Eliane Gefen, Nathalie H Launder, Christopher G Davey, Mor Nahum, Yafit Gilboa, Carsten Finke, Hanna Malmberg Gavelin, Nicola T Lautenschlagera, Amit Lampit
{"title":"Computerized Cognitive Training in People with Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.","authors":"Eliane Gefen, Nathalie H Launder, Christopher G Davey, Mor Nahum, Yafit Gilboa, Carsten Finke, Hanna Malmberg Gavelin, Nicola T Lautenschlagera, Amit Lampit","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Cognitive impairment and depression frequently co-occur, exacerbating disability. Identifying accessible interventions to enhance cognition in people with depression is imperative. Computerized cognitive training (CCT) is a potential strategy, but its clinical efficacy across settings remain unclear. We investigated the efficacy of CCT and potential moderators of cognitive and functional outcomes in individuals with depressive symptoms.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD42020204209), we searched MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO from inception to June 22, 2026 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CCT in adults (≥18 years) with clinically significant depressive symptoms. Primary outcome was change in overall cognition. Secondary outcomes included depressive symptoms, psychosocial and daily functioning.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Fifty-three 53 RCTs (3831 participants) were included. CCT was efficacious for overall cognition (49 RCTs, (g=0.23; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.32; τ2=0.095) and depressive symptoms (35 RCTs, g=0.22; 95% CI 0.08 to 0.37; τ2=0.066) with substantial heterogeneity across studies, and did not extend to psychiatric symptoms and daily function. Greater cognitive benefits were associated with multidomain training, higher doses, session durations >30 min, and ≤3 sessions per week. Efficacy was independent of baseline symptom severity, and comparable across delivery modes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>CCT can improve cognition, depression and subjective outcomes in people with major or comorbid depression, but efficacy varies across outcomes, settings and intervention design factors. Future work is needed to confirm these factors, and examine what approaches and dose is required to enhance cognitive and functional outcomes of CCT.</p>","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":" ","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149184074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roger Muñoz-Navarro, Gabriel Estelller-Collado, Monika Salgueiro, Maider Prieto Vila, María Carpallo González, César González-Blanch, Paloma Ruíz Rodríguez, Juan Antonio Moriana, Carlos van-der Hofstadt Román, Virtudes Pérez-Jover, Antonio Cano-Vindel
{"title":"Long-term effectiveness of transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioural therapy for anxiety and depression in primary care: the PsicAP-CV trial.","authors":"Roger Muñoz-Navarro, Gabriel Estelller-Collado, Monika Salgueiro, Maider Prieto Vila, María Carpallo González, César González-Blanch, Paloma Ruíz Rodríguez, Juan Antonio Moriana, Carlos van-der Hofstadt Román, Virtudes Pérez-Jover, Antonio Cano-Vindel","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Anxiety disorders and depression represent a global public health challenge due to their high prevalence, severely impacting quality of life (QoL) and functioning, and imposing a massive economic burden on public systems. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a group transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapy (TD-CBT) protocol through a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial (SW-CRT) in Spanish primary care (PC).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The sample consisted of 316 PC patients (73.4% female; mean age=44 years) with mild-to-moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression. An immediate intervention group was compared with a delayed intervention group (three months on a waiting list). Patients were assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3- and 9-month follow-ups using mixed linear models.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results revealed significant reductions in anxiety and depression symptoms with large effect sizes (d > 1.2) that remained stable up to 9 months. Improvements in QoL and functioning were heterogeneous, showing sustained long-term gains in work and family domains, but not in broader QoL or social functioning. No significant differences were found in clinical efficacy between groups, with solid reliable recovery rates (∼50%) and minimal deterioration. However, delayed access to treatment significantly increased long-term dropout rates (64.2% in the delayed group vs. 44.0% in the immediate group at 9 months).