Our field continues to grow and develop rapidly, not only in terms of the theory and research that underpins our clinical work but also in the breadth and richness of the clinical skills that allow us to apply this knowledge in ways that empower those who seek help from us. Recent submissions to this journal are testament to the growing technology evolving around issues such as training and supervision. The pace of development of the basic and applied science that underpins the work of CBT practitioners is unparalleled. The BABCP and this journal have contributed to and influenced these developments; we need to continue to do so.

A self-directed variant of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) was evaluated using 63 preschool-age children at-risk of developing conduct problems. Families were randomly assigned to either Self-directed Triple P (SD), a self-administered behavioural family intervention program, or a waitlist group (WL). The 10-unit SD program teaches parents 17 parenting skills to increase pro-social child behaviours and decrease problem behaviours in home and community settings. Using mothers' reports of child behaviour and parenting practices, mothers in the SD group reported significantly less child behaviour problems, less use of dysfunctional discipline strategies, and greater parenting competence than mothers in the WL group. On measures of parental adjustment, there was no significant difference in conditions at post-intervention based on mothers' reports of depression, anxiety, stress and conflict with partners over parenting issues. Mothers' reports at 6-month follow-up indicated that gains in child behaviour and parenting practices achieved at post-intervention were maintained.

There is increasing evidence that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is efficacious in treating psychosis. However, very little attention has been paid to the nature of the control treatments used in studies of this. Befriending has been used as a control treatment in several randomized control trials (RCTs) of CBT for psychosis as it is simple to learn and administer. The aim of the present study was to examine whether Befriending controlled for important non-specific aspects of therapy when compared to CBT in a RCT for acute first episode psychosis (FEP). These non-specific factors included time in, expectancy created by, and acceptability of therapy. Expectations and enjoyment of therapy were measured by questionnaire. Time in therapy and the number of drop-outs were also recorded. Results showed that Befriending was comparable to CBT on measures of expectancy, enjoyment of therapy and drop-out rate, but significantly different with regard to time in therapy. This suggests that Befriending is a credible and acceptable control therapy for FEP with modification to increase time in therapy sessions. Methodological issues are raised, and suggestions for future research are made regarding control treatments.

People with Asperger syndrome (AS) appear to have higher than expected rates of co-morbid psychiatric disorder. The main co-morbid diagnoses are anxiety disorders and depression, but eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, substance abuse and bipolar affective disorder have all been reported. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is used effectively to treat these conditions, so could it be used in people who also have Asperger syndrome? This paper reviews important components and characteristics of cognitive behaviour therapy in relation to its use with people who have Asperger syndrome with reference to the relevant literature and to feedback from people with AS. The use of CBT in people with Asperger syndrome appears promising, but further work is needed to evaluate its effectiveness and to examine which particular aspects of therapy are helpful.

The experience of stigma by individuals with schizophrenia can impact on self-esteem and potential for recovery. Previous attempts to reduce stigma within society have reported variable success. The present study aimed to formulate and evaluate a therapeutic intervention for those who perceive themselves as stigmatized by their mental illness and who suffer low self-esteem. A waiting-list control design with repeated measures within participants was used. Treatment efficacy was evaluated by a principal outcome measure of self-esteem. Ancillary outcome measures included a measure of perceived stigmatization, and two symptom measures. Assessments were completed on four occasions, which covered a waiting list period, a treatment period and a follow-up. All participants (N = 21) received group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) focused on stigma and self-esteem. Self-esteem improved significantly following treatment. Levels of depression, positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and general levels of psychopathology decreased significantly. A longer-term effect was found for positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and general levels of psychopathology. Participant feedback was predominantly positive. In addition to societal interventions, the potential for limiting the effects of stigma within a therapeutic context should be investigated.

Dissociation often occurs after a traumatic experience and has detrimental effects on memory. If these supposed detrimental effects are the result of disturbances in information processing, not only subjectively assessed but also objectively assessed memory disturbances should be observed. Most studies assessing dissociation and memory in the context of trauma have studied trauma victims. However, this study takes a new approach in that the impact of experimentally induced state dissociation on memory is investigated in people with spider phobia. Note that the aim of the present study was not to test the effect of trauma on memory disturbances. We found indeed significant relations between state dissociation and subjectively assessed memory disturbances: intrusions and self-rated memory fragmentation. Moreover, although no relation was found between state dissociation and experimenter-rated memory fragmentation, we observed a relation between state dissociation and experimenter-rated perceptual memory representations. These results show that state dissociation indeed has detrimental effects on the processing of aversive events.

