Gerhard Andersson

Linköping University | LiU · Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning (IBL)

The COVID-19 pandemic influence mental health in both infected and non-infected populations. In this study we examined if individually tailored internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) could be an effective treatment for psychological symptoms related to the pandemic. Following recruitment we included 76 participants who were randomized t...

Background Emotion regulation difficulties underlie several psychiatric conditions, and treatments that focus on improving emotion regulation can have an effect on a broad range of symptoms. However, participants’ in-depth experiences of participating in emotion regulation treatments have not been much studied. In this qualitative study, we investi...

BACKGROUND Emotion regulation interventions may offer a promising approach to improve sexual health. Internet-based emotion regulation may be a therapeutic strategy for men and women with sexual health concerns. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of intervention trials investigating their effects in this context, much less using the Internet. OBJEC...

Background: Emerging adulthood is associated with mental health problems. About one in three university students shows symptoms of depression and anxiety that can negatively affect their developmental trajectory in work, intimate relationships and health, and interfere with academic performance. Mood and anxiety disorders are key predictors of drop...

Background:Approximately 10% of young people ‘often’ feel lonely, with loneliness being predictive of multiple physical and mental health problems. Research has found CBT to be effective for reducing loneliness in adults, but interventions for young people who report loneliness as their primary difficulty are lacking. Method:CBT for Chronic Lonelin...

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent public health issue associated with multiple physical and mental health consequences for survivors. Digital interventions can provide low-threshold support to those experiencing IPV, but existing digital interventions have limited efficacy in improving the safety and mental health of IPV sur...

Background: Many patients are currently unable to access psychological treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and it is unclear which types of therapist-assisted internet-based treatments work best. We aimed to investigate whether a novel internet-delivered cognitive therapy for PTSD (iCT-PTSD), which implements all procedures of a...

Introduction: The study aimed to explore characteristics of responders to a sleep robot intervention for adults with insomnia, and the likelihood that participants responded to the intervention. Methods: Data from the intervention and the control group in a randomized waitlist-controlled trial (n = 44) were pooled together after both had undergo...

Objective: To determine the cost-effectiveness of a virtual version of the Body Project (vBP), a cognitive dissonance-based program, to prevent eating disorders (ED) among young women with a subjective sense of body dissatisfaction in the Swedish context. Method: A decision tree combined with a Markov model was developed to estimate the cost-eff...

Background: Breast cancer survivors' (BCS) attitudes toward eMental Health (eMH) are largely unknown, and adoption predictors and their interrelationships remain unclear. This study aimed to explore BCS' attitudes toward eMH and investigate associated variables. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 336 Portuguese BCS was conducted. Attitud...

Although numerous studies have examined the effects of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) for depression and anxiety on quality of life, no meta-analysis has yet been conducted to integrate the results of these studies. We conducted systematic searches in PubMed, Cochrane, and PsycInfo, which included terms for treatment type, m...

Importance: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) can be adequately treated with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). However, there is a large gap in knowledge on factors associated with prognosis, and it is unclear whether symptom severity predicts response to CBT for SAD. Objective: To examine baseline SAD symptom severity as a moderator of the associ...

Previous studies showed that alpha/delta ratio neurofeedback was effective in reducing unpleasant psychological, emotional, and perceptual consequences of tinnitus. The main goal of the present study was to investigate, whether the specific combination of enhancing alpha- and reducing delta frequency band activity was necessary, or merely sufficien...

BACKGROUND Individual face-to-face cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is known to be effective for bulimia nervosa (BN). Since foods vary considerably between regions and cultures in which patients live, cultural adaptation of the treatment program is particularly important in CBT for BN. Recently, an internet-based CBT (ICBT) program was develope...

Background Individual face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy is known to be effective for bulimia nervosa (BN). Since foods vary considerably between regions and cultures in which patients live, cultural adaptation of the treatment program is particularly important in cognitive behavioral therapy for BN. Recently, an internet-based cognitive beh...

