Odin Hjemdal

• PhD in clinical adult psychology
• Professor (Full) at Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs have been established as a transdiagnostic correlate of anxiety and depression in adults and are considered a central mechanism of persistent emotional distress according to the metacognitive model of psychological disorders. However, the importance of metacognitions for distress and emotional disorder in adolesc...

Objective: The Metacognitions Questionnaire–30 (MCQ-30) was developed to measure individual differences in endorsement of maladaptive metacognitive beliefs. Previous research shows the MCQ-30 possesses good psychometric properties. However, there is limited research on psychometric properties of the MCQ-30 in clinical samples, and the scale has not...

Existing scales mainly focus on danger-based threats of death and bodily harm to assess exposure to traumatic events in war zone. However, major provocations and transgression of deeply held values and moral beliefs, as well as witnessing the suffering of others can be as traumatic as fear-inducing danger-based events. This raises the need for scal...

Background This study explores sick leave changes 1-year pre- and post-treatment start for common mental health issues and their associations with self-reported symptoms, functioning, and health changes. Methods Ninety-five employed patients, without previous disability benefits, underwent treatment at a public mental health outpatient clinic. Sic...

Purpose: Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is associated with executive dysfunction in long-term survivorship. This is evidenced by subjective and objective measures of executive functions (EFs). However, the two measures do not always align, and the EF discrepancy in this population is understudied. This cross-sectional study aimed to e...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate predictors for return to work for people struggling with common mental disorders on sick leave or at risk of sick leave. The first aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a set of statements exploring different conditions at the workplace and assumptions about working wit...

After mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), a subgroup of individuals experience persistent post-concussion symptoms (PPCS) that include headaches, cognitive difficulties, and fatigue. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate possible effects associated with metacognitive therapy (MCT) on PPCS, maladaptive coping strategies, and positive...

Objective This study, the first to assess the reliability and validity of the Work and Social Assessment Scale (WSAS) in Norwegian routine mental health care, examines differences in functional impairment based on sick leave status, psychiatric diagnosis, and sex. Method Including 3573 individuals from community mental health services (n1 = 1157)...

Introduction Manual‐based treatments, such as cognitive behavioural therapy and metacognitive therapy, are effective for patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), but no studies have examined non‐manualised clinically representative treatment for GAD. Methods The sample consisted of 103 patients with GAD who completed non‐manualised eclect...

Background Problematic anger, characterized by excessive frequency, intensity, and duration of anger which causes substantial emotional distress and functional interference, poses a marked challenge in military populations. Despite its importance, research on this topic is limited. This study contributes to the literature by exploring problematic a...

Objective: Over the past few decades, there has been a substantial increase of interest worldwide in how trauma can cause posttraumatic changes such as posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic depreciation (PTD), and whether there exist gender-specific patterns of such changes. Despite the increase in interest, no studies have yet examined PTG...

Background and aims: This study explored the associations between symptoms of the Suicide Crisis Syndrome (SCS) at admission and self-harm and death by suicide post-discharge. The association between clinicians' emotional responses toward inpatients at admission and post-discharge self-harm and suicide death was also explored. Methods: Within th...

Objective There has been an increasing interest in understanding what contributes to the development and what maintains posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The cognitive model emphasizes that it is a disturbance of the autobiographical memory for the trauma, cognitive beliefs and maladaptive behaviour that maintain trauma symptoms. Interventions...

Objective Stepped care models are frameworks for mental health care systems in several countries. According to Norwegian guidelines, individuals with mental health problems of mild severity should be treated in community mental health services, moderate severity in specialist mental health services, while complex/severe problems are often a shared...

Personality dysfunction operationalized as impairment in self-and interpersonal functioning is a characteristic of personality disorders. The metacognitive model suggests that dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs are a common cause of psychological disorders, but the relevance and importance of metacognitions for personality dysfunction is less expl...

Identifying within-person dynamic factors influencing personality functioning (operationalized as self-and interpersonal functioning) above maladaptive personality traits could increase the applicability of the alternative DSM-5 model and help inform clinical interventions of personality difficulties. Founded in the metacognitive model of psycholog...

Cognitive behavioral therapy, prolonged exposure, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing are effective treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They emphasize the processing of trauma-related memories and exposure as central components in treatment. In contrast, the metacognitive model emphasizes that PTSD is caused by a pers...

Research on posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) typically focuses on diagnosis or symptom severity, however, this overlooks the variety of symptom patterns that exist. Latent profile analysis was used to explore PTSS profiles in a sample of Norwegian Afghanistan veterans (n = 4052, 91.7% males). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conduc...

