Martin D Provencher

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Verified

Martin verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• Ph.D.
• Professor (Full) at Université Laval

Background Nearly 20% of women will be confronted with anxiety or depressive disorders during the perinatal period and this may lead to adverse outcomes for both mother and child. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the psychological intervention with the most empirical support for the clinical management of anxiety and depressive disorders. Anx...

The development of self-management strategies plays an active role in the recovery process of individuals suffering from mental disorders. The Mental Health Self-Management Questionnaire (MHSQ) was developed to give empirical insight into the construct of self-management. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of this recent instrum...

Les modèles émergents de psychopathologie commencent à s’écarter des cadres diagnostiques multicatégoriels établis dans le Manuel diagnostique et statistique des troubles mentaux et la CIM. Des approches transdiagnostiques, c’est-à-dire des modèles et des interventions qui ciblent des facteurs et des mécanismes étiologiques communs à plusieurs diag...

Anxiety disorders (ADs) are the most prevalent comorbidity in Bipolar Disorders (BD), being encountered in up to 75% of cases. In addition to being highly prevalent with BD, ADs and symptoms have a negative impact on almost all aspects of the course and outcome of the illness. Despite our current knowledge about the effectiveness of psychological i...

Background Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most prevalent anxiety disorders in Canada. Viable therapy options for the treatment of SAD include CBT being delivered virtually. In Australia, an innovative internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (iCBT) program for social anxiety has been developed, implemented, and demonstrated as e...

Objectif Les troubles mentaux fréquents tels que les troubles anxieux et la dépression ont de nombreuses conséquences tant individuelles que sociétales. Différents traitements s’offrent aux personnes ayant ces diagnostics, notamment la médication et la psychothérapie cognitive comportementale. Lorsque la sévérité de ces troubles est légère ou modér...

Objective Common mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, have many individual and societal consequences. Various treatments are available for people with these diagnoses, including medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. When these disorders are mild or moderate, psychotherapy is the recommended first-line treatment, given its greate...

Les troubles mentaux fréquents (l’anxiété et la dépression) ont de nombreuses conséquences. Lorsqu’ils sont légers ou modérés, la psychothérapie est la recommandation de première ligne, mais des listes d’attentes réduisent son accessibilité. Une alternative est le modèle de soins par étapes, qui inclut les autosoins. Ceux-ci permettent le traitemen...

Transdiagnostic Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (tCBT), an intervention designed to be applicable across multiple diagnoses, was introduced to improve limitations in traditional therapy such as cost and access to trained therapists. It has been established as an effective and efficacious treatment for anxiety disorders, though there has been little res...

Context In Quebec, adult mental health (AMH) first-line teams are mandated to provide psychosocial services to people living with mental health difficulties, including anxiety and mood disorders. Following the establishment of new clinical guidelines in 2017, the duration of interventions was not to exceed 15 sessions, with some exceptions. Objecti...

Aim: To assess the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of group transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioural therapy (tCBT) added to treatment as usual (TAU) for anxiety disorders compared to TAU only from the healthcare system perspective over a 1-year time horizon. Methods: Data from a pragmatic multisite randomized controlled trial where adu...

Background Access to evidence-based psychological treatment is a concern in many parts of the globe due to government-level financial constraints and patient-level barriers. Transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapy (tCBT) is an effective treatment approach that uses a single protocol for anxiety disorders which could enhance the dissemination...

Sudden gains, incidences of unexpectedly large and stable session to session symptom reductions during psychotherapy, have been shown in samples of individuals receiving treatment for both anxiety and depressive disorders, although seemingly more frequently in sample receiving treatment for depressive disorders. This may suggest that sudden gains a...

Introduction: Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent among the mental health disorders and have a negative impact on an individual's life. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is documented as the most effective treatment for anxiety disorders. However, challenges associated with implementing diagnosis-specific CBT have led to transdiagnostic appro...

Background This economic evaluation supplements a pragmatic randomized controlled trial conducted in community care settings, which showed superior improvement in the symptoms of adults with anxiety disorders who received 12 sessions of transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioural group therapy in addition to treatment as usual (tCBT + TAU) compared to TA...

Contexte Au Québec, les équipes de 1re ligne en santé mentale adulte (SMA) ont pour mandat d’offrir des services psychosociaux aux personnes qui vivent avec des difficultés de santé mentale, dont les troubles anxieux et de l’humeur. Suite à l’établissement de nouvelles balises cliniques en 2017, la durée des interventions ne devait pas dépasser 15...

Abstract. This brief report focuses on the experience of service users in the context of a new public institutional framework limiting the number of psychosocial intervention sessions offered per person. Qualitative data of nine group discussions composed of 12 past service users and 12 professionals working in local community health centres were...