Sonhar Acordado Mal-adaptativo (MD), um processo cognitivo disfuncional envolve o ato excessivo e descontrolado de fantasiar. MD foi associado a sofrimento psicológico, elevada comorbilidade, reduzido desempenho académico em estudantes universitários/as. Será que DaydreamCatcher - uma intervenção online baseada na terapia cognitivo-comportamental -...

BACKGROUND: Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy has shown effectiveness in managing chronic tinnitus. Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy is currently available in only a few languages (English, Swedish, Spanish, and German). The current study aimed to adapt, evaluate, and compare the readability and acceptability of the Turkish int...

Loneliness is a prevalent and stigmatized phenomenon associated with adverse (mental) health outcomes. However, evidence-based interventions to alleviate loneliness are scarce. This randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov-ID: NCT04655196) evaluated the efficacy of an internet-based cognitive behavioral self-help intervention (ICBT) to reduc...

Internet-delivered CBT interventions effectively improve different aspects of mental health, although the therapist’s role remains unclear. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy of a therapist-supported 6-week internet-delivered intervention in improving stress recovery among healthcare workers compared to a group with optional therapi...

There is currently increasing awareness of third-party disability, defined as the disability and functioning of a significant other (SO) due to a health condition of one of their family members. The effects of third-party disability on the SOs of individuals with tinnitus has received little attention. To address this knowledge gap, this study inve...

Objective: Therapeutic alliance is one of the most stable predictors of outcome in psychotherapy, regardless of theoretical orientation. The alliance-outcome relationship in internet-based treatments has been investigated with mixed results. There is preliminary evidence that emotion regulation can work as a mediator for the alliance-outcome relat...

Introduction Providing informal care to one’s romantic partner who is ill may become a highly distressing and demanding task. Based on the innovative dyadic coping model, several support interventions have been developed to alleviate informal caregivers’ burden, including both caregivers’ and care receivers’ needs. Considering the unique challenges...

Providing therapist-guided cognitive behaviour therapy via the Internet (ICBT) has advantages, but a central research question is to what extent similar clinical effects can be obtained as with gold-standard face-to-face cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). In a previous meta-analysis published in this journal, which was updated in 2018, we found evi...

Background and objectives: Knowledge about a condition and how to treat it is part of most cognitive behavioural therapies. This is particularly relevant for self-help treatments such as internet-based CBT, which is commonly delivered in the form of didactic materials. The role of knowledge acquisition in treatment outcomes is an understudied area...

Assertiveness training has been an essential component in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), for example, in the treatment of social anxiety and in dialectical behavioral therapy. However, the assertiveness construct has garnered little attention in recent clinical research. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of an eight-w...

Background Tinnitus affects around 15% of the population and can be a debilitating condition for a sizeable part of them. However, effective evidence-based treatments are scarce. One recommended treatment for tinnitus is cognitive behavioral therapy which has been found to be effective when delivered online. However, more treatments including mindf...

Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine the presence of positive experiences reported by individuals with tinnitus in the United States. Design: The study used a cross-sectional survey design. The data were analysed using qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative (t-test or Chi-square test) analyses. Study sample: Study pa...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people globally both physically and psychologically. The increased demands for mental health interventions provided by clinical psychologists, psychotherapists and mental health care professionals, as well as the rapid change in work setting (e.g., from face-to-face to video therapy) has proven challeng...

Introduction/Aims: Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD), characterised by excessive fantasising, is known to cause psychological distress due to its’ addictive uncontrollable nature. Similar constructs like mind wandering and fantasy proneness are differentiated from MD in terms of quantity and quality of daydreams relating to the complex fantasy-based con...

BACKGROUND Increasing interest has centred on the psychotherapeutic working alliance as a means of understanding clinical change in digital mental health interventions in recent years. However, little is understood about how and to what extent a digital mental health program can have an impact on the working alliance and clinical outcomes in a blen...

