Christopher B Harte

Harte Behavioral Health LLC

Symptom reduction and recovery rates for anxiety disorders (social anxiety disorder, GAD, panic disorder, OCD) and depressive disorders treated with CBT were significant among clients treated in a training clinic setting. Moreover, these results were unsusceptible to pre-treatment levels of social and work impairment.

This study examined the impact of co-occurring personality disorder (PD) pathology on mood and anxiety symptom improvement in response to non-manualized, short-term, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) delivered by trainees. The sample comprised 305 adult outpatients treated individually for mood (unipolar depression) and anxiety disorders [generali...

Women with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) have higher rates of sexual difficulties, as well as high sympathetic nervous system response to sexual stimuli. The study aims to examine whether treatment-related changes in autonomic balance, as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), were associated with changes in sexual arousal and orgasm...

To examine military, demographic, and psychosocial predictors of military retention following operational deployment. Military status 12 months following return from Iraq deployment was assessed via service records in 740 regular active duty Army Soldiers. Potential predictors of military retention were derived from prospectively administered in-pe...

Sexual dysfunction is a major public health problem that negatively affects the lives of hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide. There is strong evidence suggesting that tobacco use and sexual dysfunction are linked. In fact, cigarette smoking is independently associated with an increased risk of erectile dysfunction (ED). This relationship...

Depression and cigarette smoking co-occur at high rates. However, the etiological mechanisms that contribute to this relationship remain unclear. Anhedonia and associated impairments in reward learning are key features of depression, which also have been linked to the onset and maintenance of cigarette smoking. However, few studies have investigate...

Objective To examine potential mechanisms underlying nicotine's effects on male sexual arousal by exploring the mediating role of heart rate variability (HRV). Methods The sample comprised 22 healthy, nicotine-naïve men (mean age = 20.91 years; standard deviation = 2.43). Data were taken from a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossov...

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a marker of sympathovagal balance; it has been implicated in erectile function and is also altered by tobacco use. Furthermore, smoking and erectile health are strongly related, given that smokers are at increased risk for erectile dysfunction. Few studies have explored the interrelationships between smoking, HRV, an...

Identifying characteristics that influence smoking behavior among military personnel is critical to protect health and operational functioning. This study prospectively examined rates of cigarette smoking and predictors of changes in smoking behavior as a function of Iraq deployment. One thousand eighty-two US Army soldiers (n = 773 Iraq-deployed;...

This study examined predictors of attrition from a clinical trial examining the effects of an expressive writing intervention for sexual problems among female survivors of child sexual abuse. Participants were 124 women all reporting sexual difficulties, who were randomized to a trauma-focused condition (n = 45), an experimental sexual schema-focus...

Baseline socio-demographics, substance use and smoking history characteristics, as well as intra-treatment indicators (i.e. nicotine patch adherence and tobacco use during patch treatment) of smoking cessation were examined among 65 community-based adult male smokers recruited from a metropolitan area within the United States. All participants were...

The present investigation examined associations between intensities of exercise involvement and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptom cluster severity (reexperiencing, avoidance/numbing, and hyperarousal). The sample was comprised of 108 adults (54.6% women; Mage = 23.9, SD = 10.22, range = 18-62), who endorsed exposure to a Diagnostic and Statistical...

Individuals with erectile dysfunction (ED) have been shown to display lower heart rate variability (HRV), suggesting dysregulation of cardiac autonomic function. No studies have explored whether HRV is predictive of erectile response among men with clinically normal erectile function. The study aims to examine associations between resting HRV and o...

The present investigation examined the interactive effect of cigarette smoking status (i.e., regular smoking vs. non-smoking) and weekly exercise (i.e., weekly metabolic equivalent) in terms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) symptom severity among a community sample of trauma-exposed adults. Participants included 86 trauma-exposed adults (58.1% female...

Background Both depression and smoking have been independently associated with lower heart rate variability (HRV), suggesting dysregulation of cardiac autonomic function. However, no studies have systematically explored the effects of smoking on HRV among depressed patients. Purpose This study examined differences in HRV based on smoking status amo...

Background Cigarette smoking has been shown to adversely affect heart rate variability (HRV), suggesting dysregulation of cardiac autonomic function. Conversely, smoking cessation is posited to improve cardiac regulation. Purpose The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of smoking cessation on HRV among a community sample of chronic...

Cigarette smoking deleteriously affects erectile function, and conversely, quitting smoking improves erectile hemodynamics. Underlying mechanisms by which smoking (or reduction of smoking frequency) may affect erectile physiology are not well understood. This study examined the mediating role of heart rate variability (HRV; a marker of sympathovaga...

Oral erectile dysfunction medications (EDMs) have become an increasingly popular drug of abuse among young men without a medical indication. In addition to being associated with increased sexual risk behaviors, recreational EDM use may adversely impact psychological aspects of sexual function, primarily by affecting one's confidence in pharmacologi...

