The aim of this study was to compare the trauma sensitive beliefs of individuals who had never experienced an assault with the preassault and postassault beliefs of assault victims. Seventy-two individuals who had never experienced an assault completed a questionnaire designed to assess trauma sensitive beliefs (including beliefs about self-worth, safety and the trustworthiness of others). The beliefs of this group were then compared with the preassault and postassault beliefs of assault victims with persistent PTSD and assault victims who had never experienced PTSD, recruited for previous studies (Dunmore, Clark, & Ehlers, 1999, 2001). Results showed that victims who did not develop PTSD following assault reported significantly more positive preassault beliefs in comparison with those who had never been assaulted. The postassault beliefs of the persistent PTSD group were significantly more negative than the beliefs of the never assaulted group and the no PTSD assault group. Findings support evidence that suggests a relationship between negative beliefs after assault and the development of PTSD. In addition, positive preassault beliefs might play a “buffering” role, minimizing the impact of assault for those assault victims who do not subsequently develop PTSD.

The present study investigated the role of cognitive processes in the maintenance of clinically significant sleep disturbance across two cultures. A questionnaire was administered to 60 Japanese and 60 English university students to assess the presence of sleep disturbance, predominance of pre-sleep cognitive activity, use of thought management strategies to control pre-sleep cognitive activity, and the content of pre-sleep cognitive activity. The results indicated that across both cultures poor sleepers attributed their sleep disturbance to the presence of uncontrollable pre-sleep cognitive activity. Minor differences between the Japanese and English samples included the strategies employed to control pre-sleep cognitive activity. The English participants were more likely to engage in reappraisal whereas the Japanese sample were more likely to engage in punishment and worry. These results are suggestive of the cross-cultural applicability of cognitive models of insomnia.

Inconsistent results have emerged in thought suppression studies using thought frequency counts as the primary dependent measure. In the present study, we used cognitive and emotional measures to assess the effects of suppressing negative self-referent and neutral thoughts. Although no between-group differences in cognitive outcomes emerged, participants in the negative self-referent thought condition experienced more anxiety, frustration, and hostility than did participants in the neutral thought condition. Affective measures appear necessary to assess the effects of suppressing personally relevant thoughts.

There is a substantial literature reporting the co-occurrence of maternal depression and child behaviour problems. Behavioural interventions have proven efficacy in the treatment of conduct problems, and a number of studies have reported gains in parental mental health following parent training. The mechanisms by which this is achieved are not clear, but it is likely that interventions that include parent training in observation skills and exposure to success will impact on both the child's conduct problems and maternal depression. This paper reports on the outcomes of two treatments for children with severely disruptive behaviour, the standard treatment offered by a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, and an intensive parent training intervention. It was predicted that the more specific skills training in the intensive treatment would make improvements in maternal health and child behaviour more likely. Significant overall improvements were found in measures of child behaviour, parental practices and maternal mental health. A correlation emerged between the improved child behaviour and the improved parenting strategies. Significant improvements for the intensive treatment group were seen on every measure. Significant improvement in the measure of maternal mental health contrasted with little change for the standard treatment group.

The growing interest in the use of cognitive behaviour therapy with children and young people has been encouraged by emerging evidence suggesting that CBT is effective with a wide range of child disorders. Typically, models and techniques developed for work with adults have been extended downwards and applied to children. This review questions the appropriateness of this approach and selectively identifies a number of key issues that need to be addressed. The absence of developmentally appropriate theoretical models to understand the onset and maintenance of maladaptive cognitive processes in children is highlighted. This lack of a coherent theoretical framework has led to a proliferation of diverse interventions falling under the general umbrella of cognitive behaviour therapy with the predominant emphasis being behavioural, rather than cognitive. Developmental factors, the nature, extent and type of cognitive processes in children and the important role of the parent in the onset and treatment of childhood problems have received comparatively little attention. There is a need to understand more about the cognitive processes of children and young people and to develop robust and testable developmentally appropriate theoretical models. In turn this will begin to address the question of which specific cognitive behaviour therapy programmes are effective for which childhood problems.

The historical origins of the case formulation approach to assessment and treatment are described and its role in clinical practice and research discussed. It is argued that treatment based on individual case formulations should not be precluded from clinical trials. The empirical evidence for the reliability and efficacy of case formulation is reviewed. The evidence that an idiosyncratic case formulation approach to treatment has any advantage over a standard protocol is equivocal; however, the studies that have been carried out are under powered and potentially suffer from a Type II error. The standard procedure for case formulation is briefly described and the argument advanced that this method of clinical assessment should be soundly based upon empirical evidence and hypothesis testing and not on speculation. Three modifications are suggested to the current practice of case formulation. These are: 1) the conceptualization of dysfunctional systems in the maintenance of clinical problems; 2) the historical background of a clinical problem should be described in terms of vulnerabilities and epidemiological evidence-base; and 3) the pivotal role of social behaviour and context should be emphasized and accommodated in a formulation. The advantages of a case formulation, in providing an understanding of the maintenance of clinical problems, in providing an integrated approach to intervention are outlined.