Aims The aim of this study was to develop and refine the content and design of an internet-based support and education program for patients awaiting kidney transplantation from deceased donors. Design A Delphi process was used. Methods A prototype internet-based intervention was drafted, based on previous research. The intervention included educati...

Individuals with Panic Disorder (PD) often have impaired insight, which can impede their willingness to seek treatment. Cognitive processes, including metacognitive beliefs, cognitive flexibility, and jumping to conclusions (JTC) may influence the degree of insight. By understanding the relationship between insight and these cognitive factors in PD...

(1) Objective: Social representations theory (SRT) is a body of theory within social psychology concerned with how individuals, groups, and communities collectively make sense of socially relevant or problematic issues, ideas, and practices. SRT has been increasingly sued in the area of health and disability. The current study examined the social r...

Background: Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) is frequently used to treat depression, but it is unclear which patients might benefit specifically. Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses can provide more precise effect estimates than conventional meta-analyses and identify patient-level moderators. This IPD meta-analysis examin...

BACKGROUND Internet-based self-help interventions have the potential to help people address their emotional needs at relatively low costs. However, if the system does not offer optimal functions, it could reduce end-users' adherence and satisfaction with the treatment, therefore possibly compromising the effectiveness of the program OBJECTIVE This...

Background and aims Gambling helplines are a natural way of first contact for individuals with gambling problems. However, few studies have evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of brief interventions in a gambling helpline. To reduce this knowledge gap, this study evaluated the feasibility of an online cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) pro...

Even if much is known regarding the effects of internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) for depression there are several topics that have not been studied. In this factorial design trial with 197 participants we investigated if clients in ICBT could select treatment modules themselves based on a selection of 15 tailored treatment modul...

Background There is a paucity of research on therapist competence development following extensive training in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). In addition, metacognitive ability (the knowledge and regulation of one’s cognitive processes) has been associated with learning in various domains but its role in learning CBT is unknown. Aims To inves...

Objective: Young adults are at high risk for developing mental disorders. Moreover, trauma exposure and trauma-related disorders in emerging adulthood are highly prevalent. The study aimed to explore the prevalence of traumatic experiences, probable ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), probable complex PTSD (CPTSD), and links between traum...

Background Many refugees suffer from mental health problems due to stressful and traumatic events before, during, and after migration. However, refugees are facing a wide variety of barriers, limiting their access to mental health care. Internet-based tools, available in several languages, could be one way to increase the availability of mental hea...

Feelings of loneliness are common in persons with mental health problems. Studies indicate that loneliness is related to both adverse somatic and psychiatric outcomes. Longitudinal examinations also suggest that loneliness may contribute to increased and maintained symptoms of depression and social anxiety. Even if there is no gold-standard interve...

Autistic adults are at risk of stress-related psychiatric disorders and reduced life quality due to social, cognitive, and perceptual challenges. Mental health interventions adapted to autistic adults are scarce. Acceptance and commitment therapy has preliminarily indicated health benefits in autistic adults, although it has not been robustly evalu...

Loneliness is a significant problem for young people and is associated with a range of physical and mental health difficulties. Meta-analyses have identified that interventions aimed at young people who report loneliness as their primary problem are lacking within the literature. In adults, the most effective interventions for loneliness are those...

Objectives This study investigated the long-term outcomes 1-year after undertaking an Internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) for tinnitus distress in a US population. Secondary aims were to identify the effects on additional difficulties associate with tinnitus and any unwanted events related to ICBT for tinnitus. Methods A repeated-m...

Internet-delivered interventions are generally effective for psychological problems. While the presence of a clinician guiding the client via text messages typically leads to better outcomes, the characteristics of what constitutes high-quality communication are less well investigated. This study aimed to identify how an internet therapist most eff...

