Abstract By 2020 the World Health Organisation has predicted that depression will be the largest cause of disease burden in the world (Ellen, 2002). This study investigated the effects of three interventions (Explanatory Style, Conflict Resolution, and Exercise) on the level of well-being of adolescents from the middle years of schooling. The research consisted of three studies. Study 1 involved the design of a Student Perception Questionnaire. The 28¬–item Student Perception Questionnaire was created to measure the outcomes of the three interventions and was trialled on 215 Middle School students. A Principal Components analysis with Varimax rotation was performed on the data retrieved from the respondents, and all items were retained on the questionnaire, although four factors did not show a .30 loading. Study 2, a Pilot Study, was conducted with three students to trial the interventions and measures in preparation for the final study. It included the collection of qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was gained from interviews held with the students, parents, and teachers. Study 2 revealed that the interventions and the measures used to determine the effectiveness of the interventions would be suitable for Study 3. Study 3 was the full intervention that involved 25 students in an intervention group and six students in a no-intervention group. The 25 students were allocated to six groups that were engaged in a counterbalanced design study using the Explanatory Style, Conflict Resolution, and Exercise interventions. The group of six students was used as a comparison group. The results showed that students in the intervention group experienced a reduction of internalising behaviours such as withdrawal and depressive symptoms following all three interventions. The program as a whole was successful in reducing depressive symptoms and the interventions individually also significantly reduced depressive symptoms. The intervention group developed more optimistic thinking styles following the explanatory style intervention. Analysis of parent data revealed that parents of the intervention group were experiencing significant feelings of incompetence and guilt towards themselves as parents. In the members of the no-intervention group, having good social skills and a strong support network of friends and family were protective factors against depressive symptoms. The thesis showed that interventions can be used with adolescents that are effective in reducing depressive symptoms and do not have negative side effects, such as those associated with medications.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Substance use addiction is a debilitating and destructive human disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. Of all the provinces in South Africa, the Western Cape has the highest rate of MA use. This highly addictive stimulant, locally known as 'tik', has multiple physiological, psychological, and social effects on the user. The effects are associated with neurocognitive deficits that include deficiencies in working memory and high rates of delay discounting. Current neuropsychopharmacology literature seems to suggest that changes in neurotransmitter functioning and particular brain areas occur that contribute to some of the addictive behaviours associated with chronic MA use. New evidence is emerging that working memory training can help to improve rates of impulsivity in those addicted to MA by strengthening cognitive control. The aim of this project was to establish whether differences in impulse control existed in a sample of 33 male patients at a Western Cape drug rehabilitation centre who received either working memory training with standard drug rehabilitation and or standard drug rehabilitation only. Data was collected with a self-report impulsivity scale (BIS – 11) and analysed using inferential statistics. The results suggest that working memory training, when paired with a standard rehabilitation program, has superior effects in decreasing self-reported rates of impulsivity when compared to standard rehabilitation only. These findings suggest that working memory training may serve as a useful addition to improving impulsivity rates in MA rehabilitation treatment. Further research on a larger scale is required to investigate the findings of this project.

This thesis investigates computerised cognitive training in older adults, with a focus on training working memory and fluid intelligence. A series of studies is reported, with two broad aims. The first was to develop and validate outcome measures appropriate for use in this population, and the second was to examine whether established gains in cognitive functioning generalised to everyday life. In relation to the first aim, two studies were conducted which concerned the development of a sensitive measure of organisational abilities within a computerised paradigm, the Games Evaluation Task (GET). A further study made use of an existing naturalistic measure, the Multiple Errands Task (MET, Shallice & Burgess, 1991), and investigated whether it was possible to obtain reliable ratings of performance on the basis of video footage taken from the participant’s perspective by means of a body-worn camera. Both the GET and MET were used as outcome measures in the subsequent training studies. In relation to the second aim, three studies of cognitive training are reported. The first is a case study of a man with problems in working memory and time perception following a stroke. He underwent training on an intensive working memory package within a single-case experimental design that incorporated an active control condition. This approach was then extended in a larger sample of healthy older adults, who trained intensively on tasks that focussed either on working memory, or fluid intelligence and problem solving. In the final study participants trained on a combination of both working memory and fluid intelligence tasks. In addition, they watched training videos that focused on teaching various cognitive strategies. The aim of this video supplement was to help participants draw links between the computer training and real-life situations, and hence to foster generalisation of any benefits to everyday life. The thesis concludes with a general discussion which examines the major findings of the studies presented, their clinical applications, the limitations of the research and possible future directions.

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Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by reduced activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region involved in both emotion regulation and basic cognitive control processes. Recent studies have indicated that computerized interventions designed to activate the DLPFC can reduce depressive symptoms. The current study was a randomized controlled trial which extends this research to test whether one such program, called Cognitive Control Training (CCT), enhances depression treatment outcomes when used in adjunct to brief behavioral activation therapy for depression (BATD), an empirically-supported outpatient intervention. This study also explored whether the effects of BATD + CCT treatment on depression were mediated by changes in rumination and cognitive control. In a sample of thirty-four adults diagnosed with MDD, participants were randomly assigned to complete four sessions of either computerized CCT or a non-active computerized control task, concurrently with four sessions of BATD. Completion of the assigned computerized task took place immediately before each of the four BATD therapy sessions. Depression symptoms and proposed treatment mediators were assessed at baseline, mid-treatment, post-treatment, and four-week follow-up visits. I hypothesized that compared to the control group, participants receiving adjunctive CCT would demonstrate significantly reduced depressive symptoms. I also hypothesized that these effects would be mediated by changes in inhibitory control and set-shifting performance in the context of negative emotional material, as well as by changes in ruminative brooding. Results did not support these hypotheses. Depressive symptoms were reduced over time in both treatment conditions, with no significant difference between treatment conditions. Assignment to CCT was not associated with changes in the proposed mediators. Furthermore, exploratory analyses found minimal evidence that performance on inhibitory control and set-shifting tasks were related to baseline clinical characteristics (such as depression severity, rumination, or anxiety symptoms) or treatment outcomes. The results of this study support the potential for BATD as a brief, low-cost, flexible intervention for the treatment of depression and further show that CCT administered in adjunct to a 4-session BATD program does not add clinical benefit in the treatment of depression. This study and other recent research suggest that the effects of CCT may not be as robust as previously indicated, highlighting the need for continued investigation of the conditions under which CCT may be effective.