Background: Problematic anger, characterized by excessive frequency, intensity, and duration of anger which cause substantial emotional distress and functional interference, poses a marked challenge in military populations. Despite its importance, research on this topic is limited. This study contributes to the literature by exploring problematic a...

Interpersonal problems are common in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and improved interpersonal functioning is an important goal in treatment. In the metacognitive model of worry and generalized anxiety disorder, emotional distress and psychological dysfunction are related to two distinct types of worry. Particular emphasis is p...

Objective There is limited research on neurocognitive outcome and associated risk factors in long-term, adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), without treatment of cranial radiation therapy. Moreover, the impact of fatigue severity and pain interference on neurocognition has received little attention. In this cross-section...

Research has sought to identify whether women have an increased risk of developing mental health problems following military trauma compared to men, but the results are mixed. This study examined gender differences in a range of mental health outcomes within three levels of war zone trauma exposure and investigated gender differences in risk and pr...

The aim of this observational study was to examine the predic-tive and discriminant validity of patient motivation and adher-ence in metacognitive therapy (MCT) for depression. Motivational development for recovered- and non-recovered patients was also investigated. Motivation in sessions 1, 4, and 7 was measured using the Motivational Interviewing...

Metacognitive therapy (MCT) was developed by Adrian Wells and is founded on the self-regulatory executive function (S-REF) model, often referred to as the metacognitive model of psychological disorder. The metacognitive model assumes that symptoms of psychological disorder will naturally subside through a process of reflexive self-regulation. Howev...

Understanding within-person variation between theorized mechanisms of disorder and depressive symptoms can help identify targets for interventions. Cognitive models of depression hypothesize dysfunctional attitudes as underlying vulnerability factors, while the metacognitive model places emphasis on dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs. However, no...

Using latent profile analyses, the current work investigated levels of adverse childhood experiences, symptoms of anxiety and depression and 3 dimensions of relational promotive factors) to identify resilience profiles in a large general population sample ( N = 161,622, mean age = 53.02; SD = 17.80; 56.1% females). We then used the same method to i...

Background Patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) provide clinicians with information about patients’ perceptions of distress. When linked with treatment and diagnostic registers, new information on common mental health disorders (CMHD) and service use, may be obtained, which might be useful clinically and for policy decision-making. This study r...

Objective Little is known about the effects of routine mental health care on return-to-work (RTW) outcomes. This systematic review aimed to summarize and evaluate the effects of clinical representative psychotherapy on RTW among patients with a common mental disorder (CMD), treated within public mental health care. Method A systematic search was c...

Objectives In Metacognitive therapy (MCT), homework is used, for example, to increase awareness of thoughts and thought processes, to challenge metacognitive beliefs in real‐life situations, and to practice new ways of processing thoughts, feelings, and symptoms. All MCT treatment manuals include homework assignments to be given between each sessio...

There is a knowledge gap regarding clinically representative therapy given in routine settings, that is treatment as usual (TAU), for patients with common mental health problems (CMHP). This review and meta‐analysis aimed to investigate what characterizes clinically representative therapy in Nordic routine clinics and meta‐analyze the outcome of su...

Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) typically report interpersonal problems, and these are important targets in treatment beyond social anxiety symptoms as they impair quality of life, maintain emotion symptoms and effect on social functioning. What factors contribute to interpersonal problems? In the current study we set out to explore the...

Purpose Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important aspect of mental health outcomes. There are few studies on HRQoL in heterogeneous patient populations seeking help at community mental health services. The aims of the study were to compare how HRQoL, measured by the EuroQol five dimensions with five levels (EQ-5D-5L), was distributed c...

Background: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) provide clinicians with information about patients’ perceptions of distress. When linked with treatment and diagnostic registers, new information may be obtained, such as associations with prevalence and service use. This study aimed to examine psychological symptoms among psychiatric outpatients...

In the metacognitive model of psychological disorders, metacognitive strategies and corresponding underlying metacognitive beliefs intensify and maintain emotional distress symptoms. In the current study, our three objectives were to evaluate and replicate the network structure of dysfunctional metacognitions as assessed with the MCQ-30, to examine...

Background The EQ-5D is a commonly used generic measure of health but evidence on its responsiveness to change in mental health is limited. This study aimed to explore the responsiveness of the five-level version of the instrument, the EQ-5D-5 L, in patients receiving treatment for depression and anxiety. Methods Patient data (N = 416) were collec...

