ArticleCognitive therapy and research2020
Enhancing Social Connectedness in Anxiety and Depression Through Amplification of Positivity: Preliminary Treatment Outcomes and Process of Change.
Article in Cognitive therapy and research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02330627 (Positive Valence System Enhancement Treatment for Anxiety and Depression), which is not on this map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Positive Valence System Enhancement Treatment for Anxiety and Depression: Clinical Efficacy and Neural Changes
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of savoring interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Pooled it
- Smartphone-Based Approach-Avoidance Bias Modification Training for Depression: Randomized Clinical Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Trial
- Amplification of positivity for depression and anxiety: Neural prediction of treatment response.Behaviour research and therapy · 2024Trial
- Amplification of Positivity Treatment for Anxiety and Depression: A Randomized Experimental Therapeutics Trial Targeting Social Reward Sensitivity to Enhance Social Connectedness.Biological psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Chronic pain patients low in social connectedness report higher pain and need deeper pressure for pain relief.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2023Trial
- Targeting positive valence systems function in children of mothers with depressive symptoms: A pilot randomized trial of an RDoC-Informed preventive intervention.Behaviour research and therapy · 2023Trial
- The dynamics of loneliness: Longitudinal associations of anhedonia and dampening in a clinical sample of depressed individuals.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Blunted Reward Responsiveness During Social Feedback: Associations with Peer Victimization and Anhedonia in Socially Anxious Adolescents.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Beyond Resilience: A Mixed-Method, Longitudinal Analysis of Difficulties and Positive Experiences in Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Network analyses of discrete emotions and social connectedness indicators in anxiety and depressive disorders.Journal of mood and anxiety disorders · 2026Article
- MASSAG model: Towards an integrative neuroscience framework linking emotional trauma, pain, and mechanisms of force-based manipulations.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- The power of positivity: Exploring affective and social processes of change throughout a positive valence treatment for anxiety or depression.Journal of mood and anxiety disorders · 2025Article
- Social well-being moderates behavioral therapy response for generalized anxiety disorder.Journal of mood and anxiety disorders · 2025Article
- Driven by rewards or punishments? Understanding real world social functioning in anxiety and depressive disorders.Journal of mood and anxiety disorders · 2025Article
- What do clients think about amplifying positivity? Client change perspectives following a cognitive and behavioural positive activity intervention for anxiety and depression.Counselling and psychotherapy research · 2025Article
- Factors which influence social connection among cancer caregivers: an exploratory, interview study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- Article
- Inclusion of Individuals With Lived Experiences in the Development of a Digital Intervention for Co-Occurring Depression and Cannabis Use: Mixed Methods Investigation.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Hooking the Self Onto the Past: How Positive Autobiographical Memory Retrieval Benefits People With Social Anxiety.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2024Article
- Reward processes in extinction learning and applications to exposure therapy.Journal of anxiety disorders · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAnxiety and depressive disorders are often characterized by perceived social disconnection, yet evidence-based treatments produce only modest improvements in this domain. The well-established link between positive affect (PA) and social connectedness suggests that directly targeting PA in treatment may be valuable.
methodA secondary analysis of a waitlist-controlled trial (N=29) was conducted to evaluate treatment response and process of change in social connectedness within a 10-session positive activity intervention protocol-Amplification of Positivity (AMP)-designed to increase PA in individuals seeking treatment for anxiety or depression (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02330627). Perceived social connectedness and PA/negative affect (NA) were assessed throughout treatment. Time-lagged multilevel mediation models examined the process of change in affect and connectedness throughout treatment.
resultsThe AMP group displayed significantly larger improvements in social connectedness from pre- to post-treatment compared to waitlist; improvements were maintained through 6-month follow-up. Within the AMP group, increases in PA and decreases in NA both uniquely predicted subsequent increases in connectedness throughout treatment. However, experiencing heightened NA throughout treatment attenuated the effect of changes in PA on connectedness. Improvements in connectedness predicted subsequent increases in PA, but not changes in NA.
conclusionsThese preliminary findings suggest that positive activity interventions may be valuable for enhancing social connectedness in individuals with clinically impairing anxiety or depression, possibly through both increasing positive emotions and decreasing negative emotions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.