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In conclusion, group TD-CBT is an effective and safe intervention offering robust functional and symptomatic recovery. Crucially, while delayed treatment does not reduce clinical efficacy for completers, immediate access is essential to maximize patient retention and optimize resources in the public system.</p>","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":" ","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149184029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dismantling Psychological Interventions for Youth with Complex Trauma: A Systematic Review and Component Network Meta-Analysis","authors":"Yu Li,Junkai Feng,Wanyan Hu,Zhuo Zeng,Qian Pan,Jun Wang,Muyang Li,Thomas Elbert,Anke Karl,Yinyin Zang","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag009","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction: Complex trauma-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbidities pose a significant mental health burden in children. However, the comparative effectiveness of psychological interventions and shared therapeutic components remains unclear. Methods: We conducted a systematic review, network, and component network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of psychological interventions for children and adolescents with complex trauma. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library were searched up to September 2024. PTSD was the primary outcome; retention and comorbid symptoms (depression, anxiety, dissociation, externalizing problems) were secondary outcomes. Results: Forty-eight studies (6,017 participants) were included in this review. Multimodal group interventions (SMD −1.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] −3.04 to −0.32), phase-based trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) with parental involvement (−1.12, −1.53 to −0.70), TF-CBT (−1.06, −1.59 to −0.52), non-TF-CBT with parental involvement (−0.93, −1.70 to −0.17), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (−0.85, −1.60 to −0.10), and phase-based TF-CBT (−0.79, −1.20 to −0.39) significantly reduced PTSD. Exposure emerged as the only significantly effective component for PTSD (−0.85, 95% credible interval [CrI] −1.60 to −0.06). Efficient component combinations included affective modulation with a therapeutic foundation of psychoeducation and nonspecific elements for PTSD (−0.97, 95% CrI −1.92 to −0.01) and exposure plus parental involvement with the same foundation for depression (−2.11, 95% CrI −4.06 to −0.20). Conclusion: Trauma-focused approaches were the most effective treatments for pediatric PTSD and emotional comorbidities related to complex trauma. A more cost-effective intervention approach may prioritize exposure techniques, incorporate affective modulation, and include parental involvement when feasible.","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":"36 1","pages":"1-1"},"PeriodicalIF":22.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149150411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roland von Känel,Monika Sadlonova,Christopher Celano,Nina Kupper,Paul Lodder,Jennifer A Sumner,Aju P. Pazhenkottil,Mary Princip,Noé Brasier,Jeffrey Birk
{"title":"The Future of Psychocardiology: From Psychosocial Risk to Mechanism-Based Care","authors":"Roland von Känel,Monika Sadlonova,Christopher Celano,Nina Kupper,Paul Lodder,Jennifer A Sumner,Aju P. Pazhenkottil,Mary Princip,Noé Brasier,Jeffrey Birk","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag018","url":null,"abstract":"Psychocardiology has established psychosocial factors as contributors to cardiovascular risk, symptom burden, and prognosis. Although mechanistic research is growing, causal evidence remains inconsistent, while broad constructs, cross-sectional designs, and insufficiently specified pathways still limit clinical translation and treatment selection. The future lies in mechanism-based care that identifies modifiable biological, psychological, behavioral, and social processes linking psychosocial factors and cardiovascular disease bidirectionally. Mechanisms are temporally ordered causal processes through which changes in one factor produce changes in another; modifiable processes provide intervention targets. This evolution matters for psychosomatic medicine because psychocardiology offers a model for translating biopsychosocial theory into mechanism-based cardiovascular care. Advancing this framework requires mechanism-based phenotyping, temporally explicit research, repeated real-world assessment, and interventions testing target engagement and clinical benefit. Mechanism-based phenotyping identifies context-dependent profiles of interacting biological, psychological, behavioral, and social processes beyond diagnoses or symptom counts. Temporally explicit research distinguishes antecedents, triggers, maintaining factors, and consequences across disease stages and clinical contexts. Key opportunities include ambulatory and digital methods, experimental-medicine approaches testing causal hypotheses and target engagement, and integrated stepped-care models linking assessment to mechanism-informed treatment selection in cardiovascular disease-management pathways. Progress will depend on transdisciplinary training, clinical workflow integration, reimbursement structures, and equitable models of care.","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":22.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elisabeth Winkler,Julia Stuhlreyer,Antonia Borcherding,Johannes Wessels,Regine Klinger
