A neuroimaging dataset during sequential color qualia similarity judgments with and without reports.

Recent neuroscientific research has advanced our understanding of consciousness, yet the connection between specific qualitative aspects of consciousness, known as "qualia," and particular brain regions or networks remains elusive. Traditional methods that rely on verbal descriptions from participants pose challenges in neuroimaging studies. To address this, our group has introduced a novel "qualia structure" paradigm that leverages exhaustive, structural, and relational comparisons among qualia instead of verbal reports.

Cognitive Processing Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Japan: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is an evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, there is little evidence on the efficacy of CPT in East Asia.

Objective: To evaluate whether CPT is effective in treating PTSD among outpatients in a Japanese medical setting.

A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of COVID-19 on Optimism Prediction.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate how optimistic predictions, hopelessness, and depressive symptoms changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the causal relationships between these variables. To achieve this purpose, we used data from online surveys conducted in 2019 and 2021 among men and women aged 20-79. Based on item response theory, we developed a future prediction task for the assessment of optimistic predictions.

Efficacy of the unified protocol for transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral treatment for depressive and anxiety disorders: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The efficacy of the unified protocol of the transdiagnostic treatment for emotional disorders (UP) has been poorly studied in patients with depressive disorders. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of UP for improving depressive symptoms in patients with depressive and/or anxiety-related disorders.

Methods: This assessor-blinded, randomized, 20-week, parallel-group, superiority study compared the efficacy of the UP with treatment-as-usual (UP-TAU) wait-list with treatment-as-usual (WL-TAU).

Expressive suppression of emotion is a moderator of anxiety in a unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders: A secondary analysis.

Background: Expressive suppression (ES) of emotion is considered a moderator that reduces the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT); however, whether and how ES moderates the efficacy of the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders (UP), a version of CBT targeting aversive/avoidant responses to emotions, including ES, remain unclear. We investigated whether and how emotion regulation, especially ES, moderates UP efficacy for anxiety symptoms in patients with anxiety and depressive disorders.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a previous trial.

Role of focusing on the positive side during COVID-19 outbreak: Mental health perspective from positive psychology.

This paper discusses how positive emotions can help maintain and improve mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak, taking into account examples of social interaction and positive psychology research efforts in Japanese context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Augmentation of Positive Valence System-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by Inaudible High-Frequency Sounds for Anhedonia: A Trial Protocol for a Pilot Study.

Importance: Recent conceptualizations in Research Domain Criteria have indicated that anhedonia, 1 of 2 core symptoms of depression, which can be treatment resistant, is associated with deficits in the positive valence system, and inaudible high-frequency sound therapy has been shown to enhance reward-related brain circuitry. Hence, cognitive behavioral therapy focusing on the positive valence system enhanced with sound therapy could have a synergistic effect on anhedonia.

Objective: To test the augmentation effect of inaudible high-frequency sounds on the efficacy of positive valence system-focused cognitive behavioral therapy to treat anhedonia.

Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of cognitive processing therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder among Japanese patients: the Safety, Power, Intimacy, Esteem, Trust (SPINET) study.

Introduction: Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is widely regarded as a safe and effective first-line treatment for individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, no comparative studies have been conducted to examine the treatment outcomes in an Asian population. The aim of the present trial is to investigate the efficacy of CPT (individual format) as a treatment for PTSD in a population of Japanese patients.

Methods And Analysis: A 16-week, single-centre, assessor-masked, randomised, parallel-group superiority trial has been designed to compare the efficacy of CPT in conjunction with treatment as usual (mostly pharmacotherapy and clinical monitoring) versus treatment as usual alone.

Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire.

Background: The Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ERSQ) comprehensively assesses nine aspects of emotion regulation skills: awareness, clarity, sensation, understanding, compassionate self-support, modification, acceptance, tolerance, and readiness to confront. However, it is unknown about the levels of emotion regulation skills in various mental disorders, and its cross-cultural validity. We developed a Japanese version of the ERSQ, then examined its validity and reliability in clinical and non-clinical populations.

Transdiagnostic and Transcultural: Pilot Study of Unified Protocol for Depressive and Anxiety Disorders in Japan.

Unified protocol (UP) is a transdiagnostic cognitive behavior therapy for emotional disorders. It remains unknown whether UP is applicable for use in non-Western countries and for depressive disorders. We therefore examined its feasibility for a Japanese clinical population using this clinical trial design, which is multicentered, open-labeled, and single-armed (Clinical registry: UMIN000008322).

Japan Unified Protocol Clinical Trial for Depressive and Anxiety Disorders (JUNP study): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The unified protocol for the transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders is a promising treatment approach that could be applicable to a broad range of mental disorders, including depressive, anxiety, trauma-related, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. However, no randomized controlled trial has been conducted to verify the efficacy of the unified protocol on the heterogeneous clinical population with depressive and anxiety disorders.

Methods/design: The trial was designed as a single-center, assessor-blinded, randomized, 20-week, parallel-group superiority study in order to compare the efficacy of the combination of unified protocol and treatment-as-usual versus waiting-list with treatment-as-usual for patients with depressive and/or anxiety disorders.

Assessing depression related severity and functional impairment: the Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale (ODSIS).

Background: The Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale (ODSIS) is a brief, five-item measure for assessing the frequency and intensity of depressive symptoms, as well as functional impairments in pleasurable activities, work or school, and interpersonal relationships due to depression. Although this scale is expected to be useful in various psychiatric and mental health settings, the reliability, validity, and interpretability have not yet been fully examined. This study was designed to examine the reliability, factorial, convergent, and discriminant validity of a Japanese version of the ODSIS, as well as its ability to distinguish between individuals with and without a major depressive disorder diagnosis.

Validity and clinical interpretability of Overall Anxiety Severity And Impairment Scale (OASIS).

Background: The Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale is a brief generic measure for anxiety that encompasses frequency and intensity as well as behavioral and functional aspects of anxiety. This study was conducted to elucidate aspects of reliability, validity, and interpretability, such as equivalence of factor loadings across non-clinical and clinical populations, convergence and discriminance of related variables, and performance of detecting diagnostic and medical status of anxiety disorders.

Methods: Non-clinical and clinical Japanese populations were taken from a panelist pool registered with an internet survey company (total n=2830; 619 panic disorder, 576 for social anxiety disorder, 645 for obsessive-compulsive disorder, a 619 for major depressive disorder, and 371 for non-disorder panelists).