Biesheuvel-Leliefeld's meta-analysis on the effectiveness of psychotherapy in reducing depressive relapse, Ghio's finding that treating depression more quickly seems associated with better outcome (beware long wait times), recent NICE guidance on identification & depression treatment in young people, and Shelton's overview of augmentation choices when first line antidepressants are inadequate.  The Compassion & Mindfulness link brings 24 recent abstracts.  De Vibe shows personality predictors of successful mindfulness training, Jain systematically reviews meditation treatments for acute depression, Leaviss systematically reviews psychotherapeutic benefits produced by compassion-focused interventions, and van der Velden also reviews the mechanisms of mindfulness's effectiveness.  Clicking on Positive Psychology downloads abstracts and links to 22 good papers including recent work by Gray on how laughter promotes self-disclosure, Hudson's fascinating work on how people can deliberately alter their personality traits, Stellar's finding that positive affect reduces inflammation, and Yu's demonstration that purpose in life is associated with reduced strokes in older people.  Finally, the Healthy Living & Healthy Aging link brings details of 36 articles. There's both Alishire's and Power's worrying findings on the toxic effects of air pollution, DeLoss's intriguing work on behavioural training to improve vision, Watson's clarification of recommended quantity of sleep, Santini's systematic review on the association between social relationships & depression, and much, much more!   

So much fascinating & helpful information here.  Remember you can always search these & earlier studies using keywords on James's Scoop.it pages.

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