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No description available.

Recently, the literature concerned with the possibilities and limitations of working memory training has been growing rapidly. Nonetheless, there are still no clear answers about the principles of its effectiveness or transfer effect. The main questions we ask are about effectiveness of cognitive training in patients after stroke or TBI. To our knowledge this group hasn't been studied in this context yet. To do this, we compare two types of cognitive training - extensively studied N-back training (n=11) and still more popular group cognitive therapy (n=9) with a placebo control group (n=5) who recieves "training" in a simple computer game. The placebo control group then continues in N-back training. Our hypothesis is that after 3 weeks the two trainings should lead to significantly higher gains in cognitive tests scores than the placebo condition. Also, we expected N-back to be more effective than group cognitive training in domains more closely related to executive control. We tested attention, fluid intelligence, short-term and working memory. We also recorded participants well-being. Following training, there were no significant differences between N-back and group training. N-back group scored significantly higer on Trail Making Test A than control group (p=0,026). Although our study doesn't...

This thesis occupies with a cognitive training efficiency with a focus on memory and attention of dementia diagnosed people, especially people with vascular dementia, mixed dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The theoretical part deals with dementia issues and current knowledge on the field of a cognitive and occupational therapy. The main empirical part goal is a determination of the cognitive training by dementia diagnosed people. The next goal is to find out, how much clients are satisfied with the cognitive function therapy. The cognitive function training is made within a period of 8 weeks in social institutions in Jirkov and Chomutov. The research sample is consisted of 24 clients (at the age of 65 and more) with diagnosed Alzheimer's disease, vascular or mixed dementia, they were divided into an experimental and comparative group. Clients are evaluated before the intervention and after the intervention using Mini-Mental Examination test (MMSE), Trail Making test, part A (TMT:A and Swwartz scale of the therapy evaluation (SOS-10). Statistically significant results of set significance rate (p < 0,05) were found by the test MMSE (0,01 < 0,05) and scale SOS-10 (0,02 < 0,05), but the test TMT:A (0,09 > 0,05) hasn't confirmed therapy efficiency from the reason of the small research sample. Those...

A epilepsia do lobo temporal mesial (ELTM) é uma síndrome epiléptica de alta prevalência e de difícil controle medicamentoso. Cerca de 80% das cirurgias realizadas em centros de epilepsia são para tratamento desta síndrome. Do ponto de vista neuropsicológico, os pacientes portadores da ELTM podem apresentar prejuízos no processamento de memória declarativa, sejam elas de caráter verbal e/ou não-verbal, além de outras esferas da cognição. Normalmente, associam-se às queixas de memória, dificuldade de adaptação psicossocial e, consequentemente, piora na qualidade de vida. A reabilitação neuropsicológica tem demonstrado efeitos positivos como forma de tratamento para pacientes com lesões cerebrais de etiologias diversas. O presente estudo investigou os efeitos da reabilitação neuropsicológica no desempenho cognitivo, nas queixas de memória e sintomas de humor de 26 pacientes com ELTM clínica ou cirurgicamente tratados comparados a 14 indivíduos sem queixas neurológicas. De maneira geral, a reabilitação mostrou-se viável para pacientes com epilepsia independente do momento do tratamento: houve melhora na memória episódica auditivo-verbal, na aprendizagem, na fluência nominal, na intensidade das queixas de memória e nos sintomas depressivos. Mudanças semelhantes também foram observadas no grupo sem queixas neurológicas. Adicionalmente pode-se observar que a melhor resposta cognitiva após intervenção ocorreu no grupo com epilepsia cirurgicamente tratado, com melhora na maioria das variáveis cognitivas. / Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a high prevalence and drug resistant epileptic syndrome. Around 80% of surgeries performed at epilepsy centers aim this syndrome treatment. From the neuropsychological point of view, the patients with the TLE show declarative memory impairment, neither verbal and / or nonverbal processing and other cognitive failures. Usually, they are associated with memory complaints, difficulty in psychosocial adaptation and, consequently, worsening in quality of life. Neuropsychological rehabilitation has demonstrated positive effects as one of the treatments for patients with diverse brain injuries. The present study investigated the effects of neuropsychological rehabilitation on cognitive performance, memory complaints and mood symptoms of 26 TLE patients clinically or surgically treated compared to 14 individuals without neurological symptoms. Overall, rehabilitation proved to be feasible for patients with epilepsy regardless treatment timing: there was improvement in verbal episodic memory, learning, verbal fluency, memory complaints and depressive symptoms. Similar changes were also found in the group without neurological conditions. Additionally, the best cognitive response after intervention occurred in the group surgically treated, with improvement in most of the cognitive variables.