Helena García Mieres

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at CTIC Centro Tecnológico

Jumping to conclusions (JTC) bias is a hallmark cognitive bias in psychosis that involves hasty decision-making with limited evidence. Previous research has shown links between JTC and neurocognitive (NC), social cognitive (SC), metacognitive (MC), and clinical (CV) variables, but sex-based differences in these relationships remain understudied. Th...

Background: Mental health conditions have become a substantial cause of disability worldwide, resulting in economic burden and strain on the public health system. Incorporating cognitive and physiological biomarkers using noninvasive sensors combined with self-reported questionnaires can provide a more accurate characterization of the individual's...

Delusions of Thought Insertion (TI) are considered as one of the most complex psychotic experiences. More prevalent in schizophrenia, TI involves subjects reporting that entities of different nature have introduced thoughts or ideas into their minds. The particularity of this phenomenon is not that patients have been just caused to have certain unu...

BACKGROUND Mental disorders have become a significant cause of disability in developed countries, resulting in substantial economic burdens and straining the public health system. However, self-reported questionnaires used in clinical practice have limitations due to memory bias and subjectivity, leading to potential misdiagnosis and inadequate tre...

Background Mental health conditions have become a substantial cause of disability worldwide, resulting in economic burden and strain on the public health system. Incorporating cognitive and physiological biomarkers using noninvasive sensors combined with self-reported questionnaires can provide a more accurate characterization of the individual’s w...

Introduction There is a high prevalence of mental health problems among university students. Better prediction and treatment access for this population is needed. In recent years, short-term dynamic factors, which can be assessed using experience sampling methods (ESM), have presented promising results for predicting mental health problems. Method...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is substantially changing the world of business. The growth of AI and its impact on business and society are explored in this chapter, including dilemmas and emerging challenges, highlighting the existing gap in the adoption of ethical principles. The elements of human-centered AI (HCAI), such as privacy, explainability...

Introduction: Psychological, socio-demographics, and clinical factors play an important role in patients with COVID-19, but their relationship is complex. The network approach might be used to disentangle complex interactions in different systems. Using data from a multicentre, cross-sectional, survey among patients with COVID-19 in Spain (July-No...

Introduction: The present study aims to investigate the courses of loneliness following a national state of emergency including a curfew due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, associated risk factors, and the effect of loneliness on symptoms of depression and anxiety. Methods: Data of 2,000 adults in Spain which were interviewed by telephone at the fi...

BACKGROUND Recent advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) have boosted the interest of the medical community in their application to health care in general, and particularly to stroke, a medical emergency with a huge impact. In this context with a rapid pace of evolution, it is necessary to know and understand the experience already gathered...

Background Recent advances in natural language processing (NLP) have heightened the interest of the medical community in its application to health care in general, in particular to stroke, a medical emergency of great impact. In this rapidly evolving context, it is necessary to learn and understand the experience already accumulated by the medical...

Background: Research suggests that changes in social support and loneliness have affected mental disorder symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are a lack of studies comparing the robustness of these associations. Aims: The aims were to estimate the strength of the associations of loneliness and social support with symptoms of de...

Sex differences in symptomatology in people with psychosis have been studied extensively in recent decades. Although studies have pointed to such differences, to date there is no review that has performed a systematic search and quantitative synthesis. In this paper, we describe the protocol for a pairwise meta-analysis comparing a range of symptom...

Metacognitive training (MCT) is an effective treatment for psychosis. Longitudinal trajectories of treatment response are unknown but could point to strategies to maximize treatment efficacy during the first episodes. This work aims to explore the possible benefit of using latent class mixed models (LCMMs) to understand how treatment response diffe...

This study investigates, for the first time, clinical, cognitive, social cognitive and metacognitive differences in people diagnosed with first-episode of psychosis (FEP) with and without a family history of mental disorder split by maternal and paternal antecedents. A total of 186 individuals with FEP between 18 and 45 years old were recruited in...

Access to evidence-based early intervention for adolescents with psychosis is critically important. The aim of this work was analysing the feasibility, acceptability and potential effects of a psychological intervention based on metacognitive interpersonal therapy (MIT) in adolescents presenting with early psychosis. Twenty-three participants (aged...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1888989122001069?dgcid=coauthor

Los dilemas de identidad personal señalan ámbitos en los que las personas se muestran ambivalentes, pues un cambio deseado en su forma de ser implica, a su vez, otro cambio no deseado en un aspecto central de su identidad. Comprobar si hay diferencias en la presencia y proporción de dilemas de identidad personal en la muestra de personas con diagnó...