Background Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains a significant treatment challenge among Canadian veterans. Currently accessible pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for PTSD often do not lead to resolution of PTSD as a categorical diagnosis and have significant non-response rates. Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY), a complementar...

La thérapie cognitivo-comportementale (TCC) est un traitement des troubles anxieux basé sur des données probantes. Au moment d’initier une TCC, il n’est pas rare que les patients utilisent un traitement pharmacologique, généralement des antidépresseurs. Les benzodiazépines sont également couramment utilisées, bien qu’elles soient recommandées comme...

Introduction The self-report version of the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS-SR) is a reliable and valid instrument to assess panic disorder, but is unavailable in French. Objectives The aim of this study was to conduct a transcultural validation of the French-Canadian PDSS-SR and examine its psychometric properties. Methods This study is part...

Introduction Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is recognized as an effective treatment for anxiety disorders. Transdiagnostic group CBT (tCBT) targets cognitive and behavioural intervention strategies common to anxiety disorders. tCBT allows the treatment of a larger number of patients simultaneously and therapists only need to master a single int...

Background Although anxiety is highly prevalent in people with bipolar disorders and has deleterious impact on the course of the illness, past reviews have shown that many aspects of the topic remain under-researched. This scoping review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature addressing anxiety in bipolar disorder (A-BD) between...

Background The aims of this study were to conduct a cross-cultural validation of the Panic Disorder Severity Scale – Self-Report (PDSS-SR) and to examine psychometric properties of the French-Canadian version. Methods A sample of 256 adults were included in the validation study based on data from the baseline interview of a clinical trial on trans...

Objective Cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) is a research-supported treatment for anxiety disorders. Transdiagnostic CBT protocols have been recently developed to manage multiple anxiety disorders. The efficacy of transdiagnostic CBT is directly dependent on acceptability as perceived by patients and health care providers. In this study, we sought...

Objective The development of transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioural therapy (T-CBT) is a promising avenue for the treatment of anxiety disorders. This study aimed at evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of a group T-CBT, developed by practising clinicians, for patients with principal and comorbid anxiety disorders in a pragmatic quasi-experi...

Background Individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) are increasingly turning to smartphone applications (apps) for health information and self-management support. While reviews have raised concerns regarding the effectiveness and safety of publicly available apps for BD, apps surveyed may not reflect what individuals with BD are using. The present st...

The evidence for the effect of therapeutic alliance in group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders is unclear. Identifying whether the alliance‐outcome relationship depends on (1) which components are assessed, (2) who is measuring the alliance, and (3) when the alliance is measured, will help to clarify the role of the client‐the...

Objectives Anxiety and depression are the most prevalent disorders observed in health care services and are frequently comorbid with other disorders. Although Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has widely been shown efficacious to treat anxiety and mood disorders, studies that have focused on its effectiveness in the presence of comorbidity have be...

Background The integration of a personal recovery-oriented practice in mental health services is an emerging principle in policy planning. Self-management support (SMS) is an intervention promoting recovery that aims at educating patients on the nature of their mental disorder, improving their strategies to manage their day-to-day symptoms, fosteri...

Bien que l’anxiété soit très répandue chez les personnes souffrant d’un trouble bipolaire et qu’elle ait des impacts délétères sur l’évolution et le traitement de la maladie, des recensions des écrits antérieures ont souligné que de nombreux aspects de cette condition demeurent sous-étudiés (Provencher et al., 2012 ; Spoorthy et al., 2019). La prés...

Background Anxiety and depressive disorders are the most common mental illnesses worldwide, with most individuals meeting criteria for more than one diagnosis. Most cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches target only one disorder at a time, resulting in the need to treat comorbid diagnoses sequentially. Transdiagnostic CBT protocols have been...

Introduction In response to the treatment gap for anxiety and depressive disorders, psychological treatments with innovative modalities and high implementation potential are essential. Internet CBT (iCBT) is a cost/effective approach that could improve access to a low-intensity evidence-based CBT intervention. Objectives To assess the feasibility...

Background Transdiagnostic group cognitive-behavioral therapy (tCBT) is a delivery model that could help overcome barriers to large-scale implementation of evidence-based psychotherapy for anxiety disorders. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of combining group tCBT with treatment-as-usual (TAU), compared to TAU, for the treatmen...

Objective The goal of this study was to validate the French version of the Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD) scale, a condition-specific measure for bipolar disorder (BD). Method The QoL.BD scale was translated into French in accordance with the recommendations for transcultural adaptation. It was administered to 125 participants with B...

