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The reader of this commentary on Haley's paper by Stein will note that Stein refers to Haley as ‘the author of the critiqued paper’ or ‘ACP,’ rather than by name. This unusual style was occasioned by the Editor's decision that Stein should comment on the paper without any knowledge of its authorship, in order that the focus of Stein's comments be on the substance of that paper and that his comments not be influenced by who had written it. The admittedly somewhat awkward references to ‘ACP’ have been retained in Stein's comments in order to make that point clear-Ed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Analytical Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Over the last several decades single session psychotherapy has become a mainstream psychotherapeutic approach. A steadily increasing demand for psychotherapeutic services and a continuous reduction in mental health care resources worldwide are both largely responsible for this development. This paper describes single session psychotherapy and provides a brief review of the relevant literature. Single session psychotherapy delivered in walk-in settings is also discussed. Therapists who are unfamiliar with single session psychotherapy will find that this paper provides a concise introduction to the essential processes and outcomes of this psychotherapeutic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on "Reconsidering Schreber: Contemporary Perspectives," a study day held at the Severnside Institute for Psychotherapy in July 2005. Background on how the speakers reappraised Freud's paper "Psychoanalytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia" which was based on Schreber's "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness"; Highlights of the event.

Focuses on the process of selecting the papers published in the 20th anniversary issue of the journal "British Journal of Psychotherapy." List of articles published in the previous issues of the journal.

Abstract: The physical spaces in which we conduct psychotherapy are an important yet underacknowledged aspect of psychotherapeutic work. Although a few contemporary publications have provided suggestions for the creation of welcoming, comfortable, and efficient practice spaces, considerations of what it means to transform a room into a therapeutic space have remained largely absent from recent literature. This paper reviews the existing literature on this subject and describes the ways in which the therapist's office is intimately tied to several processes of the therapy itself, by way of creating an adaptive environment that is able to meet the needs of both therapist and client over the course of their work together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The concluding paper in this series provides brief reflections from a range of key individuals involved in the development and interpretation of CORE benchmarks for NHS primary care psychological therapy and counselling services. Michael Barkham firstly reflects on some of the research challenges facing the use of benchmarks derived from practice-based evidence, before acknowledging the potential for such data to help bridge the research-practice gap as we learn the best use of it. Geoff Mothersole considers similar challenges in using real world data, and explores some of the challenges that managers face in using benchmarks for improved service management practice. Barry McInnes increases the magnification in his reflective focus and looks at the juxtaposition of national guideline recommendations from evidence-based practice in contrast to those introduced by the growing practice evidence-base suggesting differential therapist effectiveness. The first of two final strategic reflective perspectives includes Richard Evans's summary of some of the hidden lessons from the benchmarking endeavour to-date, before my own personal concluding summary looking at lessons learned for the on-going strategic development of enhanced support for routine quality evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seldom is the work of philosophers invoked by health professionals when examining aspects of care from a philosophical perspective. Instead, students of health care, especially nurses, have been introduced to ‘philosophies’ which are often superficially examined and poorly understood. This practice fails to develop in students an appreciation of the work of philosophers or to acquire the art of critical thinking. The introduction of models and theories of nursing in the past three decades has alerted nurses to the importance of possessing critical skills in order to identify sound theory and implement good practice. This paper goes beyond mere philosophising and examines aspects of mental health care from the perspectives of one of nineteenth century Europe’s most notable philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche. It argues that understanding his work can enhance one’s ability to reflect on nursing practice, as well as bringing a new dimension to how we analyse ‘mental health’ problems. His work provides many insights into how we can improve our understanding of the effect of mental illness and mental health care on the individual, and how we conceptualise the process of care. This paper provides an overview of his life’s work, his impact on the history of ideas and develops some of the more provocative implications of his work for mental health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on psychotherapy published in the March 2006 issue of the "Psychotherapy and Politics International." Assumption behind the publication of the journal; Adoption of psychotherapy training in universities and colleges; Overview of the articles.

