The current study examined whether a traditional exposure-based treatment for blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia would be effective at reducing disgust responses to BII stimuli and whether the addition of modules targeting disgust would provide incremental efficacy. Participants, many of whom reported subclinical BII phobia symptoms, underwent one of two single-session exposure protocols, one targeting fear alone, and the other targeting both fear and disgust. Both treatments consisted of education components (fear-only or fear-disgust) and in vivo exposure (fear-only or fear-disgust). Both the fear-only and the fear-disgust treatment groups significantly decreased fear and avoidance behaviour toward BII stimuli over time. The two groups also experienced similar reductions in disgust responses to BII-related stimuli and global as well as domain-specific disgust sensitivity. The effect sizes indicated that the fear-disgust group evidenced greater reduction in symptoms than did the fear-only group. The implications of the results for models of phobia maintenance and treatment are discussed.

The present study investigated whether MI is a mechanism for change in the treatment of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). The Magical Ideation scale (MI), the Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory — Short Version (OCI-SV) and the Padua Inventory were completed by 34 obsessive–compulsive patients pre- and post cognitive–behavioural treatment. Treatment did not target magical styles of thinking. Significant improvements on all three measures of obsessive–compulsive symptoms were demonstrated by t tests over the course of treatment. Improvement in magical thinking was also shown to be significant in t test results. In support of the hypothesis, correlations between MI improvement and improvement on the obsessive–compulsive symptom scales were significant (at a level of .05) suggesting that there is an association between improvement in magical thinking and improvement in obsessive–compulsive symptoms. Notably, a significant negative correlation was obtained between prescores on MI and change scores on the OCD measures. This suggests that high levels of MI are associated with high levels of treatment intractability. High MI appears to be a poor prognostic factor in OCD.

The research investigated the effect of mindfulness meditation on the emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. Additionally, we explored whether people with varying severity of depression, anxiety, and stress responded differently to mindfulness training. In order to investigate these questions, participants (n = 50) completed the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, 21-item version (DASS-21) before and after a 10-week mindfulness meditation program. As predicted, the severity levels of all affective measures have decreased by the end of the meditation course. Participants with severe emotional difficulties at the time of commencing the meditation course demonstrated the most notable improvement over time. These results suggest that mindfulness training is beneficial in reducing the symptoms of subclinical depression and anxiety and can substantially reduce stress. Attentional retraining and self-management aspects of mindfulness meditation, as well as relevant methodological issues are discussed.

Thought–action fusion (TAF) refers to the belief that thoughts and actions are linked. While ‘Moral’ TAF refers to the belief that unacceptable thoughts are morally equivalent to overt actions, ‘Likelihood’ TAF is the belief that certain thoughts can increase the probability of some events (related to self or others) to occur. The objective of this study was to compare the schizophrenic patients with nonclinical controls in terms of TAF Likelihood and TAF Moral after controlling for the effects of obsessive compulsive and depressive symptoms, magical ideation and schizotypy. The sample was composed of patients hospitalised for schizophrenia (n = 45) and nonclinical control subjects (n = 41). Thought–Action Fusion Scale, Maudsley Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory, Magical Ideation Scale, Schizotypal Personality Characteristics Subscale and Beck Depression Inventory were administered. Results revealed that after controlling the effects of obsessive–compulsive and depressive symptoms, magical ideation and schizotypy, patients still had higher scores on TAF Likelihood Others but not on Self. Patients also had a tendency to get higher scores on TAF Moral. It is concluded that the study shows the presence of TAF Likelihood Others in schizophrenia even after controlling for the effects of magical ideation, depressive and OCD symptoms and schizotypal characteristics.

This study aimed to examine the critical roles of exercising and body image satisfaction on social physique anxiety (SPA) among female university students. For this aim, 118 female university students, 58 of whom exercised regularly, participated in the study. The Social Physique Anxiety Scale, Eating Attitudes Test, and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale were administered to the participants; their dieting habits were also investigated. Results revealed that approximately half of the participants used at least one unhealthy weight control method in the past 6 months. An analysis of covariance indicated that, after controlling for the effects of abnormal eating behavior, participants who were dissatisfied with their body image and did not participate in a regular exercise activity experienced higher social physique anxiety. However, such a tendency was not found for social anxiety. Thus, these characteristics seem to be specific to social physique anxiety. It was concluded that individuals who have negative view of their appearance were more prone to experience SPA, and they might be avoiding exercise for self presentational purposes. Findings were discussed in the light of literature.