Return of fear after successful exposure therapy for a phobia is a common clinical challenge. A previous study on mice demonstrated that the persistent attenuation of remote fear memories can be achieved by combining histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) with fear-memory retrieval prior to extinction training.

To evaluate the translational potential of this approach, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Forty-eight individuals with DSM-IV spider phobia received either HDACi valproic acid (VPA, 500 mg) or a placebo prior to the retrieval of fear memory, followed by exposure therapy in virtual reality.

No significant group difference was found in terms of behavioral change on the behavioral approach test at 3 months follow-up and baseline (primary outcome). However, the VPA group displayed significantly reduced fear in two self-report questionnaires related to spider phobia (Fear of Spiders Questionnaire; Spider Phobia Beliefs Questionnaire) as compared to the placebo group. No group differences were observed for psychophysiological indicators of fear.

The favorable impact of a single administration of VPA in combination with fear-memory retrieval prior to exposure therapy suggests that it might be an effective way to enhance symptom improvement at the subjective level in the treatment of phobias. Further studies need to investigate the conditions under which an improvement on the psychophysiological and behavioral levels can be achieved as well.

The purpose of this study is to examine the existing literature on end-of-life dream experiences and bucket list fulfillments among terminally ill individuals receiving hospice and/or palliative care.

A scoping review registered on Open Science Framework was conducted in accordance with the guidelines for Scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR). An electronic search of literature was generated from EBSCO databases published until June 2024. Studies were included if they described and evaluated the effects of bucket lists and/or end-of-life wish fulfillment.

This review identified 2,234 studies, and 11 of these were included in the review. Four major themes were established using thematic content analysis: (1) impact on holistic well-being, (2) role of family in wish fulfillment, (3) cultivation of gratitude, and (4) collaborative leadership in wish fulfillment. In wish fulfillment, the results significantly pointed to the need for more intricate evaluation among patients and interventions that cover beyond the physical aspect.

Palliative and hospice care settings should work toward securing sustainable funding for structured wish-fulfillment programs to address existing accessibility gaps and further enhance the holistic nature of care in these settings. Wish-fulfillment interventions represent a powerful tool in enhancing dignity and holistic experiences for terminally ill patients. Future research efforts could strengthen programs ensuring every individual is able to achieve a sense of peace, fulfillment, and closure during their care trajectory.

Dissociative experiences are common transdiagnostically, and particularly prevalent in psychosis. Such experiences have long been under-recognised in routine clinical practice, despite evidence that dissociation is related to clinical complexity and increased risk of self-harm and suicidality. Adopting a symptom-specific, targeted approach to conceptualisation and intervention for dissociation may help improve outcomes.

The evidence base for psychological treatments targeting dissociation is building, but training and guidance for clinicians remains sparse. This review outlines a preliminary approach to the treatment of a subtype of dissociative experience (felt sense of anomaly dissociation), based on emerging research evidence and clinical practice. The guidance is tailored to the context of psychosis, and may also have broader clinical relevance.

We present symptom-specific guidance for clinicians, including factors to consider in the assessment, formulation, and intervention for felt sense of anomaly dissociation in the context of psychosis, and reflections on process issues. We present a cognitive behavioural model, where affect-related changes are interpreted as an internal threat, driving a maintenance cycle of catastrophic appraisals and safety behaviours. Using this formulation, evidence-based therapy techniques familiar to most readers can then be applied.

It is important for clinicians to consider dissociation. As well as generating new avenues for translational intervention research, we anticipate that the novel insights and specific advice outlined here will be of use to professionals working with dissociation in psychosis (and beyond). Encouragingly, we demonstrate that widely used, evidence-based skills and techniques can be employed to address distress arising from dissociation.

Although life stressors are known risk factors for suicide, the specific stressor types that most strongly precipitate suicidal outcomes, and on what timescale, remain poorly understood. Based on existing theory, we investigated whether objectively rated interpersonal stressors, especially social and targeted rejection stressors, are proximally associated with increased likelihood of suicidal ideation and behavior.

Using an objectively rated contextual threat interview to assess stressful life events, and a timeline followback procedure for assessing suicide-related outcomes, we examined how the severity of four types of acute life events (i.e. non-interpersonal, interpersonal without social rejection, social rejection without targeted rejection, and targeted rejection) were temporally associated with the likelihood of same-day and next-day suicidal ideation and behavior over 16 months in 143 young adults (Mage = 25.27, SD = 4.65) with recent suicidal ideation or behavior.

After controlling for prior-day suicidal ideation and non-interpersonal stressors, daily within-person increases in interpersonal stressor severity were related to higher odds of same-day (but not next-day) suicidal ideation. Additionally, greater increases in targeted rejection severity were uniquely related to increased likelihood of both same-day and next-day suicidal behavior after controlling for prior-day suicidal behavior and other types of stressors.

Interpersonal stressors are strong, proximal risk factors for suicidal ideation and behavior, and these effects are particularly strong for targeted rejection life events. Clinicians should thus assess recent interpersonal and, especially, targeted rejection stressors when evaluating acute suicide risk, and may reduce such risk by helping patients stabilize and strengthen their social relationships.

Real-world evidence (RWE) is increasingly used to assess and make regulatory decisions on health technologies. However, its application in healthcare payer decision-making is less well-known.

The objectives of this study were to (i) review the recent literature on how RWE has been used by healthcare payers, (ii) highlight barriers that limit the use of RWE in payer decision making, and (iii) explore how RWE has been used in various funding arrangements between payers and manufacturers. The benefits of utilizing RWE are also discussed.

A scoping review was conducted on articles published between 2014 and 2025 in PubMed (Medline), OVID EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. Eligible articles were those written in English that discussed the use of real-world evidence among healthcare payers/decision-makers for health technology reimbursement decisions.

Nineteen articles were selected for full-text review based on the inclusion criteria. The review highlighted payers’ interest in incorporating RWE into funding and reimbursement decisions to address uncertainty in the performance of new health technologies. However, a lack of standards for collecting, analyzing, and reporting RWE limits its use. Little is known about how RWE is used in reimbursement decisions since contractual arrangements between payers and manufacturers are confidential.

Although payers are interested in using RWE to inform funding and reimbursement decisions, there are concerns regarding the scientific rigor used to generate such evidence. Having more insight into the contractual arrangements between payers and manufacturers would help to better understand how RWE informs these agreements.