Acute stress disorder (ASD) is purportedly characterized by impaired encoding of aversive material. In this study ASD, trauma-exposed non-ASD, and non-traumatized control participants (N = 45) were administered intermixed presentations of either distressing (i.e. disfigured) or neutral faces. For each presentation, two words were presented centrally to the image and two were presented peripherally. Participants were subsequently administered recall and recognition tests for the presented words. Participants recalled more words presented centrally to neutral images than those presented centrally to trauma images. Dissociative tendencies were negatively correlated with recognition of words centrally presented with distressing stimuli. These findings are consistent with the proposal that dissociative reactions are associated with impaired memory for distress-related information.

This study investigated the relationship of hyperarousal and dissociation in acute stress disorder (ASD). Civilian trauma survivors with ASD (n = 17) and without ASD (n = 15) and non-traumatized controls (n = 14) completed a hyperventilation provocation test and were administered the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire, the Physical Reactions Scale, and the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire. Individuals with ASD demonstrated more panic, dissociation, and maladaptive interpretations about their arousal during the hyperventilation than non-ASD or control participants. Dissociation was associated with anxiety sensitivity and peritraumatic panic attacks. These findings suggest that hyperarousal and dissociation are highly associated in ASD and that catastrophic attributions may play a mediating role in this relationship.

Magical Ideation was examined in 71 individuals across four groups matched, where possible, for gender and age. These groups were: (1) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients with cleaning compulsions (n = 11); (2) OCD patients with checking compulsions (n = 20); (3) panic disorder patients with minimal obsessive compulsive symptoms (n = 19); (4) a “normal” control group with minimal obsessive compulsive symptoms (n = 21). The Magical Ideation Scale (MI, Eckblad and Chapman, 1983), the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory- Short Version (OCI-SV; Foa et al., 2002) and the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI, Hodgson and Rachman, 1977) were administered to all participants. A one-way Anova was conducted with four planned contrasts. As expected, the OCD groups obtained magical ideation scores higher than the normal subjects. This suggests that OCD patients engage in more magical thinking tendencies than non-anxious controls. Similarly, OCD participants obtained a mean magical ideation score significantly higher than the panic disorder group, suggesting that obsessional compulsive patients are more likely to exhibit magical thinking than individuals with panic disorder. Of note, panic disorder and control group means on MI did not differ significantly. Finally, individuals with obsessive cleaning compulsions displayed higher levels of magical thinking compared to individuals with obsessive checking compulsions, despite no difference in severity of their obsessive compulsive symptoms. This observation was counter to previous findings (Einstein and Menzies, 2004a; Einstein and Menzies, 2004b).

To study the role of catastrophic interpersonal cognitions in panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, a questionnaire listing such items – the Interpersonal Panic Fear Questionnaire (IPFQ) – was constructed and administered to English and Norwegian samples. The results of the factor analysis indicated a three-factor structure of interpersonal fears: fear of negative evaluation, fear of being trapped and separated from safe persons and places, and fear of being neglected. The corresponding three IPFQ scales had satisfactory internal consistency and sensitivity to change following therapeutic intervention, discriminated well between diagnostic groups, and correlated moderately with measures of other dimensions of panic disorder and agoraphobia. The construct validity of the interpersonal fears was further supported by mostly significant relationships between the IPFQ scales and a measure of agoraphobic avoidance, when the contribution of intrapersonal (physical, loss of control) fears was controlled.

Beliefs about auditory hallucinations have been found to influence voice hearers' behavioural and emotional reactions to the hallucinations. It is currently unknown however, how these beliefs change over time in the absence of psychological intervention or if they remain stable, and how such changes may be related to changes in other symptoms. This study aimed to expand on previous research by exploring the beliefs of voice hearers concerning the malevolence or benevolence of voices in a longitudinal design. Forty-six individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were assessed with the PANSS, the HAD, and an interview exploring hallucinatory experiences and beliefs about hallucinations over a period of 6 months. General psychopathology and the severity and frequency of hallucinations were found to improve. Voice hearers' beliefs about their voices, however, remained stable. Beliefs do not appear to change without a specific intervention aimed at them and may indeed serve as vulnerability factors. These findings can be interpreted to imply that psychological interventions aimed at modifying such beliefs, such as CBT, might be a necessary component of the treatment of auditory hallucinations.

Food neophobia is a specific phobia of trying new foods. Its treatment in adults has been rarely described. The only paper that related a therapeutic intervention for food neophobia in adults reported a time-consuming effort for both clients and several staff involved. This paper provides a case example of using solution focused brief therapy questioning techniques to facilitate the process of change in a young adult with this diagnosis. It aims to explain how solution focused techniques can be used and in what way those techniques differ from more traditional cognitive-behavioural therapy approaches.