The objective of this review is to summarise the evidence for mindfulness and acceptance approaches in the treatment of adolescent depression. The article begins by summarising the outcomes of three broad approaches to the treatment of adolescent depression — primary prevention, pharmacotherapy, and psychotherapy — in order to advocate for advances in treatment. With regard to psychotherapy, we restrict this to comparisons of meta-analytic studies, in order to cover the breadth of the outcome literature. In the second half of this article, we introduce the reader to mindfulness and acceptance-based psychotherapy, with a particular focus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and the applicability with adolescents. We provide an overview of the philosophical arguments that underlie this approach to psychotherapy and consider how each of these might contribute to treatment approaches for adolescents with depression.

A variety of cues have been proven to elicit reactivity in nicotine-dependent individuals. Since such reactivity has been shown to form a source of relapse, treatments aim at extinguishing this reactivity. Yet, typically, in cue-exposure treatments a very limited range of relevant stimuli is used, usually focusing only on proximal stimuli (e.g., a cigarette) rather than on contextual cues that trigger craving (e.g., a bar). The restriction to proximal cues may be one of the reasons for the low efficacy of cue-exposure treatments. In the current pilot study (N = 88), we aimed to evaluate the effect on relapse rates of exposure to contextual cues prior to quitting smoking, by varying the degree of exposure/extinction to habitual smoking contexts prior to quitting between groups. Results suggest that context exposure prior to smoking cessation indeed reduces relapse. However, since dropout rates were high, this finding needs replication with a larger sample.

Background: The pervasive tendency to avoid perceived risks has been recently implicated in the maintenance of anxiety pathology, and more specifically, social phobia. Social anxiety symptoms are thus hypothesised to be associated with a global risk-avoidant decision-making bias. Aim: This study investigated: (1) the relationship between risk-avoidance and social anxiety symptoms using both self-report and behavioural measures of risk-taking; and (2) whether risk-avoidance mediates the relationship between a dispositional vulnerability to anxiety (Behavioural Inhibition System [BIS] sensitivity) and social anxiety symptoms. Method: Fifty-five undergraduate students completed self-report measures assessing for social anxiety symptoms, risk-taking across various domains, and BIS sensitivity. Risk-avoidance was also assessed using a behavioural computer task. Results: As hypothesised, risk-avoidance correlated significantly with both social anxiety and BIS. Multiple regression analyses revealed that risk-avoidance served as a partial mediator between BIS and social anxiety. Conclusion: These results confirm the hypothesised relationship between BIS, risk-avoidance, and social anxiety symptoms. Risk-avoidance is one possible mechanism by which personality characteristics may be linked to anxiety pathology.

The study investigated if the degree of personality pathology among people with clinical levels of social anxiety disorder was similar to those with personality disorders more generally, if the degree of avoidant personality pathology was correlated positively with Neuroticism and negatively with Extraversion and facets of Agreeableness (particularly Trust), and finally if scores on the relevant personality dimensions improve from pre- to post-treatment. Changes in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Agreeableness were examined following group treatment for social anxiety disorder. The current study employed a within-subjects repeated-measures design (N = 25) to investigate whether these traits can be changed by group treatment for social anxiety disorder. A measure of personality disorder pathology was found to correlate positively with Neuroticism and negatively with Agreeableness in the absence of significant relationships with other Five-Factor Model traits. Treatment was associated with significant reductions in Neuroticism and there was significant improvement of the Trust facet of Agreeableness. These results are discussed in terms of the way that group treatment for Social Anxiety Disorder may be enhanced.

The general aim of this study was to examine the predictive value of both teachers' causal attributions for behavior problems and perceived efficacy for class management for forms of intervention used in the classroom and cooperations preferred in order to get help for students' problem behaviour. Primary school teachers (N = 249) were asked to rate 12 factors as the possible cause of the behaviour problem described in a vignette, and evaluate 19 statements referring to the intervention strategies they would use, as well as the cooperations they would prefer in order to respond effectively to the problem in the vignette. They also completed an 8-item questionnaire measuring perceived efficacy for class management. The teachers' responses were found to be associated with their teaching experience. Both causal attributions for behaviour problems and perceived efficacy for class management predicted specific interventions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research and teacher education.