Child sexual abuse is a prevalent form of child maltreatment that frequently occasions severe disturbance including posttraumatic stress disorder. This review focuses on recent cognitive-behavioural treatment initiatives designed specifically for sexually abused children, and the extent to which they are empirically supported. Our review draws on case studies, open clinical trials, multiple baseline investigations and randomized clinical trials. At first glance, the research findings are encouraging for the efficacy and acceptability of cognitive-behaviour therapy. However, more conservative conclusions are reached when stringent criteria are applied regarding evidentiary support for psychosocial interventions. Directions for future research are also explored.

The study was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 29 women with a recent experience of coping with excessive drinking in a male partner. A number of cognitive and environmental factors were studied to determine the extent to which they predicted coping style and psychological well-being in this group. Results of multiple regression analysis indicated that “engaged” coping (characterized by attempts to change the drinker) was best predicted by a single cognitive variable (self-demands). In contrast, “tolerant” coping was best predicted by a combination of participant’s beliefs about their ability to withdraw from the drinker and the degree of drink-related hardship experienced within the family. “Withdrawal” coping, characterized by avoidant and independent behaviours by the women, was best predicted by a combination of beliefs about the necessity of withdrawal and the duration of time the participants had been coping with the excessive drinking. Finally, psychological well-being was best predicted by a single environmental variable (the degree of hardship caused by the drinking). A number of significant correlations were found to exist between the predictor and criterion variables and are discussed. Limitations of the study and clinical implications of the findings are examined.

This study explored whether obsessive-compulsive (OC) and depressive phenomena share common cognitive personality vulnerabilities. Specifically, the study examined the relationship of OC phenomena to sociotropy, autonomy and aspects of perfectionism, which traditionally have been associated with depression. A non-clinical sample of 152 subjects, mostly undergraduate university students, completed four questionnaires. Results indicated a significant relationship between depression and OC variables, with both relating significantly to autonomy, sociotropy and socially prescribed perfectionism. Correlations between OC phenomena and these cognitive personality styles were still significant after controlling for depression. Sociotropy and socially prescribed perfectionism predicted unique OC variance. Depression also predicted unique OC variance, controlling for the cognitive personality styles. It was concluded that OC and depressive phenomena share vulnerability centred on desires for approval. It was also recognized that depression-specific processes account for some of the covariability between depression and OC phenomena. Therefore, it was suggested that treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder may improve by attending to the reduction of depressive phenomena and to the modification of beliefs related to social-approval.

Dementia is characterized by a decline in cognitive abilities that is sufficient to impair functioning in daily living. There are a number of forms of dementia (Alzheimer’s, vascular, Lewy body, etc), each with its own cognitive profile and developmental course. The present paper deals with the progressive dementias, such as Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (DAT). The cognitive deterioration associated with advanced DAT is often accompanied by a decline in emotional control, social behaviour and motivation. The paper focuses particularly on the emotional features of the disorder, because this issue has a profound impact on both the sufferer and carer. A framework for conceptualizing anxiety is presented, and a model of how this conceptualization can be used effectively within a carer’s training programme is discussed.

This study examined in detail the psychobiological correlates of panic attacks experienced in panic disorder with agoraphobia. The cognitions, affect, and physiology of the six patients were monitored during in vivo exposure to their phobic situations. The results from these case studies showed that catastrophic cognitions are the key component of panic attacks. However, there was no clear-cut evidence to support an interaction among cognitions, affect, and physiology, which has been postulated by cognitive theories to be the central component of panic attacks and panic disorder with agoraphobia.

A five session cognitive behavioural treatment of an injection phobia is described, in which the patient’s dysfunctional attitudes about not being able to control events played a central role. The extreme negative meaning of the phobic situation was explored, and then the patient was asked to say when in her life she could first remember having those types of thoughts and emotions. This helped her to understand some of the origins of her fear, and then to transform the negative meaning into a more realistic positive one. The “Stress-In-Dynamic-Context” model of acquisition of phobias was used to understand factors other than simple pairing of stimuli that might have been involved in the triggering of her phobia.

Twenty participants self-referred from the general population as experiencing depersonalization were interviewed to determine the qualities of the experience and possible pathology. The participants and control group were also administered a battery of questionnaires measuring different aspects of psychopathology. There were no consistent diagnostic associations with depersonalization. In the majority of cases, onset was reported after a traumatic life event, or after sexual abuse or after giving birth. The most frequent experiences were related to derealization and participants did not score high on dissociation in general. The most common strategy to alleviate the problem was concentrating on a task. We distinguish between those clients who viewed the experience as a loss of or less than normal sensation, which we qualified as negative symptoms and others who evaluated the experience as an addition to their usual perceptions and sensations, which we qualified as positive symptoms.

Nagy Bishay was born in 1936 in Cairo, Egypt, the eldest son of a lawyer. He decided to pursue a medical career and after his medical training in Cairo, he joined the army as a general practitioner and soon pursued his interest in psychological medicine and gained its diploma. He practised psychiatry in 1965 in different military hospitals, was particularly interested in military psychiatry during the 1967 war, and wrote his MD thesis on the study of hysterical fits among young adult males under the stress of military service.

He came to England in 1975, seeking to further his experience and training and in pursuit of improving his therapeutic skills. He trained as a senior registrar in psychiatry in the West Midlands Regional Health Authority and took up his post as consultant psychiatrist at the North Manchester General Hospital in 1980. He had an initial interest in psychoanalysis and group analytic psychotherapy, then was introduced to cognitive therapy in 1982, a tool he continued to develop and use with passion for the remainder of his years.