Copyright of Journal of Analytical Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents information on the application of role playing, as a research technique, in a test of Sarbin's self role congruency theory. The present study attempts to provide further confirmation of Sarbin's congruency theory, in this case within a setting analogous to psychotherapy. It was believed that by using Ss who were playing the roles of therapist and clients it would be possible to obtain information relevant to the effects of self-role congruency and incongruency in the psychotherapeutic interaction. A secondary purpose of the study was to provide data on the validity of pencil and paper tests that purport to measure role-playing aptitude. Forty nine male Ss from various undergraduate classes volunteered to role play either a therapist or a client in a half-hour role-playing session designed to simulate psychotherapy.

This article discusses the much-misunderstood Tarasoff decision that requires psychotherapists to protect third parties from patients' violent acts. Through a normative approach, the paper analyzes four important issues: what to do when potential victims are unknown; what to do about the fact that the patients' potential for violence may be incorrectly perceived; the value of warning potential victims; and, the problem of discharging potentially violent patients from the hospital. The author proposes that the courts adopt a more flexible substantial departure test in most cases that involve psychiatric negligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a family in which bulimia nervosa has been present in four children. Discussion about the possible reasons for the development of bulimia in this family includes the importance of secrecy as a boundary-making function in family systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a programme for inpatients with severe personality disorders as well as acute exacerbation of Axis II pathology. The goal of the programme was to quickly stabilize participants with respect to self-injurious behaviour and return them to the community. The programme consisted of frequent coordinated cognitive group therapy sessions with supporting written and audiovisual materials. The groups were open-ended and heterogenous, and employed educational and experiential-affective components. An extended group case example is presented in order to illustrate the operation of the programme. The range of typical participants is described, including their diagnoses, treatment plans, and homework assignments. Some comments on the personal and professional difficulties encountered by therapists working with this population ate described as well as some suggestions for alleviating those difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fairy-tales, like mythologies, can be found all over the world containing the same motif and chains of motifs. In this paper I have presented some theories on the occurrence of this archetypal phenomenon ranging from the old migration theory to Sheldrake's theory of morphogenetic fields. I have then tried to show how fairy-tale-motifs can appear in various ways in analytical therapy, often in hidden forms. We find them in patients' dreams as well as in their fantasies and associations. If the therapist is open to them they will also appear in his or her amplifications. He or she might then take note of the fairy-tale or point it out to the patient; in the latter case it might provide better access to the patient's problems and complexes as fairy-tales have an emotional completeness because of their pictorial character. Finally I have described the favourite fairy-tale of one of my patients and related it to his symptoms, his central complex and his personal ways of experiencing and behaving. This survey of how fairy-tales can be used in therapy with children and with adults far from exhaustive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the assumptions that underlie a transactional approach to psychotherapy by utilizing Bentley's ideas about the environed organism. It emphasizes that not only is interpersonal interaction significant therapeutically but the situational aspect of persons and behavior (living, working, neighborhood, and community circumstances) contribute to the process of client change and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information of various books and journals related to psychology. The paper "Notes on the psychotherapy of infantile autism" by Micheal Fordham is an account of his work and research with autism in children. "Psicologia della lettura" by Mario Trevi is a thought-provoking paper, which presents some intriguing comparisons between reading and play. The paper "Working with a family in a Child Guidance setting" by P. Parsloe and D. Howell presents therapeutic work of psychiatrist and psychiatric social worker on psychotherapy of closely interdependent immature people.

The article reports that in the field of psychotherapy, there has been practically no progress in the matter of evaluating the relative efficacy of various methods because of failure to quantify the nature and malignancy of the clinical case materials under study. Adherents of various schools of psychotherapy have made a large number of claims and counter claims which cannot be proved or disproved until the exact nature of the clinical material on which the findings are based has been established. It is the purpose of this paper to outline a method for quantifying the malignancy of case materials by the use of a rating scale which has been called the prognostic index.