Deficits in social cognition and metacognition impact the course of psychosis. Sex differences in social cognition and metacognition could explain heterogeneity in psychosis. 174 (58 females) patients with first-episode psychosis completed a clinical, neuropsychological, social cognitive, and metacognitive assessment. Subsequent latent profile anal...

Purpose To perform a qualitative analysis of the factors that were construed as salient in facilitating the process of recovery in the narratives of people with psychosis who had their first‐person accounts (FPAs) published in an academic journal. Methods Computerized textual analysis was undertaken of 156 FPAs written by persons who had experienc...

A protective effect has traditionally been attributed to estrogen in psychotic disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate cumulative lifetime estrogen by assessing the menstrual cycle length, age at menarche, and years of difference between the onset of psychotic symptoms and the age of menarche, measuring their effects on symptoms, cognit...

Background Psychological interventions are commonly used to treat mild-to-moderate depression, but their efficacy in young adults has not been exhaustively addressed. This meta-analysis aims to establish it in comparison to no treatment, wait-list, usual treatment, passive interventions, and other bona-fide treatments. Methods The search was condu...

Background: Understanding if there are differential determinants of objective and subjective burdening in caregivers of first episode psychosis (FEP) patients would be essential to optimize current early support programs. Our aim was to elucidate the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of FEP patients that influence the objective and subj...

Jumping to conclusions (JTC) and impaired social cognition (SC) affect the decoding, processing, and use of social information by people with psychosis. However, the relationship between them had not been deeply explored within psychosis in general, and in first-episode psychosis (FEP) in particular. Our aim was to study the relationship between JT...

Background: We aimed to investigate whether personal recovery levels differ between those in early vs prolonged phases of psychosis and if there are different associations with objective outcomes of recovery (i.e., symptom severity and level of functioning). Method: Participants included 131 patients with early psychosis and 83 patients with pr...

Background The improvement of psychological treatments for depression in young adults is a pressing issue highlighted in the literature. Its relevance is determined not only because young adults are underrepresented in research, but also to prevent chronic severe mental health disorders later in life. Engagement is considered a key factor for a goo...

Subjects with first-episode psychosis experience substantial deficits in social cognition and metacognition. Although previous studies have investigated the role of profiles of individuals in social cognition and metacognition in chronic schizophrenia, profiling subjects with first-episode psychosis in both domains remains to be investigated. We us...

The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in social cognition in a sample of first-episode psychosis (FEP). An observational descriptive study was performed with 191 individuals with FEP. Emotion perception was assessed using the Faces Test, theory of mind was assessed using the Hinting Task, and attributional style was assessed using...

Deficits in social cognition and metacognition impact the course of psychosis. Gender differences in social cognition and metacognition could explain heterogeneity in psychosis. 174 (58 females) patients with first-episode psychosis completed a clinical, neuropsychological, social cognitive and metacognitive assessment. Subsequent latent profile an...

Gender differences in symptomatology in people with psychosis have been studied extensively in last decades. Previous narrative reviews have shown some evidence of gender differences in depressive, negative and paranoid symptoms, but yielding inconclusive findings. These reviews are limited by not doing systematic searches nor performing quantitati...

Background Many psychosocial and psychological interventions are used in patients with schizophrenia, but their comparative efficacy in the prevention of relapse is not known. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy, acceptability, and tolerability of psychosocial and psychological interventions for relapse prevention in schizophrenia. Methods To conduc...

First person accounts (FPAs) provide an insider's view into psychosis. Computerised textual analysis was used to explore how individuals construed psychosis development. Three broad categories of constructs were identified, pertaining to the self, onset and making sense of psychosis. Overall, an underlying dimension was absorption into an inner rea...

The resistance of negative symptoms to pharmacologic treatment has spurred interest in understanding the psychological factors that contribute to their formation and persistence. Accordingly, recent research has suggested that deficits in metacognition, or the ability to form integrated ideas about oneself, others and the world, are involved in the...

Background: The improvement of psychological treatments for depression in young adults is a pressing issue highlighted in the literature. Its relevance is determined not only because young adults are underrepresented in research, but also to prevent chronic severe mental health disorders later in life. Engagement is considered a key factor for a go...

Introduction: People with psychosis show impairments in cognitive flexibility, a phenomenon that is still poorly understood. In this study, we tested if there were differences in cognitive and metacognitive processes related to rigidity in patients with psychosis. We compared individuals with dichotomous interpersonal thinking and those with flexib...