Recently, several RCTs have provided preliminary evidence that cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is effective in the treatment of people suffering from schizophrenia. However, none of these trials has provided complete demonstrations of therapist adherence. Since no suitable scale existed already, the authors devised the Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis Adherence Scale (CTPAS). The main aim of the present research was to test whether the 12 items of this scale could be rated reliably. Ratings were made on 29 sessions of CBT for schizophrenia by two raters independently and their agreement was found to be at least adequate on 10 of the items of the CTPAS. Ratings were also made on relevant items of the Collaborative Study Psychotherapy Rating Scale and agreement was found to be more than adequate for three factor-based subscales derived from these items. The results suggest therapist adherence to CBT for psychosis can be rated reliably and that the CTPAS is likely to be useful in future research on this form of treatment.

We conducted a pilot group intervention for negative symptoms, particularly targeting avolition/apathy. A baseline control design was used. Six patients were recruited, and four completed the group. The main inclusion criteria were clinically significant negative symptoms, plus associated distress and concern. The group involved 16 sessions, which were cognitive behavioural in approach. The main outcome measures were the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, and the Subject Experience of Negative Symptoms Scale. Patients showed a reduction in avolition/apathy, and two patients reported reduced distress. These preliminary results suggest that group CBT is a possible intervention for negative symptoms.

This case study deals with the effect of treatment of social phobia on psychotic symptoms in a patient with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Stress vulnerability models were used to provide a rationale for treatment. The phobia was treated using standard CBT techniques while the therapist avoided any direct treatment of the psychotic symptoms. Scores for social phobia reduced to a sub clinical level over the course of treatment and the psychotic symptoms rapidly abated. Although only a single case study and therefore impossible to generalize to a wider patient group the study would seem to suggest that treatment of comorbid anxiety disorders can effect psychotic symptoms. Some thoughts are presented as to why this might be the case.

The present study sought to clarify the role of cognitive change in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) by examining the relationship between depression outcome and changes to automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes at different points of therapy. Thirty patients suffering from Major Depression (MDD) or Dysthymia attended the 12 sessions of a group CBT program. Multiple regressions found total scores on the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) and cumulative change scores on the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS) to predict scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) at later stages of therapy, though neither form of cognition was predictive from earlier stages of therapy. Only scores on the ATQ were significantly related to both cognitive and somatic subscales of the BDI, indicating that automatic thoughts are more directly related to cognitive change than dysfunctional attitudes. Overall findings suggest that significant reductions in both automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes are related to non-clinical levels of depressive symptoms at the end of the treatment.

The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the relative effectiveness of two approaches to staff training. Multidisciplinary mental health staff, receiving a standard training programme (N = 45), were compared on multiple measures with an experimental group (N = 11), receiving a programme featuring a “relapse prevention” module. This module was designed to improve the transfer of the training. The staff receiving the relapse prevention module reported significantly greater generalization of the training. Participant variables, the delivery of the training and work environment factors did not appear to explain this favourable finding. It is concluded tentatively that a relapse prevention module shows promise as a facilitator of the transfer of training in psychosocial interventions for severe mental illness.

A cognitive perspective of cognitive therapy training stress disorder (CTTSD) is presented. The authors present a cognitive model of CTTSD, preliminary data from randomized treatment trials, and discuss implications for effective treatment of CTTSD trainees.

Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy is an international multi disciplinary journal for the publication of original research, of an experimental or clinical nature, that contributes to the theory, practice and evaluation of behaviour therapy. As such, the scope of the journal is very broad and articles relevant to most areas of human behaviour and human experience, that would be of interest to members of the helping and teaching professions, will be considered for publication.

As an applied science, the concepts, methodology and techniques of cognitive and behavioural psychotherapy continue to change. The journal seeks both to reflect and to influence these changes.

While the emphasis is placed on empirical research, articles concerned with important theoretical and methodological issues as well as evaluative reviews of the cognitive and behavioural literature are also published. In addition, given the emphasis of cognitive and behavioural therapy on the experimental investigation of the single case, the Clinical Section of the journal publishes case studies using single case experimental designs. For the majority of designs this should include a baseline period with repeated measures; in all instances the nature of the quantitative data and the intervention must be clearly specified. Exceptionally, the journal will consider case studies where, although the interventions have not been experimentally evaluated, the treatment approach and/or problem dealt with is considered to be of particular importance and clear indicators of change are provided. Other types of case report can be submitted for the Brief Clinical Reports section.