Bien que l’efficacité de la thérapie d’activation comportementale (AC) pour le traitement de la dépression ait été établie à travers de nombreux essais aléatoires et contrôlés, les études ayant évalué l’efficacité de l’AC, lorsqu’implantée dans les établissements du réseau de la santé, sont rares et les données la supportant sont insuffisantes. Cet...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of integrating insomnia management strategies into CBT for GAD on insomnia and anxiety. Forty-nine participants with GAD (84% females; mean age = 32.0) were randomized to 12-weeks of CBT for GAD that included or excluded insomnia management strategies. Participants completed the Anxiety Disorde...

Objectives Bipolar disorder is a chronic condition which significantly impacts the functioning and quality of life of patients with the disorder. Recognized efficacious psychological interventions, such as group psychoeducation, can help better address some of the limitations observed when pharmacotherapy is used alone in the management of bipolar...

Objectives Among interventions that have been shown to be efficacious in the treatment of depression, behavioural activation (AC) is receiving increasing attention as the evidence supporting its effectiveness continues to accumulate. Although the efficacy of AC for the treatment of depression has been established through numerous randomized control...

Automatic self-talk of elite athletes provides valuable insight into their emotional experience and self-regulation strategies in competition. To date, there is a shortage of research examining elite junior athletes’ automatic self-talk in competition through a qualitative lens. Despite parents’ key role in the well-being and performance of their c...

Introduction: The Intolerance of Uncertainty Model (IUM) is a well-tested model of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Objective: To test an extension of the IUM that suggests that intolerance of uncertainty (IU) contributes to worry not only by leading to a negative problem orientation, but also by leading to a negative emotion orientation. Method...

Objective: Self-management support is recognized as an important component of the management of mood and anxiety disorders. The goal of this feasibility study was to evaluate the acceptability, implementation and perceived usefulness of a new comprehensive self-management tool (Getting better my way) in four care settings in Quebec, Canada. Metho...

Background: Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in community settings, and they are associated with significant psychological distress, functional and social impairment. While cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is the most consistently efficacious psychological treatment for anxiety disorders, barriers preclude widespread impleme...

Background: This article presents secondary outcome variables from a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of two guided self-help interventions for the treatment of depression: behavioral activation (BA) and physical activity (PA). Both interventions resulted in significant reductions in depressive symptoms compared to the wait-list...

Behavioural activation and physical activity have received empirical support that highlight their efficacy in reducing depression. Even though both behavioural activation and physical activity share the common goal of reactivating the individual, limited research has directly compared these interventions, and more research is required to evaluate t...

Self-Talk in Sport: A Critical Review Self-talk is a mental skill athletes use to enhance their sports performance and well-being. Over the last 30 years, more and more researchers have been investigating the role of self-talk in sport. Results from studies of athletes from different sports and competitive levels suggest that self-talk does influen...

Context: A shift toward person-centered care has been occurring in services provided to people with mood and anxiety disorders. Recovery is recognized as encompassing personal aspects in addition to clinical ones. Guidelines now recommend supporting people's engagement in self-management as a complementary recovery avenue. Yet the literature lacks...

Virtual reality exposure is increasingly used as a method of treatment for anxiety disorders. This exploratory study examines a virtual reality exposure training (VRET) conceived for the treatment of music performance anxiety (MPA). The aim is to obtain first-level knowledge in the music field concerning VRET. This article analyzes how MPA, concent...

Résumé Objectifs Les clientèles psychiatriques sont plus à risque de souffrir de surpoids que la population générale, ce qui est en partie liée aux perturbations métaboliques fréquemment associées à la prise de médicaments psychotropes. L’objectif de la présente étude est d’évaluer l’efficacité du programme Mieux-Être « Wellness », un programme d’...

Music performance anxiety affects numerous musicians, with many of them reporting impairment of performance due to this problem. This exploratory study investigated the effects of virtual reality exposure training on students with music performance anxiety. Seventeen music students were randomly assigned to a control group (n=8) or a virtual traini...

Mood and anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders. People with such disorders implement self-management strategies to reduce or prevent their symptoms and to optimize their health and well-being. Even though self-management strategies are known to be essential to recovery, few researchers have examined them. The aim of this study i...

Mental health services for patients with a major depressive disorder are commonly delivered by primary care. To support the uptake of clinical practice guidelines in primary care, we developed and disseminated a practice protocol for depression tailored for a multidisciplinary audience of primary mental health care providers with the ADAPTE methodo...

The aim of this study was to assess the information needs and preferences of young adults from Quebec regarding stress, anxiety and depression. A sample of 146 young adults was recruited at Université Laval and completed a written survey. Results indicated that students would most likely turn to close friends and partners for help, followed closely...