{"title":"Treatment Expectation across Open-Label Placebo and Pharmacological Contexts: A Randomized Clinical Trial in Chronic Low Back Pain","authors":"Elisabeth Winkler,Julia Stuhlreyer,Antonia Borcherding,Johannes Wessels,Regine Klinger","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag014","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Chronic low back pain (CLBP) markedly reduces quality of life and remains difficult to treat. Increasing opioid prescriptions highlight the need for effective innovative approaches. This randomized controlled trial aims to investigate whether social observational learning augments analgesic or open-label placebo treatment through treatment expectation modulation in CLBP patients. Methods One hundred thirty patients with CLBP were randomized into a 2 × 2 fully balanced placebo design plus a natural history (NH) control group. Patients received a 3-week treatment with novamine sulfone (analgesic) or open-label placebos (OLP), with follow-up at 3 months. Expectations were manipulated before treatment, using a positive social observational learning video (SoL) or a neutral control video (neutral). Pain intensity (numeric rating scale, NRS 0–10) was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included treatment expectations and functional capacity. Results Pain intensity decreased significantly over time in all treatment groups (p < .001), with the smallest reduction in NH. Pain reduction in OLP + SoL and in analgesic + neutral was significantly greater than NH (p < .05). Expectation manipulation produced significant group differences in expected pain relief (p < .05). Higher expected pain relief predicted greater pain reduction after 3 weeks and 3 months (both p < .001). Functional capacity improved over time (p < .001) without consistent group differences. Conclusion Open-label placebos combined with social observational learning produced clinically meaningful analgesia that did not significantly differ from active medication. Treatment expectation represents a key mechanism underlying pain relief in CLBP and calls for further investigation.","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":22.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mark Muehlbacher,Rebecca Schennach,Thomas Boesl,Christoph Bamberg,Stefan Koch,Ulrich Voderholzer
{"title":"Does high-intensity exercise combined with exposure sessions improve treatment out-comes in obsessive-compulsive disorder? A randomized controlled trial in inpatients","authors":"Mark Muehlbacher,Rebecca Schennach,Thomas Boesl,Christoph Bamberg,Stefan Koch,Ulrich Voderholzer","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag016","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction: Physical exercise administered before or after exposure has been shown to have beneficial effects on treatment outcomes in anxiety- and trauma-related disor-ders. However, this approach has not yet been examined for obsessive–compulsive dis-order (OCD). This randomized controlled trial investigated whether high-intensity exer-cise administered immediately after exposure therapy improves treatment outcomes in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Methods: Ninety-seven inpatients with OCD participated in an eight-week exposure-based treatment phase during inpa-tient care, comprising two sessions per week, and were randomly assigned to either high-intensity exercise (ExpoHI) or low-intensity control (ExpoLI) administered immedi-ately after a standardized exposure and response prevention (ERP) session. OCD se-verity was assessed using the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) at admission, discharge, and six-month follow-up. The secondary outcomes included gen-eral psychopathological symptoms. Results: ExpoHI showed significantly greater reduc-tions in Y-BOCS scores at discharge (between-group difference: −3.14 points, p = .009), corresponding to a moderate-to-large between-group effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.76), which was maintained at the six-month follow-up (p = .030; Cohen’s d = 0.68). Re-sponder rates at discharge were significantly higher in the ExpoHI group (85.4%) than in the ExpoLI group (61.2%) (p = .011), whereas remission rates did not differ between groups. ExpoHI also showed greater reductions in depressive symptoms at follow-up. Conclusions: High-intensity exercise immediately following exposure therapy produced greater reductions in obsessive–compulsive symptoms than the active control condition. These findings suggest that exercise may be a feasible adjunct for exposure-based treatment.","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":22.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hannah Lange, Alexander K Schuster, Stephanie Vock, Wolfgang Eich, Hans-Christoph Friederich, Jonas Tesarz
