Background: Panic disorder (PD) has a chronic nature, especially as a result of maladaptive coping strategies to deal with stressful events. Aims: To evaluate the impact of booster sessions with cognitive techniques on coping strategies, resilience, and quality of life (QoL) in patients previously submitted to standard cognitive-behavioural group therapy (CBGT) for PD. Method: A controlled clinical trial with 44 patients with PD (intervention = 20; control = 24) who had previously completed a 12-week CBGT protocol. PD, anxiety, and depression severity symptoms were assessed at baseline and 1, 6, and 12 months after the booster sessions. Coping strategies, resilience, and QoL were assessed by Coping Strategies Inventory (CSI), Resilience Scale, and WHOQOL-BREF respectively. Results: Over time, a significant improvement in PD and depression symptoms was observed in both groups. A significant increase in the QoL social relations domain was found in the booster group, considering a time/group interaction. Coping and other QoL domains did not change after the booster sessions. Changes in resilience were dependent on the intensity of symptoms, with negative but non-significant correlations. Conclusions: The improvement in PD and depression symptoms for both groups may be a result of the group format of the intervention. Group booster sessions after CBGT are useful to maintain the benefits obtained with CBGT.

Background: Negative cognitive errors are important in the etiology and treatment of youth internalizing problems, but less is known about their unique relations with anxiety and depression. Aims: The major purpose of this study was to examine associations between distinct negative cognitive errors and anxiety and depression in youth. Method: In a community sample of children and adolescents (aged 9–17; N = 278) negative cognitive errors were assessed using the revised version of the Children's Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CNCEQ-R). Anxiety and depression were assessed with the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and Children's Depression Inventory, respectively. Results: The strongest predictors of anxiety were the negative cognitive errors “underestimation of the ability to cope” and “mind reading”. The strongest predictors of depression were the errors “selective abstraction” and “overgeneralizing”, with the first error explaining most variance. Analyses of age effects showed that, in comparison to adolescents, children reported higher scores on the total CNCEQ-R score, and on the errors “overgeneralizing”, “personalizing”, and “mind reading”. Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of researching the role of distinct cognitive processing in youth with anxiety and depression and further development of the CNCEQ-R. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Background: Research suggests that aggressive children are prone to over-attribute hostile intentions to peers. Aims: The current study investigated whether this attributional style can be altered using a Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations (CBM-I) procedure. Method: A sample of 10–12-year-olds selected for displaying aggressive behaviours was trained over three sessions to endorse benign rather than hostile attributions in response to ambiguous social scenarios. Results: Compared to a test-retest control group (n = 18), children receiving CBM-I (n = 16) were less likely to endorse hostile attributions and more likely to endorse benign attributions in response to a new set of ambiguous social situations. Furthermore, aggressive behaviour scores reduced more in the trained group than in the untrained controls. Children who received attribution training also reported less perceived anger and showed a trend to report more self-control than those in the control group. Conclusions: Implications of these findings are discussed.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common and debilitating consequence of natural disaster in children and adolescents. Accumulating data show that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for PTSD. However, application of CBT in a large-scale disaster in a setting with limited resources, such as when the tsunami hit several Asian countries in 2004, poses a major problem. Aims: This randomized controlled trial aimed to test for the efficacy of the modified version of CBT for children and adolescents with PSTD. Method: Thirty-six children (aged 10–15 years) who had been diagnosed with PSTD 4 years after the tsunami were randomly allocated to either CBT or wait list. CBT was delivered in 3-day, 2-hour-daily, group format followed by 1-month posttreatment self-monitoring and daily homework. Results: Compared to the wait list, participants who received CBT demonstrated significantly greater improvement in symptoms of PTSD at 1-month follow-up, although no significant improvement was observed when the measures were done immediately posttreatment. Conclusions: Brief, group CBT is an effective treatment for PTSD in children and adolescents when delivered in conjunction with posttreatment self-monitoring and daily homework.

Background: Previous meta-analyses of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for children and young people with anxiety disorders have not considered the efficacy of transdiagnostic CBT for the remission of childhood anxiety. Aim: To provide a meta-analysis on the efficacy of transdiagnostic CBT for children and young people with anxiety disorders. Methods: The analysis included randomized controlled trials using transdiagnostic CBT for children and young people formally diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. An electronic search was conducted using the following databases: ASSIA, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Current Controlled Trials, Medline, PsycArticles, PsychInfo, and Web of Knowledge. The search terms included “anxiety disorder(s)”, “anxi*”, “cognitive behavio*, “CBT”, “child*”, “children”, “paediatric”, “adolescent(s)”, “adolescence”, “youth” and “young pe*”. The studies identified from this search were screened against the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and 20 studies were identified as appropriate for inclusion in the current meta-analysis. Pre- and posttreatment (or control period) data were used for analysis. Results: Findings indicated significantly greater odds of anxiety remission from pre- to posttreatment for those engaged in the transdiagnostic CBT intervention compared with those in the control group, with children in the treatment condition 9.15 times more likely to recover from their anxiety diagnosis than children in the control group. Risk of bias was not correlated with study effect sizes. Conclusions: Transdiagnostic CBT seems effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety in children and young people. Further research is required to investigate the efficacy of CBT for children under the age of 6.

