Most VR applications in mental health care have focused on cognitive behavioral therapy. This paper is a call to expand research into other theory-guided psychotherapy practices. Evidence is presented that supports the so-called dodo bird effect that contends that all bona fide psychotherapies are equally effective. Two avenues for expanding research are suggested that focus on VR strengths: cr...

From the 80s onwards, new psychotherapeutic interventions were developed to achieve profound changes to the character pathology of the most serious cases with Personality Disorders, utilizing the existing psychiatric settings (inpatient wards or day hospitals). The latter were taken as the necessary framework (or containing, in psychoanalytic terminology) parameter for dealing with the enactmen...

OBJECTIVE Despite numerous investigations, the question whether all bona fide treatments of depression are equally efficacious in adults has not been sufficiently answered. METHOD We applied two different meta-analytical techniques (conventional meta-analysis and mixed treatment comparisons). Overall, 53 studies with 3,965 patients, which directly compared two or more bona fide psychotherapie...

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterised by dysregulation of emotions and impulses, an unstable sense of self, and difficulties in interpersonal relationships, often accompanied by suicidal and self-harming behaviour. Major depressive disorder (MDD) commonly co-occurs with BPD. Patients with BPD often present with depressive symptoms. It can be difficult t...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy relative to applied relaxation training, a credible psychotherapy comparison condition. Despite the widespread clinical use of psychodynamic psychotherapies, randomized controlled clinical trials evaluating such psychotherapies for axis I disorders have lagged. To the authors' knowledg...

OBJECTIVE Few randomized, controlled trials have examined the efficacy of treatments for anorexia nervosa. Cognitive behavior therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy are effective in a related disorder, bulimia nervosa. There are theoretical and treatment indications for these therapies in anorexia nervosa. METHOD Fifty-six women with anorexia nervosa diagnosed by using strict and lenient wei...

This article reviews the use of opioid antagonists in the pharmacologic treatment of alcohol dependence. The rationale for using the opioid antagonists naltrexone and nalmefene to prevent relapse in alcohol-dependent subjects is discussed by reviewing past and current clinical trials. The role of psychotherapies, particularly coping skills therapy, in combination with opioid antagonists is high...

Sir: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder. The disorder is characterized by chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of any organic disorder. Treatment of IBS includes dietary modification, psychotherapies, and medications. Among medications, antidepressants may be beneficial in IBS. We report a case in which symptoms of diarrhea-predominan...

Sir: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder. The disorder is characterized by chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of any organic disorder. Treatment of IBS includes dietary modification, psychotherapies, and medications. Among medications, antidepressants may be beneficial in IBS. We report a case in which symptoms of diarrhea-predominan...