{"title":"Digital rehabilitation using immersive Virtual Reality for Post-COVID fatigue: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Hannah Lange, Alexander K Schuster, Stephanie Vock, Wolfgang Eich, Hans-Christoph Friederich, Jonas Tesarz","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Background Post-COVID fatigue is a common and disabling condition with few proven treatments. Immersive virtual reality (VR) exercise therapy may offer a novel rehabilitation approach. We evaluated its efficacy and safety. Methods In this single-center, double-blind, parallel-group trial, German adults meeting WHO criteria for Post-COVID syndrome, with moderate-to-severe fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale [FSS] ≥36) and no comorbidities better explaining fatigue were randomly assigned (1:1) to a supervised VR exercise therapy or to a supervised conventional exercise therapy. Both interventions comprised 12 sessions of 45min over 6 weeks. The primary endpoint was change in FSS from baseline to post-intervention, analyzed in the intention-to-treat population (DRKS00032059), follow-ups took place after 3 and 12 months post-treatment. Findings Between March 2023, and May 2024, 100 participants were randomized (1:1) to a VR exercise group (VR-EG); or a conventional exercise group (Con-EG). Fatigue severity improved in both groups (VR-EG -8·29; Con. EG -5·27), with no significant between-group difference (mean difference 3·03; 95% CI -1·02 to 7·06). Only the VR-EG exceeded the established minimal important difference (≥6·3 points). Symptom worsening was less frequent with VR-EG than with Con-EG (9% vs 22%). Patient Global Impression of Change ratings favored VR-EG (overall improvement: 76·7% vs 56·5%). Improvements were sustained at 3 and 12 months. Adverse events were mild and transient. Interpretation Immersive VR exercise therapy did not significantly outperform an active comparator on the primary endpoint. However, the VR-EG reached the minimal important difference for fatigue at the group level, showed fewer cases of symptom worsening, and reported more favorable global improvement. Considering the limited treatment options available for Post-COVID fatigue, these findings indicate a promising clinical signal warranting confirmation in larger, multicenter trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":" ","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149081660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nan Qiu, Duoduo Xu, Barbara Sahakian, Christelle Langley, Roland Eils, Laura Marciano, Christian Montag, Jodi Halpern, B T Thomas Yeo, Paul S F Yip, Dezhong Yao, Benjamin Becker
{"title":"The Future of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in Mental Health: Prospects, Challenges, and a Roadmap for Personalized Treatment.","authors":"Nan Qiu, Duoduo Xu, Barbara Sahakian, Christelle Langley, Roland Eils, Laura Marciano, Christian Montag, Jodi Halpern, B T Thomas Yeo, Paul S F Yip, Dezhong Yao, Benjamin Becker","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Artificial intelligence (AI), alongside emerging digital and neurotechnologies, is increasingly incorporated into mental health care, psychosomatic medicine, and psychotherapy. However, the clinical value of these tools cannot be judged by technical performance alone. These fields are characterized by diagnostic heterogeneity, reliance on language-based and self-reported information, complex biopsychosocial pathways, and substantial interindividual variability in treatment response. Clinically meaningful progress therefore requires integrating technological progress and biological markers with patients' lived experience, personal history, and social context to catalyze person-centered precision assessment, decision-making and intervention.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>This review examines how AI and emerging technologies may contribute to mental health care across diagnostic assessment, biomarker development, treatment selection, personalized neuromodulation, adaptive interventions, and conversational agents. We argue that AI should support and improve, not replace, clinical assessments and care by integrating complex biopsychosocial data into precision person-centered decision making and intervention. Realizing this potential will require careful attention to clinical validation, safety, equity, commodification and governance.