Isaac Ahuvia

Stony Brook University | Stony Brook · Department of Psychology

Objective: Eating disorders (EDs) and depression are impacting youth at alarming rates, yet most adolescents do not access treatment. Single-session interventions (SSIs) can reach youth in need. This pilot examines the acceptability and short-term utility of an SSI designed to help adolescents adopt a body neutrality mindset. Method: Pre- to post-i...

Objective. Multi-level treatment barriers prevent up to 80% of individuals experiencing eating disorders (EDs) from accessing care. This treatment gap creates a critical need to identify interventions that are accessible, easily completable, and optimized for effectiveness by targeting core mechanisms linked to ED onset and maintenance. We propose...

Beliefs about the cause and timeline of depression inform how people manage depression, and are important predictors of clinical outcomes. However, more research is needed to understand the relationship between these variables, especially among adolescents. We assessed causal and timeline beliefs, as well as related depression beliefs (e.g., confid...

Background and Objectives Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked to increased risk of cognitive dysfunction and physical functional impairment (PFI). The objective of this prospective cohort study was to examine whether PFI was associated with increased risk of incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among World Trade Center (WTC) re...

Background: Perceptions of personal attributes as less malleable are associated with more severe depression symptoms and less active coping in youth. Perceptions of depression itself as relatively fixed have been linked to more severe depression; however, it is not known how beliefs about depression relate to activation and avoidance behaviors. Met...

Brief and low intensity (LI) interventions are a relatively new approach to delivering evidence-based psychological treatments for adults presenting with common mental health problems, and an even newer approach for working with children and young people. Over recent years, empirically validated brief and LI psychological treatments for children an...

Brief and low intensity (LI) interventions are a relatively new approach to delivering evidence-based psychological treatments for adults presenting with common mental health problems, and an even newer approach for working with children and young people. Over recent years, empirically validated brief and LI psychological treatments for children an...

Background: The question “what works for whom” is essential to mental health research, as matching individuals to the treatment best suited to their needs has the potential to maximize the effectiveness of existing approaches. Digitally administered single-session interventions (SSIs) are effective means of reducing depression symptoms in adolescen...

Background: Adolescents’ beliefs about what causes depression may inform their attempts to manage the disorder and, consequently, their clinical outcomes. However, research is needed to articulate what these beliefs are and how they relate to other clinical constructs. Methods: This study explored the causal beliefs about depression held by a sampl...

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened college students’ mental health while simultaneously creating new barriers to traditional in-person care. Teletherapy and online self-guided mental health supports are two potential avenues for addressing unmet mental health needs when face-to-face services are less accessible, but little is known about...

Purpose. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health concerns among college students. At the same time, pandemic response measures have made it more challenging for many students to access mental health support. However, little is known about the extent of mental health support loss among college students, or which students have lost suppor...

Objective Depression is a leading cause of disability among adolescents, yet existing treatments are variably effective, suggesting needs to identify novel intervention targets. Body dissatisfaction (BD) may be a promising, but understudied, target: BD is common among adolescents; prospectively associated with future depression; and modifiable thro...

Objective: Depression is a leading cause of disability among adolescents, yet existing treatments are variably effective, suggesting needs to identify novel intervention targets. Body dissatisfaction (BD) may be a promising, but understudied, target: BD is common among adolescents; prospectively associated with future depression; and modifiable thr...

BACKGROUND Anxiety is rising across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, and social distancing mandates preclude in-person mental healthcare. Anxiety is not necessarily pathological; however, increased worrying about COVID-19 shows links to more severe anxiety pathology. Greater perceived control over anxiety has predicted decreased anxi...

Background: Anxiety is rising across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, and social distancing mandates preclude in-person mental healthcare. Greater perceived control over anxiety has predicted decreased anxiety pathology, including adaptive responses to uncontrollable stressors. Evidence suggests that no-therapist, single-session int...

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened college students’ mental health while simultaneously creating new barriers to traditional in-person care. Teletherapy and online self-guided mental health supports are two potential avenues for addressing unmet mental health needs when face-to-face services are less accessible, but little is known about...

Purpose: To identify and evaluate methods for assessing pediatric patient-reported outcome (PRO) data quality at the individual level. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review to identify methods for detecting invalid responses to PRO measures. Eight data quality indicators were applied to child-report data collected from 1780 childr...