This article discusses directive psychotherapy. The purpose of, this paper is to discuss the nature, indications and contraindications of methods of therapy involving pressure or coercion. Pressure is defined as the bringing to bear upon the client of stimulation tending to direct action toward specific goals. Coercion involves restraint or regulation by force, usually by law or authority, compelling or constraining the! client to comply with directions. Pressure will usually involve influences which leave ultimate responsibility for conformance up to the client himself, while coercion requires mandatory conformance.

Three variations of the multiple baseline design (MBD) have been identified in the behavioral literature: MBD across behaviors, subjects and situations. This anaylsis proposes an important variant of the MBD across behaviors, namely the MBD across exemplars. In this variant, two or more components (exemplars) of the behavior class form the baselines of the design. The implicit rule of the MBD across exemplars can be seen in several published papers in the behavioral literature. The value of recognizing this variant of the MBD across behaviors is its usefulness as an alternative experimental intervention in clinical settings where the possibility of a convincing research design might not otherwise be seen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the usefulness of reception and recall checks in the development and implementation of client pretherapy orientation procedures. Although high scores on such measures do not indicate that the ideas presented in the orientation have been fully grasped or internalized, they do demonstrate that clients have been able to attend to and, in a basic sense, to understand, or receive, the material. Retention of the information can be assessed by readministration at a later point. It is hoped that the employment of manipulation checks of this kind can facilitate the identification of processes through which orientations work.

This article focuses on psychic equivalents and the language of child psychotherapy. The therapist uses the child's own words for urine, faeces and other parts of the body, as well as for sexual intercourse, in order to communicate with him as directly as possible about his instinctual, body experiences and the fantasies around them. Therapists often deals with play, elaborating fantasies that stem from the period of infant development when fantasy and body sensations and functions are experienced as the same thing.

The article attempts to demonstrate the un-spontaneous basis for what heretofore has been termed "spontaneous" remission. Evidence is presented that a combination of favorable patient expectancies and such nonspecific professional intervention as the intake interview and psychological testing are sufficient for inducing symptomatic change in individuals waiting to participate in formal psychotherapy. Finally, it is suggested that "non-specific therapy remission" be substituted for "spontaneous remission" as a means of describing improvement in wait-list patients not participating in formal psychotherapy.

The article describes the application of a scale for the objective assessment of process or movement in psychotherapy and reports the degree of reliability and validity found in a preliminary investigation. The present scale represents a refinement of the original scale based upon further analysis and study of additional therapy protocols. It seems apparent that satisfactory interjudge reliability can be obtained in using the process scale in its present form, and that ratings derived from it bear a meaningful relationship to other measures of successful change in therapy.