Background: Depression is frequently characterized by patterns of inflexible, maladaptive, and ruminative thinking styles, which are thought to result from a combination of decreased attentional control, decreased executive functioning, and increased negative affect. Cognitive Control Training (CCT) uses computer-based behavioral exercises with the aim of strengthening cognitive and emotional functions. A previous study found that severely depressed participants who received CCT exhibited reduced negative affect and rumination as well as improved concentration. Aims: The present study aimed to extend this line of research by employing a more stringent control group and testing the efficacy of three sessions of CCT over a 2-week period in a community population with depressed mood. Method: Forty-eight participants with high Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) scores were randomized to CCT or a comparison condition (Peripheral Vision Training; PVT). Results: Significant large effect sizes favoring CCT over PVT were found on the BDI-II (d = 0.73, p < .05) indicating CCT was effective in reducing negative mood. Additionally, correlations showed significant relationships between CCT performance (indicating ability to focus attention on CCT) and state affect ratings. Conclusions: Our results suggest that CCT is effective in altering depressed mood, although it may be specific to select mood dimensions.

Background: Case formulation (CF) is considered a core component of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Despite this, few studies have explored the content and quality of CFs in routine practice and any associated impact on treatment outcome. Aims: This study investigated (1) the content, timing and quality of CF for patients (N = 29) with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; (2) the impact of CF on symptoms, distress and therapeutic alliance; and (3) the relationship between CF quality and treatment outcome. Method: CF content and quality were assessed from audiotapes of routine CBT sessions using a validated coding manual and evaluated against treatment outcomes at different stages of therapy. Results: CFs were developed early during treatment and contained strong behavioural and cognitive components, with a focus on symptoms and maintaining factors. CF quality ratings ranged from rudimentary to excellent. A significant improvement in distress and the therapeutic alliance occurred following the introduction of CF, but no significant relationship was found between CF quality and outcome at any stage of treatment. Conclusion: CF may be valuable in reducing patient attrition, due to its impact early in treatment. Further research is needed to explore the most important components of CF. Theoretically sound and disorder specific measurement tools for evaluating CFs are required.

Background: The cognitive model suggests memory biases for weight/shape and food related information could be important in the maintenance of eating disorders. Aims: The current study aims to evaluate this and extend previous research by (a) including females with eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) as a discreet group; (b) considering whether levels of hunger and the pleasantness of the stimulus words are important in word recall. Method: The study includes three groups of females, 16 with bulimia nervosa, 18 with EDNOS and 17 non-dieting general population controls. All participants completed a self-referential encoding and memory recall task. Results: A main effect of word type (p < .01) with no group by word type interaction or between group difference was found. A priori contrasts indicated that both eating disorder groups recalled significantly more weight/shape and food words compared to all other word categories (p < .01) compared to the control group; with no significant difference found between the eating disorder groups. In relation to the recall of food words, no significant differences were found between groups for levels of hunger. Both eating disorder groups rated the negative weight/shape (p < .01), negative food (p < .01) and neutral body words (p < .01) as more unpleasant than the control group. Conclusions: The implications for cognitive theory and future research are discussed.

Background: Preliminary research has indicated that general facets of metacognition are associated with problem gambling. In the present study we aimed to investigate whether specific facets of metacognition play a role in explaining gambling initiation and perseveration in individuals presenting with gambling disorder. Aim: To investigate: (1) the presence of metacognitive beliefs about gambling; (2) the goal of gambling, and its start and stop signals; and (3) the perceived impact of gambling on self-consciousness. Method: Ten individuals with a diagnosis of gambling disorder were assessed using metacognitive profiling, a semi-structured interview. Results: Findings indicated that all participants endorsed both positive and negative metacognitive beliefs about gambling. The primary goal of gambling was to relieve economic hardship and improve cognitive-emotional state. All participants reported that they did not know when this goal was achieved. Start signals for gambling included the ideas and feelings that gambling could solve problems and sensations that it might be the right time to win. The stop signal for gambling, for all participants, was running out of money. All participants also reported a perceived reduction in self-consciousness during a gambling episode. Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary evidence that specific facets of metacognition play a role in gambling disorder.

Background: One of the most common interpersonal reactions to threat and anxiety is to seek reassurance from a trusted person. The Reassurance Seeking Questionnaire (ReSQ) measures several key aspects of reassurance seeking behaviour, including frequency, trust of sources, intensity, carefulness, and the emotional consequences of reassurance seeking. Aims: The current study compares patterns and consequences of reassurance seeking in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression. Method: ReSQ scores were compared for three groups: 32 individuals with OCD, 17 individuals with depression, and 24 healthy comparison participants. Results: We found that individuals with OCD tended to seek reassurance more intensely and employ self-reassurance more frequently than individuals with depression or healthy participants, and that if reassurance was not provided, they tended to feel a greater urge to seek additional reassurance. Conclusions: This study is the first to quantitatively elucidate differences in reassurance seeking between OCD and depression.