There is increasing evidence that women's physiological sexual arousal is facilitated by moderate sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation. Literature also suggests that the level of SNS activation may play a role in the degree to which SNS activity affects sexual arousal. We provide the first empirical examination of a possible curvilinear rela...

To provide the first empirical investigation of the association between smoking cessation and indices of physiological and subjective sexual health in men. Male smokers, irrespective of erectile dysfunction status, who were motivated to stop smoking ('quitters'), were enrolled in an 8-week smoking cessation programme involving a nicotine transderma...

Training clinic young adult clients with a SCID-I GAD diagnosis and/or an elevated PSWQ showed WAIS differential verbal abilities (e.g., VIQ > PIQ; VOC, SIM, or INF higher; BD, OA, CODING, or AR lower).

Mounting evidence indicates that erectile dysfunction medications (EDMs) have become increasingly used as a sexual enhancement aid among men without a medical indication. Recreational EDM use has been associated with increased sexual risk behaviors, an increased risk for STIs, including incident HIV infection, and high rates of concomitant illicit...

Sex therapy is goal-specific and is concerned with alleviating sexual impairments that cause distress; it may also include broader goals such as improvement of a couple's communication and relationship quality. The initial phase of sex therapy is concerned with the accurate diagnosis of the sexual dysfunction presented by the patient. This may pose...

Heterosexualiy is characterized by sexual and/or romantic attraction to the opposite sex and is the most prevalent sexual orientation among humans. The term heterosexual can be used to describe an individual's sexual orientation, sexual history, or self-identification. The term heterosexuality has been commonly used only since the middle of the nin...

Introduction: Women's motivations to engage in sex are likely influenced by their past sexual experiences, the type of relationship in which they are involved in, and numerous lifestyle factors such as career and family demands. The influences of these factors undoubtedly change as women age. Aim: This study aimed to examine potential difference...

Findings revealed that intellectual performance in patients with mild to moderate depressive symptoms is characterized by significantly lower Verbal IQ. Most notable are deficits on the vocabulary and similarities tasks and especially the arithmetic task, which may suggest reduced working memory performance. Alternatively, patients with moderate to...

Results did not support prior studies suggesting impaired PIQ in depressed patients. Findings revealed that intellectual performance in patients with clinically significant depressive symptoms is characterized by difficulties with Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Arithmetic performance. Full scale IQ and Verbal IQ were also lower. Poor Arithmetic per...

Although patients with high MMPI-2 disturbance have more disorder-specific axis I distress at pre- and end-treatment, their attenuation of distress is parallel to patients with low to moderate disturbance. However, when treatment outcome is determined using reliable change indices and clinical significance cutoffs, patients with high MMPI-2 clinica...

Although Latino patients present with higher anxiety and depression at pre- and end-treatment compared to Whites, their rate of symptom reduction is significant and parallel to that of White patients. When treatment outcome is determined using reliable change indices and clinical significance cutoffs, both Latino and White patients demonstrate a si...

Although patients with comorbid axis II pathology have more disorder-specific axis I disturbance at pre- and end-treatment, their rate of change is parallel to patients without Axis II presence. This pattern was demonstrated in all patients as well as the various diagnostic groups. However, when treatment outcome is determined using reliable change...

Thank you for bringing to our attention your study examining the effects of smoking cessation on erectile functioning in men. Guay and colleagues [1] found no difference in erectile response during nicotine administration (via a 21-mg transdermal patch) compared to no nicotine administration (24 hours postcessation), while Harte and Meston [2] demo...

Extensive research suggests that long-term cigarette smoking is an independent risk factor for the introduction of sexual dysfunction in men. However, results of limited data investigating this relationship in women are mixed. No studies have examined the acute effects of tobacco or nicotine on physiological sexual response in women. Controlled exp...

Introduction: Chronic nicotine treatment has deleterious effects on vascular functioning and catecholamine modulation, which may compromise erectile functioning. Evidence that long-term cigarette smoking is an independent risk factor for introducing impotence is robust. However, limited studies have focused on the acute effects of smoking on physi...

A low Picture Completion score on the WAIS-III was found to significantly discriminate between those who responded and those who did not respond to CBT, irrespective of DSM-IV diagnosis. Specifically, patients who responded to CBT demonstrated significantly lower Picture Completion scores compared to patients who did not respond to CBT. Strengths o...

Establishing the genetics of physiological traits associated with schizophrenia may be an important first step in building a neurobiological bridge between the disease phenotype and its genetic underpinnings. One of the best known of the traits associated with schizophrenia is a disorder of smooth pursuit eye tracking (ETD), which is present in 50-...

Both nicotine and sucrose can enhance performance on cognitive tasks. However, little is known about whether nicotine and sucrose could act jointly to augment mental performance. To investigate if there is an interaction between nicotine and sucrose on cognitive behavior, performance on a continuous performance task (CPT) and a spatial memory task...