Abstract: I contend that painting, like psychoanalytic psychotherapy, is an intersubjective process able to connect hearts and minds of painters and viewers alike, because the creative process of making a painting brings painters into more complex and more animated relationship with themselves. My own painting process is largely nonverbal. Interactions between me and my evolving artwork‐in‐process reveal experiences, thoughts, and feelings not yet formulated in words, and so, not available explicitly to conscious awareness until visual representation allows questions of meaning and intention to be thought about and elaborated in the usual, verbal sense. I describe how my particular painting practice provides an experiential frame for the creative process of self‐articulation that goes on in psychotherapy, as well as how the physical and mostly nonverbal dialogue experienced in the painting studio served as a source of listening attitudes and self‐regulation in my work with a patient's inhibited self‐expression and thwarted artistic ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relating therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is based upon relating theory. Relating theory is briefly compared with attachment theory and certain aspects of psychoanalysis. The interpersonal octagon (Birtchnell, 1994) represents a person's eight relating positions. People need to acquire the capability to relate effectively in each one of these. Competent relating is called positive and relating that falls short of this is called negative. Ways are described by which patients are helped to shed their negative relating and become more capable of relating positively. The Person's Relating to Others Questionnaire (Birtchnell et al., in press) measures negative relating within the eight positions of the octagon. It identifies a person's areas of negative relating and measures change in such relating over the course of psychotherapy. Interrelating therapy is an extension of relating therapy that is applicable to couples. The Couple's Relating to Each Other Questionnaires (Birtchnell et al., 2006) is a set of four questionnaires by which each of two partners can rate how s/he relates negatively to the other and how s/he considers that the other relates negatively to her/him. It is used to measure change over the course of couple therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, over half a dozen local and international humanitarian organizations have established psychosocial programs to ameliorate the suffering of victims of violence in Kashmir. Many promote nonpharmacological trauma healing, such as counseling and psychotherapy, in contrast to the pharmacological treatments preferred by state mental health services. Although anthropologists have critiqued humanitarianism for its inadequate attention to local contexts, in this article, I attempt to go beyond this critique by focusing on the locals or 'nationals' who staff these organizations. Kashmiri psychosocial workers mediate between formal, international guidelines of psychosocial treatment, on the one hand, and local understandings of biomedical efficacy and care, on the other hand. I specifically show how counselors appropriate medical and psychiatric expert practices in their everyday work, not to increase their own prestige but to make their practice more legible to their patients or clients. As such, one of the unintended effects of psychosocial programs in Kashmir is the perpetuation of a medical model of care. Rather than being caused by a lack of knowledge of the local context, however, I argue that such borrowings are central to how psychosocial practices have been vernacularized in Kashmir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract The Young People's Consultation Service (YPCS) is a four-session, self-referral, psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapeutic consultation service for young people aged between 16 and 30, at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London. Aim: It was hypothesized that clients would show an improvement on outcome measures at the end of the four sessions. It was also hoped that the data would identify characteristics of the clients who show the most benefit. Method: A review of the case-notes of all clients attending the service between January 2003 to April 2006 was carried out, and details were entered into a database, including demographic information, presenting issues and attendance. Clients were given the Youth Self-Report form (YSR) () or the Young Adult Self Report form (YASR) (), according to age, before the start of the intervention and at the end of the four sessions. Outcome data were analysed, comparing pre- and post-treatment scores on the YSR/YASR. Results: A total of 236 clients attended the service during the study period. Pre- to post-comparison data on the YSR/YASR was available for 24 clients. Of those, YSR/YASR scores reduced significantly on all subscales and severity reduced over time in all cases. In addition, there was a trend towards moving from the clinical to the non-clinical range, reaching statistical significance on the Internalizing and Total subscales. A number of YPCS clients showed both statistically significant and clinical improvement on the Internalizing and Externalizing scales of the YSR/YASR, with a greater number showing improvement on the Internalizing scale. Conclusions: Improvements were found on all subscales of the YSR/YASR at the end of the four session intervention. A greater number of clients showed improvement on the Internalizing subscale, suggesting that this form of very brief psychotherapy is most effective for clients with emotional problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Given striking advances in translational developmental neuroscience and its convergence with developmental psychopathology and developmental epidemiology, it is now clear that mental illnesses are best thought of as neurodevelopmental disorders. This simple fact has enormous implications for the nature and organization of psychotherapy for mentally ill children, adolescents and adults. Method: This article reviews the ‘trajectory’ of psychosocial interventions in pediatric psychiatry, and makes some general predictions about where this field is heading over the next several decades. Results: Driven largely by scientific advances in molecular, cellular and systems neuroscience, psychotherapy in the future will focus less on personal narratives and more on the developing brain. In place of disorders as intervention targets, modularized psychosocial treatment components derived from current cognitive-behavior therapies will target corresponding central nervous system (CNS) information processes and their functional behavioral consequences. Either preventive or rehabilitative, the goal of psychotherapy will be to promote development along typical developmental trajectories. In place of guilds, psychotherapy will be organized professionally much as physical therapy is organized today. As with other forms of increasingly personalized health care, internet-based delivery of psychotherapy will become commonplace. Conclusion: Informed by the new field of translational developmental neuroscience, psychotherapy in the future will take aim at the developing brain in a service delivery model that closely resembles the place and role of psychosocial interventions in the rest of medicine. Getting there will be, as they say, interesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A trait approach to personality has many implications for psychotherapy. Given that traits contribute to the expression of symptoms of common psychiatric disorders, are moderately heritable, and relatively stable (yet also dynamic to some extent), long-term change in symptoms is possible but is likely to be limited. Analogous to the manner in which genes set the reaction range for phenotype, standing on certain traits may set the patient's “therapeutic range.” On the other hand, some of the same traits that may limit the depth of therapeutic benefits might also increase their breadth. In addition, taking the patient's standing on different traits into account can inform the choice of therapeutic strategy and targets and can affect the formation of the therapeutic alliance and compliance with self-help exercises. Finally, other aspects of personality beyond traits, such as ego development and narrative identity, also appear to have important implications for psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of studies related to psychotherapy. "Shattering the Subject: Georges Bataille and the Limits of Therapy", "The Way of Authenticity and the Quest for Personal Integrity"; "Countertransference Issues in Psychotherapy With Lesbian and Gay Clients"; "On Psychoanalytic Supervision"; "Validation of Psychoanalytic Theories: Towards a Conceptualization of References."

