Past research has demonstrated that anxiety disorders represent a significant mental health concern. A review of the literature in the area indicates that there is limited information regarding gender differences on the basis of cognitions in clinical or nonclinical samples. The current investigation sought to determine whether any observable gender differences existed in the expression of symptoms, cognitions, and anxiety sensitivity for a nonclinical sample of 48 males and 49 females. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed support for gender differences in the expression of physiological hyperarousal, catastrophic cognitions and a general level of anxiety sensitivity in a nonclinical population. The strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

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.

Meta-cognitive observation is a kind of cognitive activity that may serve to interrupt worry, rumination, and other kinds of sleep-interfering cognitive processes. In a pilot study, 40 individuals recorded their sleep on a sleep diary during one week (the baseline week) and were then administered a meta-cognitive observation task to use at bed-time during a second week (“the treatment week”). Consistent with the hypothesis, the participants showed a decreased sleep latency during the treatment week compared to the baseline week, and also an increased total sleep time and an improved sleep efficiency. The lack of a control group (i.e., a group who kept a sleep diary for both weeks, without any meta-cognitive observation task), however, precludes any definite conclusion with regard to the effects of the meta-cognitive observation task. It is suggested that meta-cognitive observation tasks should be tested in controlled studies.

Selecting a convenient response, and a microswitch suitable to it, is critical to successfully introduce students with multiple disabilities to a microswitch-aided programme. This study evaluated the use of a hand-tap response with a vibration microswitch with two students. Both students increased the frequency of the hand-tap response during treatment and maintained such an increase at 3-month follow-up. Procedural issues, practical implications of the findings, and measures for promoting long-term response maintenance/extensions were discussed.

Self-help approaches are popular with patients and can be effective treatments for common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression (Gould & Clum, 1993; Marrs, 1995; Scogin, Bynum, Stephens, & Calhoon, 1990; and Cuijpers, 1997). In spite of this, it is clear that a number of factors should also influence us in how we choose and use self-help materials with our patients.