Introduction: The use of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is an international public health and child protection challenge. Objective: To investigate whether Prevent It, a therapist-supported, internet-delivered, eight-week, cognitive behavioral therapy, reduces CSAM viewing among users. Methods: We conducted a global online single-blind (pa...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic demanded exceptional physical and mental effort from healthcare workers worldwide. Since healthcare workers often refrain from seeking professional psychological support, internet-delivered interventions could serve as a viable alternative option. Objective We aimed to investigate the effects of a therapist-guided...

Purpose: Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) has been found to be effective for tinnitus management, although there is limited understanding about who will benefit the most from ICBT. Traditional statistical models have largely failed to identify the nonlinear associations and hence find strong predictors of success with ICBT. This...

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) are recommended treatments of social anxiety disorder (SAD), and often combined, but their effects on monoaminergic signaling are not well understood. In this multi-tracer positron emission tomography (PET) study, 24 patients with SAD were randomi...

The study objective was to assess if a 3‐week intervention with the Somnox sleep robot had effects on symptoms of insomnia, somatic arousal, and/or concurrent symptoms of depression and anxiety in adults with insomnia, compared with a waitlist‐control group. The participants (n = 44) were randomized to a 3‐week intervention with the sleep robot (n...

Background This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the RinasciMENTE program, an Internet-based self-help intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and techniques in supporting individuals experiencing psychological impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) design...

Background Religion is an important ingroup characteristic for many people. For different reasons, people with different religious affiliations might prefer members of their religious outgroup. Previous studies have investigated perceptions of and behaviour toward religious ingroup and outgroup members in various contexts. The four studies presente...

Objective: This study was designed to gain insights regarding patterns of social representations (values, ideas, beliefs) of tinnitus and their relation to demographic and clinical factors. Method: A cross-sectional survey design was used including 399 adults seeking help and reporting interest in internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for ti...

Objective: To examine if the processes in the cognitive model mediate cognitive therapy (CT) and behavior therapy (BT) for insomnia. Method: Individuals diagnosed with insomnia disorder (n = 219) were randomized to telephone-supported internet-delivered CT (n = 72), BT (n = 73), or a wait-list (WL; n = 74). Cognitive processes (worry, dysfunctio...

Depressive symptoms after coronary events are associated with a worse prognosis. When changing the focus from psychopathology towards a resilience framework, treatments such as mindfulness meditation could offer novel ways to address psychological distress among coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. We studied the feasibility of mindfulness-based...

Background: Patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have been found to have restricted capacity for mentalization, and it is possible that this constitutes a vulnerability factor for developing depression. Due to its focus on linking depressive symptomatology to emotions and interpersonal relations, it was hypothesized that Interpersonal Psy...

Background The process of cultural adaptation of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) programs for bulimia nervosa (BN) have rarely been reported despite the potential influence of cultural adaptation of psychosocial interventions on therapeutic response. Aim This study aimed to illustrate development process of an ICBT program for J...

Background: Loneliness, or perceived social isolation, is prevalent in both the general population and clinical practice. Although loneliness has repeatedly been associated with mental and physical health, research on interventions that reduce loneliness effectively is still rather scarce. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public hospital(s). Main funding source(s): The Swedish Research Council and the Medical Research of Southeast Sweden Introduction Cost-effectiveness evaluations of psychological interventions, such as Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) programs, in patients with cardiovascular...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Swedish Research Council (2015-02600), ALF grants Region Östergötland (LIO-600321 and LIO-687531) Background In patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), depression can cause poorer Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). However, le...

Background Adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly prevalent and associated with lifelong adversity. Evidence-based treatments exist, but accessible treatment alternatives are needed. We aimed to compare internet-based psychodynamic therapy (IPDT) with an established evidence-based treatment (internet-based cognitive behavioural therap...

Background Why clients discontinue their psychotherapies has attracted more attention recently as it is a major problem for many healthcare services. Studies suggest that dropout rates may be affected by the mode of therapy, low-quality therapeutic alliance, low SES, and by conditions such personality disorders or substance abuse. The aims of the s...