Three ideas are discussed from the vantage point of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP): Quantum changes operate not only in trauma, but also in healing; attachment plays a major role in whether fear or excitement is the response to novelty; experientially exploring the experience of transformation can itself lead to quantum change. Vignettes from an AEDP session show a patient's grappling with the startling novelty of experience that the transformational process, particularly when occurring in quantum leaps, evokes, and illustrate the phenomenology of cascading transformations. They illustrate how the therapist's emotional engagement and attachment orientation, experiential techniques, and metatherapeutic processing activate state transformations and entrain adaptive healing processes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 62: 569–583, 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the process and outcome research on emotion in psychotherapy. Four distinct types of emotion processes are identified in the literature as useful in therapy, depending on a client's presenting concerns: emotional awareness and arousal; emotional regulation, active reflection on emotion (meaning making), and emotional transformation. Research findings are summarized to highlight the practical implications of these different emotion processes to psychotherapy. A range of selected treatments from different therapeutic orientations are addressed collectively as different types of emotion-focused, experiential therapies and are compared on the basis of how they work with emotion in session. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 62: 611–630, 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are very few less contentious issues than the role of attachment in psychotherapy. Concepts such as the therapeutic alliance speak directly to the importance of activating the attachment system, normally in relation to the therapist in individual therapy and in relation to other family members in family-based intervention, if therapeutic progress is to be made. In group therapy the attachment process may be activated by group membership. The past decade of neuroscientific research has helped us to understand some key processes that attachment entails at brain level. The article outlines this progress and links it to recent findings on the relationship between the neural systems underpinning attachment and other processes such as making of social judgments, theory of mind, and access to long-term memory. These findings allow intriguing speculations, which are currently undergoing empirical tests on the neural basis of individual differences in attachment as well as the nature of psychological disturbances associated with profound disturbances of the attachment system. In this article, we explore the crucial paradoxical brain state created by psychotherapy with powerful clinical implications for the maximization of therapeutic benefit from the talking cure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article profiles the development of an evolving common CORE methodology related to the paradigm of quality evaluation. It profiles the five defining characteristics that currently help to inform that common methodology. The first of these characteristics is the use of CORE-PC to help store, organise, filter, report and undertake performance appraisals using CORE System data. The second is the role of preparatory training to help overcome the common experience of service performance anxiety in services adopting CORE-PC. The third characteristic is the use of a common reporting framework that generates internal performance indicators by which relative service and individual practitioner performance can be contrasted. Fourth is the co-development and use of national service performance indicators created by the voluntary donation of anonymised, aggregated data. The fifth and final characteristic informing the shared methodology is the development of CORE Networks to support the interpretation and utilisation of benchmarks for enhancing service quality. The conclusions acknowledge the relative youth of both the activity and learning, but suggests that the common methodology used by the CORE Network has considerable potential to help identify, share and develop excellence in psychological therapy and counselling services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on therapy sessions of patients coming from families who are either Nazi victims or perpetrators. Patients turn to coping mechanisms, such as denial and minimization, distancing, and understanding and differentiation. Patients find it hard to come to terms with the guilt of their Nazi descendants. During therapy sessions, patients do not know where to begin or what questions to ask. It is worth looking into the patients' family history during the therapy for it may open up hardened emotional zones.