Return to work from long-term sick leave is influenced by personal and social factors, which can be measured by resilience, a construct that describe healthy adaptation against adversity. This study aimed to validate the validity and psychometric properties of the resilience scale for adults in a sample of long-term sick-listed individuals, and to...

Introduction: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by persistent worry and anxiety, often with a chronic course. We tested the role of two suggested underlying factors in GAD, interpersonal problems and negative metacognitive beliefs, as predictors of trait-worry and trait-anxiety. Methods: The sample consisted of 56 patients with...

The metacognitive model of psychological disorders suggests that emotional disorders are related to maladaptive metacognitive strategies corresponding to underlying dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs. There is substantial empirical evidence supporting a role of metacognition in psychopathology, but fewer studies have evaluated the metacognitive mo...

Background Sick leave caused by common mental health disorders (CMD) is becoming more prevalent. For most people, work is essential for good mental and physical health. It is necessary to provide treatments that facilitate return to work (RTW) and a reduction of symptoms. A qualitative study can contribute to an understanding of what makes an inter...

Objective Knowledge regarding the long-term psychological adjustment of parents to children with prenatal diagnosis of congenital malformation is scarce. The aim of this study is to examine traumatic stress trajectories, resilience, and relationship satisfaction among parents to children with prenatal diagnosis of a congenital malformation, and to...

There is increasing need to identify factors that contribute to poor work ability with an aim to prevent work related problems such as sick leave and disability pension. In the Metacognitive Control System model, dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs are seen as an underlying factor in psychological vulnerability beyond disorder, and recent studies h...

An empirical test of the metacognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The metacognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) places worrying, meta-worry ("worry about worry") and corresponding underlying metacognitive beliefs (i.e., beliefs about worry) as central in the maintenance of symptoms. Pr...

Self-assessed work ability is a prospective predictor of sick leave and is defined as the subjective balance between human resources and work demands. Since self-assessed work ability is not equivalent to health status, it is important to identify factors that contribute to self-assessed work ability and that are modifiable to change, since they ha...

Background: Victims of workplace bullying represent a group characterised by severe negative health complaints at risk of losing their foothold in working life. To date, very few studies have investigated the effect of psychological treatment of the health-related problems often facing victims of bullying. Objective: The aim was to investigate i...

Purpose The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric validity of the Modular Assessment of Risk for Imminent Suicide (MARIS) questionnaire in relation to recent suicidal ideation and behavior among a sample of patients admitted to an acute psychiatric inpatient department in Norway. Methods The MARIS was completed within the fi...

Objective The aim of this study was to test factor structure, measurement invariance, and concurrent validity of the nine item Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the seven item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale-7 (GAD-7) in a heterogeneous outpatient sample. Method Outpatients completed the PHQ-9, GAD-7, and the Working Social Adjustment...

This study investigated resilience patterns and predictors of these patterns (i.e. gender and migration background) among Swiss early adolescents in times of COVID-19. A total of 317 pupils participated at two time points. We conducted two separate latent class analyses and a latent transition analysis using mental health issues and protective fact...

Background Bereavement research has mainly explored potential risk factors associated with adverse outcomes, and the role of protective factors has received less attention. More knowledge is needed about factors related to unresolved grief in bereaved siblings. This study aimed to assess grief adjustment and possible gender differences among bereav...

The Metacognitive Control System (MCS) model gives central importance to maladaptive metacognition in psychological vulnerability and disorder. The metacognitions questionnaire 30 (MCQ-30) is widely used to assess such metacognitions and to establish their effects. Previous studies consistently demonstrate that the MCQ-30 consists of five latent fa...

Background The aim of the study was to explore symptoms of anxiety and depression, insomnia, and quality of life in a Norwegian community sample of older adults. Methods A representative sample (N = 1069) was drawn from home-dwelling people of 60 years and above, living in a large municipality in Norway (Trondheim). Results Based on established c...

Background Depression highly impairs function and reduces quality of life. Therefore, both symptomatic and functional recovery are important treatment goals. Depression consists of several cognitive, somatic, and affective symptom factors that differently affect function. However, it is unclear whether changes in these domains predict return to wor...

To expand evidence for the nature and related mechanisms underlying loneliness measured by Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S), several hypotheses were developed and tested to map the nomological network of loneliness. Tests included examining the structure of the multidimensional experiences of loneliness, concurrent and pro...

Purpose The existing evidence suggests that a complete evaluation of mental health should incorporate both psychopathology and mental well-being indicators. However, few studies categorize European adolescents into subgroups based on such complete mental health data. This study used the data on mental well-being and symptoms of mental and behaviora...