Background: Through self-management, people living with depression, anxiety or bipolar disorders can play an active role in their recovery. However, absence of a validated questionnaire limits empirical research on self-management. The study aimed to develop a French instrument, the Mental Health Self-Management Questionnaire (MHSQ), and to investi...

This paper reports on the development and evaluation of the Depression Self-Management Workshop (DSMW) that aims to empower participants to implement self-management behaviours in their daily lives in order to improve their mental health and prevent relapse. The 10-session intervention was delivered to 46 adults with depression who completed pre-,...

Various efficacious psychosocial interventions for Bipolar Disorder (BD) share common elements, with psychoeducation being a main component. Recent treatment guidelines for BD recommend psychoeducation, especially when delivered in brief, cost-effective formats. Its format has several implications for the feasibility of its dissemination in the hea...

During the young adult years (ages 18 to 25 years), many young people participate in postsecondary education. Mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and substance misuse are especially common in this age range. The purpose of this study was to survey the extended health insurance plans available to undergraduate students at colleges an...

La depression comptant parmi les troubles psychologiques ayant les plus hauts taux de prevalence dans le monde, il importe de trouver des interventions efficaces et peu couteuses afin de faciliter l’acces aux services. On observe, depuis une dizaine d’annees, un regain d’interet pour les interventions comportementales dans le traitement de la depre...

Significant weight gain is common in patients with psychiatric disorders taking antipsychotics, mood stabilisers and/or antidepressants. Psychiatric patients are at a higher risk of suffering from obesity and from the metabolic syndrome than the general population. One promising alternative to limiting weight gain involves modifying lifestyle behav...

Background: Schema theory, developed for chronic, treatment-resistant patients, has been largely applied to personality disorders. However, many patients with other psychiatric disorders, including mood and anxiety disorders, also demonstrate elevated early maladaptive schemas (EMSs). Based on schema theory and clinical observations, individuals w...

Depression is a widespread psychological disorder that affects approximately one in five North American. Typical reactions to depression include inactivity, isolation, and rumination. Several treatments and psychological interventions have emerged to address this problematic. Cognitive behavioural therapies have received increasingly large amounts...

Objective: To examine the impact of anxiety disorders comorbid to bipolar disorder (BD) in a large, nationally representative sample, to describe the sociodemographic and clinical profiles of Canadians living with BD and with or without comorbid anxiety disorders, to identify the characteristics uniquely associated with comorbid anxiety, and to ex...

Background Anxiety and depressive disorders are increasingly recognized as a health care policy priority. Reducing the treatment gap for common mental disorders requires strengthening the quality of primary mental health care. We developed a knowledge application program designed to improve the organization and delivery of care for anxiety and depr...

Le taux de comorbidité est élevé chez les patients bipolaires, en particulier avec les troubles anxieux (TA). Les TA comorbides sont associés à un pronostic plus sombre, à un moins bon fonctionnement et à un risque suicidaire plus élevé. Parmi les TA, la comorbidité entre le trouble bipolaire (TB) et le trouble d’anxiété généralisée (TAG) est fréqu...

Background: Depression being a prevalent psychobiological disorder across the world, there is a need to identify effective, evidence-based treatments that are time and cost-effective in an effort to increase the population's accessibility to treatments. Low-intensity interventions, such as guided self-help treatments, hold promise for the dissemin...

BACKGROUND: While sleep disturbances associated with bipolar disorder's depression and mania phases are well documented, the literature regarding sleep during remission phases is less consistent. The present study's aim was to describe the nature and severity of sleep difficulties in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) during remission phases. M...

Abstract Cognitive effects of anxiety have been amply documented. Anxiety has been linked with an attentional bias toward threat, distractibility, and reductions in short-term memory (STM) capacity. These three functions have rarely been investigated jointly and permeability may account for some of the effects documented. In this experiment, we exa...

Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental illness characterized by recurrent affective episodes, as well as marked residual symptoms that interfere with functioning. Pharmacotherapy remains the cornerstone of treatment. Unfortunately, medication has limited effects on some aspects of the disorder, while many patients have difficulty complying with pharm...

Bipolar disorder is associated with a variety of cognitive features that seem to play a role in affective symptoms. Schema theory may serve as a unifying theory that would explain many of these features. This study is an exploratory investigation of schema theory's Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) among individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder....

This study aims to validate the French-Canadian adaptation of the third version of the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S3; Young, 2005) and provide expected scores for nonclinical and Axis I patient samples. The Young Schema Questionnaire assesses early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and schema domains. The latest version of the questionnaire, the YSQ-...

Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent among patients with bipolar disorder and have a substantial impact on the course of illness and response to treatment. Despite the substantial impact that comorbid anxiety disorders have on the prognosis of individuals with bipolar disorder, many aspects of this comorbidity have received little attention from...

Schema theory was developed for patients with chronic psychological problems who fail to make significant gains in cognitive therapy. Although the theory has been applied most frequently to personality disorders, mood and anxiety disorders may also be a relevant application. This article reviews the literature applying schema theory to mood and anx...

The hypomanic personality style is a risk factor for bipolar spectrum disorders and shares many cognitive and affective features with the bipolar spectrum. Schema theory may serve as a unifying theory that would explain many of these features. This study is an exploratory investigation of Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) in association with the hyp...

Affiche présentée lors du 33e Congrès de la Société Québécoise pour la recherche en Psychologie. Québec.

Objectif Les résultats des méta-analyses concluent à l'efficacité de la thérapie cognitivo-comportementale des psychoses (TCCp) sur les symptômes persistants. Cependant, la validité externe reste à explorer. L'application de la TCCp aux psychoses débutantes (c'est-à-dire, les 5 premières années suivant le diagnostic) paraît particulièrement pertine...

Meta-analysis results confirm that cognitive-behavioural therapy in psychosis (CBTp) is efficient for persistent symptoms. However, external validity remains unexplored. CBTp in early psychosis (in the first 5 years after diagnosis) seems especially relevant, given a possible impact on long-term course. However, the few studies that experimented wi...

Comorbid anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in bipolar disorder and have been shown to have serious negative impacts on the course of illness. The pharmacological treatment of anxiety can interact with the bipolar disorder and has not been proven effective. As such, many have recommended the psychological treatment of anxiety. This paper review...

Objective Efficacy studies have demonstrated the positive impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for bipolar disorder. However, these rigorously controlled studies are not always representative of the complexity of clienteles treated in clinical settings. This naturalistic effectiveness study examines the preliminary feasibility and efficacy...

To evaluate the prevalence and course of Axis I concurrent disorders in a population of patients who underwent cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) to treat their generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This study is a secondary analysis combining patients from 3 treatment studies done at Université Laval. A total of 90 patients with a DSM-IV consistent...

Recent advances in our understanding of worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have led to the development of efficacious treatments for GAD. Although multidimensional treatment packages have shown efficacy, we know little about the efficacy and clinical utility of individual treatment components. This study evaluates the efficacy of problem-...

This paper describes and evaluates “As luck would have it,” an awareness program completed by retailers in Quebec Province. This program, which is presented as a two-hour awareness promotion workshop, aimed to inform retailers about excessive gambling. More specifically, it provided answers to the following questions: (1) What is chance and randomn...

This paper describes and evaluates "As luck would have it," an awareness program completed by retailers in Quebec Province. This program, which is presented as a two-hour awareness promotion workshop, aimed to inform retailers about excessive gambling. More specifically, it provided answers to the following questions: (1) What is chance and randomn...

A recently developed cognitive-behavioral treatment for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) targets intolerance of uncertainty by the reevaluation of positive beliefs about worry, problem-solving training, and cognitive exposure. As previous studies have established the treatment's efficacy when delivered individually, the present study tests the tr...

Studied the psychometric properties of the Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire (M. J. Dugas et al, 2001) in 274 male and female university students (mean age 22.9 yrs), 19 male and female adults with (mean age 37.7 yrs) with generalized anxiety disorder and 19 male and female adults without anxiety symptoms (mean age 34.5 yrs) (controls), and 33 univer...

Structured instruments (SI) or free-recall instruments (FRI) can be used to examine worry themes. In the case where both types are use jointly, order of presentation may influence number and content of free-recall worries. Half of a large undergraduate sample (N = 609) received the SI before the FRI and the other half received them in the opposite...

Several authors have suggested that threat schemata of high worriers may differ from those of less worried individuals with regards to the manner with which information is structured in the Long Term Memory (LTM) or the content of the information stored in the LTM. The present study tested this hypothesis using the catastrophizing interview techniq...

This study examines worry themes among 87 anxiety disorder patients divided into three groups: (a) 24 primary generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients, (b) 25 secondary GAD patients, and (c) 38 other anxiety disorder patients (primarily obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia and panic disorder with agoraphobia). Structured and free-recall...

Neutralization and avoidance play a key role in current models of OCD and GAD. This study examines strategies used when intrusive thoughts occur as a function of potential discriminative stimuli (sequences, context, thought appraisal), mood state, and efficacy. Structured interviews identified strategies used by 53 normal subjects when the most fre...