Mood Regulation Focused CBT Based on Memory Reconsolidation, Reduced Suicidal Ideation and Depression in Youth in a Randomised Controlled Study

Göran Högberg and Tore Hällström
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Göran Högberg: Child Psychiatry, BUP Globen, Stockholm 12177, Sweden
Tore Hällström: Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, 43141 Mölndal, Sweden

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: Suicide attempts and suicidal ideation in adolescence are considered to be related to suicide and psychiatric adversity later in life. Secondary prevention by improving the treatment of suicidal youth is a distinct possibility. In this study, treatment with a systematised mood-regulation focused cognitive behavioural therapy (MR-CBT) (n = 15) was compared with treatment as usual (TAU) (n = 12) in a group of depressed adolescents in a clinical setting. MR-CBT focuses on mood regulation by means of counter conditioning with memory reconsolidation being the proposed mechanism of change. Subjects practice keeping emotionally positive memories to diminish the emotional impact of negative memories. Symptoms of depression were tested with a short version of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), and wellbeing with the World Health Organization 5 Wellbeing Index (WHO-5). Suicidal events were rated according to the clinical interview Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Suicidal events at the end of treatment were significantly reduced in the MR-CBT group, but not in the TAU group. Depression and wellbeing improved significantly in both treatment groups. While far from conclusive, the results are encouraging enough to suggest that further studies should be undertaken to examine whether psychotherapy focusing on mood regulation for young individuals at risk might enhance secondary prevention of suicide.

Keywords: suicide; secondary prevention; adolescents; therapy; counter-conditioning; memory reconsolidation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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