The present study investigated resilience profiles (based on levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression and five dimensions of protective factors) of 1,160 students from Germany (n = 346, 46.0% females, Mage = 12.77, SDage = 0.78), Greece (n = 439, 54.5% females, Mage = 12.68, SDage = 0.69), and Switzerland (n = 375, 44.5% females, Mage = 12.29,...

Impaired attention is a burden for many students in educational settings. This study examined effects of target shooting practice in weekly sessions for 7 months in 12 students with attention problems. The design included objective tests giving quantitative pre- and post-data, as well as qualitative data from individual post interviews. Interventio...

Cognitive models of social anxiety give prominence to dysfunctional schemas about the social self as the key underlying factors in maladaptive self-processing strategies and social anxiety symptoms. In contrast, the metacognitive model argues that beliefs about cognition represent a central belief domain underlying psychopathology and cognitive sch...

Background Common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety are major contributors to the global burden of disease. Affected individuals suffer reduced quality of life, impaired functioning and reduced capacity to work. Maintaining employment is an important determinant for health and wellbeing, and the economic impact of depression and anxie...

UPRIGHT is a scientifically tested psychoeducational resilience intervention based in schools, designed to promote the mental wellbeing and prevent mental disorders of adolescents. It uses a whole-school approach, involving adolescents, their families and the entire school community. The intervention consists of two programmes called WELL-BEING FOR...

Objectives The study aimed to compare the quality of life (QoL) among cancer-bereaved parents with a control group and explore how resilience and support from healthcare professionals associated with QoL of parents 2–8 years after the loss of a child to cancer. Methods This nationwide, cross-sectional survey was administered among parents (n=161)...

Objectives: The EQ-5D is a generic, self-report measure of health that is increasingly used in clinical settings, including mental health. The EQ-5D captures health using five dimensions: Mobility, Self-care, Usual activities, Pain/discomfort, and Anxiety/Depression. The validity of the EQ-5D is previously unexplored in patients on or at risk of si...

Neurocognitive late effects following the diagnosis and treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) commonly include impaired executive functions (EFs), with negative consequences for one’s health-related quality of life and mental health. However, interventions for EF impairments are scarce. Thus, the aims of this study were to (1) e...

Objective Metacognitive therapy (MCT) and cognitive–behavior therapy (CBT) are effective treatments for generalized anxiety disorder. In this study, we followed-up patients who had previously participated in a randomized controlled trial of MCT compared against CBT. Method We collected 9-year follow-up data on 39 out of 60 original patients (i.e.,...

Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the Return-to-Work Self-efficacy Questionnaire (RTW-SE) in a Norwegian sample of patients with common mental disorders. The secondary aim was to provide validated cut-off scores for the RTW-SE. Methods Among patients receiving work-focused therapy ( N = 626), the RTW-SE was measured pre-and post-...

Interpersonal difficulties are common across psychological disorders and are a legitimate target of treatment. Psychotherapeutic models differ in their understanding of interpersonal problems and how these problems are formulated and treated. It has been suggested that they are both the cause and effect of emotional distress symptoms, that they res...

Objectives Sick leave due to anxiety and depression is a heterogeneous process constituting a pressing public health issue. This longitudinal study aimed to identify sick leave trajectories among patients before, during and after work-focused treatment, in all 29.5 months. We then aimed to determine the background and clinical characteristics of th...

Comorbidity is common among long-term sick-listed and many prognostic factors for return to work (RTW) are shared across diagnoses. RTW interventions have small effects, possibly due to being averaged across heterogeneous samples. Identifying subgroups based on prognostic RTW factors independent of diagnoses might help stratify interventions. The a...

The aim of the current study was to test the validity of the Norwegian version of the Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ). Three cross-sectional surveys were conducted investigating the psychometric properties of the DTQ in alcohol use (N = 588), nicotine use (N = 446) and social media use (N = 359). Principal components and confirmatory factor ana...

Introduction: This paper investigates levels of depressive symptoms among older children and young adolescents, 11-14 years of age. The population-based sample was assessed twice during a 12-month period. Point-prevalence, 12-month prevalence, and 12-month incidence were measured by a validated self-reported scale (SFMQ) and are presented in this...

Background Part-time sick leave (PTSL) where sick-listed individuals work a percentage corresponding to their remaining work capabilities is often used to promote return to work. The effects of PTSL are uncertain due to participant selection on personal and social factors, which are not easily captured by evaluations that primarily rely on register...