Background: Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a reasoning bias, in which a conclusion is drawn in the absence of sufficient evidence. Research with differentiated profiles by gender is necessary to increase the therapeutic efficacy of psychological interventions. Objective: to identify gender differences in people with first-episode psychosis (FEP)...

The resistance of negative symptoms to pharmacologic treatment has spurred interest in understanding the psychological factors that contribute to their formation and persistence. However, little is understood about the psychological processes that reinforce and sustain the negative symptoms domain of diminished expression. Prior research has shown...

Background People with psychosis experience significant emotional burden and distress associated with the symptomatic consequences of their mental disorder, thus difficulting their recovery. Several studies have found self-reflectivity, a dimension of cognitive insight, to be associated with effects which taken together may seem paradoxical, by pre...

Highlights • Interventions focusing on self-discrepancies could be applied transdiagnostically to psychosis and depression. • Women with psychosis might be the group most affected by feelings of resentment. • Women with psychosis or depression may benefit from working therapeutically with the use of more modulated ‘‘shades of grey’’ in evaluation...

Disturbances in personal identity are recognized in psychosis and depression. However, it is not known whether these disruptions share common processes across clinical groups, or whether there are unique alterations by group or between men and women within each clinical group. To advance on this question, we compared personal identity dimensions in...

Background The individual Metacognitive Training (MCT+) is useful to reduce positive symptoms in people with schizophrenia, however less is known in people with first-episode psychosis (FEP). The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness of MCT+ in FEP regarding symptoms and cognitive insight. Methods A random clinical trial was performed wi...

Background The resistance of negative symptoms to pharmacologic treatment has spurred interest in understanding the psychological factors that contribute to their formation and persistence. However, little is understood about the psychological processes that reinforce and sustain the negative symptoms domain of diminished expression. Prior research...

This file is the PROSPERO registration of the systematic review recently published in Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy: García‐Mieres H, Niño‐Robles N, Ochoa S, Feixas G (2019). Exploring identity and personal meanings in psychosis using the repertory grid technique: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy 26, 717–733. DOI: 10....

This is the study protocol registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03820362) of the study recently published in Schizophrenia Bulletin: García-Mieres H, Villaplana A, López-Carrilero R, Grasa E, Barajas A, Pousa E, Feixas G, Ochoa S (2019). The Role of Personal Identity on Positive and Negative Symptoms in Psychosis: A Study Using the Rep...

The history of mental health care has been marked by various struggles in maintaining the dignity of service users. Some reform movements have started to use educational strategies aimed at the beliefs and attitudes of professionals, as well as changing the way that practice is carried out. This paper intends to systematically review and synthesize...

Current research and clinical practice in person‐centred approaches highlight the importance of self, identity, and personal meanings in psychosis. Previous research has focused on dimensions of self, but less attention has been paid to the personal meanings involved in identity. The personal construct theory framework and the repertory grid techni...

Abstract Background People with psychosis experience disruptions in personal identity that affect positive and negative symptoms, but the complexity of these phenomena needs to be addressed in an in-depth manner. Using the Personal Construct Theory, we examined whether distinct dimensions of personal identity, as measured with the Repertory Grid Te...

Background The history of mental health care has been marked by various struggles for the dignity of service users. Some reform movements have started to use strategies aimed at professionals’ beliefs and attitudes change. This conference paper intends to systematically review and synthesize all information related to awareness-raising and training...

Background Social functioning impairment is one of the core features for schizophrenia diagnosis and are also present in other psychotic spectrum disorders, being determinant for disability. This impairment has multiple domains, which are linked but separate. Previous research has shown that social functioning is multiply determined by neurocogniti...

Background Social functioning is affected in early psychosis stages. This affection has multiple domains, such as vocational functioning or performance of independent living skills. These different domains are also linked; so elucidating differential or generalized determinants on specific areas and global outcomes is thus a critical step in case c...

In this paper we illustrate the potential of the repertory grid technique as an instrument for case formulation and understanding of the personal perception and meanings of people with a diagnosis of psychotic disorders. For this purpose, the case of James is presented: A young man diagnosed with schizophrenia and personality disorder, with severe...

The aim of this study was to explore the self-construction of a group of patients with psychotic disorders (n = 20) compared with a non-clinical sample (n = 30), measured with the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT). Personal meanings of these subjects were elicited by Grid Technique and analyzed using the computer program GRIDCOR. Several indices that...

In this paper, the relationship between superstitious behaviour and locus of control is examined. The research on superstitious behaviour was carried out by creating a Superstition Behaviour Scale in which elements such as astrology, predestination, tarot, fortune telling, magical believes, and other spiritual practices were included; and the combi...