Join us for the next Superlab with Phillip Klein - July 17, 2024 3pm EST (Register for this meeting and all of the quarterly Superlab meetings here).
Title: "From Network Theory to Process-Based Therapy: a practice-oriented research presentation."
The network theory of mental disorders stipulates that mental disorders result from a dynamic interaction between symptoms of mental disorders and other variables. This implies that symptoms of mental disorders are not passive indicators of an underlying causal mechanism and might have profound implications for treatment. These implications form the basis of process-based therapy which states that psychological treatments should no longer be defined by treatment protocols that target the putative causal mechanism of a certain mental disorder but rather be defined by therapeutic strategies aimed at changing the network dynamics from a disease state to a healthy state. It is unclear however, which networks characteristics have to be targeted to bring about this change. In this session, we will first introduce network theory and its connection to process-based therapy Jan Philipp Klein (Lübeck University, Germany) and then present three studies:
- Lea Schumacher (University Medical Center Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany) will present person-specific networks estimated from data of a randomized-controlled psychotherapy trial that sheds light on the question which changes in these networks best predict outcome: changes in symptom associations or changes in centrality parameters?
- Jana Bommer (Trier University, Germany) will present intra-individual networks estimated from data of a large population-based study to examine whether vicious cycles that can be identified on a group level are present on the individual level and if these vicious cycles actually confer an unfavorable outcome.
- Finally, Nele Assmann (Lübeck University, Germany) will present cross-sectional networks of patients who are seeking treatment for depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, somatic symptom disorder or eating disorder to ascertain which core psychological processes are associated with these syndromes.
By the end of the session, attendees will have a clearer understanding of the state of the research on network theory's contribution to the practice of psychotherapy.