Resilience is the process and outcome of healthy adaptation despite significant adversity. Proliferation of research on the resilience construct has led to scientific concerns about the operationalization and measurement of resilience for assessment science and practice. Various studies that have investigated the psychometric properties and constru...

The study explored how common non-disclosure of suicidal ideation is in a sample of adult psychiatric inpatients (N = 171) plus associated patient characteristics. A large percentage (51.5%) withheld some information on suicidal ideation during admission. In multivariable analyses, correlates of non-disclosure included a diagnosis of emotionally un...

The study investigated relationships between exposure to bullying behaviours, return to work self-efficacy (RTW-SE) and resilience, and if resilience moderates the bullying-RTW-SE relationship among patients on sick leave or at risk of sick leave due to common mental disorders (CMD). A sample of 675 patients treated in an outpatient clinic was anal...

The Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) is a highly rated scale for measuring protective factors of resilience. Even though the READ has been validated in several different cultural samples, no studies have validated the READ across samples in German from Switzerland and Germany. The purpose of this study was to explore the construct validity o...

Objective We aimed to discover whether psychological treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) was associated with changes in the big five personality traits and their facets. Method Patients with GAD were randomized either to receive cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT, n = 28) or metacognitive therapy (MCT, n = 32). Before and after 12 sessi...

Imposition of lockdown restrictions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was sudden and unprecedented and dramatically changed the life of many people, as they were confined to their homes with reduced movement and access to fitness training facilities. Studies have reported significant associations between physical inactivity, s...

Background Research on the relationship between resilience and loneliness is sparse. The construct of resilience has been conceptualized in multiple ways, including the measurement of resilience. The Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) is a measure of protective factors. The present study examined whether resiliency moderates any negative relationshi...

The Resilience Doughnut is an ecological and Solution Focused model showing the interaction of resources that build resilience during a person’s lifetime. In order to statistically validate the model, a 44-item scale (RDA) was developed and tested with 859 adults. Reliability was explored showing a very good fit α = 0.92 and a good representation o...

This study examined the warzone stressors: killing in combat, experiencing personal threats, or traumatic witnessing during deployment in relation to psychological distress, alcohol consumption and quality of life at long-term follow-up. The study was conducted in two samples of Norwegian veterans who had served in Afghanistan (Study 1, N = 4,053)...

Background Targets of workplace bullying tend to develop severe mental health complaints, having increased risk of sick leave and expulsion from the workplace. Hence, these individuals are likely to be overrepresented among patients seeking treatment for common mental disorders (CMD). This study investigated the prevalence of exposure to workplace...

Resilience is the ability of an individual or community to adapt to life challenges or adversities while maintaining mental health and well-being. In the multi-systemic resilience paradigm, human development and resilience is embedded in adaptive systems and in their interactions. Although the relationship between school systems and adolescents' me...

Highlights - School Resilience is a new theory-driven construct and psychometric instrument. - It is grounded on multisystemic and socio-ecological resilience theories. - School Resilience evaluates collective resilience within the school community. - It is five protective or promotive factors that enhance wellbeing and resilience. - It is a tool f...

Introduction and objectives Interpersonal stress factors contribute to common mental health problems measured as anxiety and depression. Recently, it is emerging that anxiety precedes depression but not the reverse, and markedly increase in response to stress giving way to depression. As such, anxiety itself could be a predictive risk factor, and m...

Metacognitive theory provides strong foundation for hypothesizing relations between worry and rumination among subgroups of metacognitive beliefs. However, empirical exploration of prospective and reciprocal relations between worry and rumination are lacking. This study investigated the stability and relations between worry and rumination to better...

Supplementary material 1: Protocols for the Deployment of Participatory Sessions The protocols for the deployment of participatory group sessions with adolescents, family members and school professionals were designed following the objectives of cocreation and regional adaptation. The protocols include: Activity, Time, Objectives, Facilitation Tech...

Supplementary material 3: Co-creation questionnaire for Teachers and School Staff This supplementary material includes the three first sections of the questionnaire for Teachers and School Staff: (i) prioritization of eighteen resilience skills included in the project intervention, (ii) identification of the main developmental concerns or risks for...

Supplementary material 2: Protocol for the Elaboration of the Local Report: Participatory Sessions. The protocols are designed to be used by the local research teams. These protocols are designed to guide the systematization of the results and outputs gathered during the participatory sessions (by activity, and by group). They have descriptive and...

Resilience refers to an individual's healthy coping abilities when encountering adverse life events. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a situation with a high amount of stress exposure, which in turn may be associated with negative emotional outcome like depressive symptoms. The current study investigated if resilience moderated the effect of stress...