</p><p><strong>Key messages: </strong>The clinical value of AI and emerging technologies will depend on their responsible integration into context-sensitive, person-centered mental health care. AI has the potential to strengthen diagnostic assessment, inform treatment selection, and expand therapeutic options while preserving the centrality of the human therapeutic alliance. Successful implementation requires combining computational precision with clinical judgment, ethical oversight, and demonstrated clinical benefit to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life.</p>","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":" ","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149002358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marius Gruber, Henrike Renaud, Marco Mauritz, Siemon C de Lange, Pascal Grumbach, Janik Goltermann, Nils Ralf Winter, Katharina Thiel, Alexandra Winter, Kira Flinkenflügel, Tiana Borgers, Verena Enneking, Melissa Klug, Frederike Stein, Katharina Brosch, Paula Usemann, Florian Thomas-Odenthal, Adrian Wroblewski, Olaf Steinsträter, Julia-Katharina Pfarr, Ulrika Svenja Evermann, Susanne Meinert, Dominik Grotegerd, Nils Opel, Tim Hahn, Elisabeth Johanna Leehr, Jochen Bauer, Andreas Reif, Andreas Jansen, Axel Krug, Igor Nenadic, Tilo Kircher, Martijn van den Heuvel, Udo Dannlowski, Jonathan Repple
{"title":"Cognitive Reserve as a Stratification Factor for Cognitive Impairment and Disease Progression in Major Depressive Disorder.","authors":"Marius Gruber, Henrike Renaud, Marco Mauritz, Siemon C de Lange, Pascal Grumbach, Janik Goltermann, Nils Ralf Winter, Katharina Thiel, Alexandra Winter, Kira Flinkenflügel, Tiana Borgers, Verena Enneking, Melissa Klug, Frederike Stein, Katharina Brosch, Paula Usemann, Florian Thomas-Odenthal, Adrian Wroblewski, Olaf Steinsträter, Julia-Katharina Pfarr, Ulrika Svenja Evermann, Susanne Meinert, Dominik Grotegerd, Nils Opel, Tim Hahn, Elisabeth Johanna Leehr, Jochen Bauer, Andreas Reif, Andreas Jansen, Axel Krug, Igor Nenadic, Tilo Kircher, Martijn van den Heuvel, Udo Dannlowski, Jonathan Repple","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cognitive deficits in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are clinically debilitating, persist after remission, and predict worse long-term outcomes, yet factors determining which patients are most at risk remain poorly understood. Cognitive reserve (CR) - the brain's capacity to buffer negative effects of structural alterations on cognitive functioning - is assessable through brief, clinically applicable proxy measures and may serve as a practical stratification factor in MDD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>CR of 539 MDD patients (65% female) and 549 healthy controls (65% female) from the Marburg-Münster Affective Disorders Cohort Study was estimated from educational years, occupational attainment, and verbal IQ. We examined the association of CR with cognitive impairment, tested whether CR moderates the relationship between MRI-based connectome alterations and cognitive performance, and predicted two-year disease course characteristics from baseline CR, benchmarked against polygenic risk and childhood maltreatment.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Low CR was associated with increased cognitive impairment, especially in MDD patients (OR=6.24, p=0.003). CR moderated the association between cognitive performance and white matter network connectivity (t=2.780, pFWE=0.006). Low baseline CR predicted increased episode duration and symptom severity (psFDR<0.001) over two years, with effect sizes statistically indistinguishable from those of polygenic risk and childhood maltreatment.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>CR identifies MDD patients at risk for cognitive impairment and worse disease progression, with prognostic utility comparable to polygenic risk and childhood maltreatment. The moderating effect of CR on the brain network-cognition association provides a neurobiological rationale for this vulnerability. These findings support incorporating CR into routine clinical assessment to guide risk stratification and personalized treatment planning.</p>","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":" ","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148913138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Erratum.","authors":"","doi":"10.1159/pps/aemag011","DOIUrl":"10.1159/pps/aemag011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20744,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics","volume":" ","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":9.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13561504/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148906953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}