Due to the numerous conceptual, methodological, and ethical problems that are associated with placebo conditions in psychotherapy research, their use should be abandoned, and more powerful therapy outcome designs (dismantling, additive, parametric, and catalytic) that can contribute to basic knowledge through their ability to isolate specific cause-and-effect relationships are recommended. On the other hand, if indeed the placebo effect is a reliable phenomenon, it would be wise to pursue its causal mechanisms, and some research strategies for initiating such pursuit are briefly described. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 61: 805–818, 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A given type of psychotherapy (e.g., psychodynamic) is associated with a set of specific change techniques (e.g., interpreting defenses, identifying relationship themes). Different change techniques can be conceived of as influencing different parts of personality (e.g., interpreting defense increases conscious awareness). An integrated model of personality is presented. Then, change techniques from different theoretical perspectives are assigned by judges to areas of personality the techniques are believed to influence. The results suggest that specific change techniques can be reliably sorted into the areas of personality. Thinking across theoretical perspectives leads to important new opportunities for assessment, therapy outcome research, and communication with patients concerning personality change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Originally prepared for publication in 1991, but now appearing for the first time, this article discusses home-based family therapy in the context of families experiencing psychiatric crises. Strategies of engagement, interventions and safety issues related to this form of family therapy are outlined. The advantages of home-based family therapy in terms of direct observation and intervention and the minimisation of the need to transfer learning are discussed. Reflecting from the perspective of the present, the author notes with regret that most crisis teams today do little more than gatekeeping; a great opportunity for effective home-based treatment appears to have been lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morrison AP, Renton JC, Williams S, Dunn H, Knight A, Kreutz M, Nothard S, Patel U, Dunn G. Delivering cognitive therapy to people with psychosis in a community mental health setting: an effectiveness study. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2004: 110: 36–44. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2004. Cognitive therapy (CT) has been shown to be an efficacious treatment for persistent psychotic symptoms. However, there is some debate regarding whether this is transportable to real life clinical settings. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CT for psychosis in a community mental health team (CMHT) setting. Patients referred for CT for psychosis were naturalistically allocated (determined by the availability of a therapist) to CT or waiting-list (WL)/treatment-as-usual (TAU). Outcome assessments were performed at WL, pre-CT, post-CT and 1-year follow-up. Data from 59 patients were analysed. Random effects regression analyses showed there was a significant improvement, attributable to CT, on most outcome measures, and that many of the symptomatic improvements were maintained at follow-up. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests indicated that there was a significant reduction in psychiatric hospital use following CT. These results confirm that CT is an effective treatment for psychosis that is generalizable to a community setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bechdolf A, Knost B, Kuntermann C, Schiller S, Klosterkötter J, Hambrecht M, Pukrop R. A randomized comparison of group cognitive-behavioural therapy and group psychoeducation in patients with schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2004: 110: 21–28. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2004. Although the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in schizophrenia has been established in a number of studies, no information is available on the differential efficacy of CBT in comparison with patient psychoeduction (PE). Eighty-eight in-patients with schizophrenia were randomized to receive a therapy envelope of 8 weeks including either 16 sessions group CBT or 18 sessions group PE treatment. Assessments took place at baseline, post-treatment and 6 month follow-up. Patients, who received CBT were significantly less rehospitalized than patients in the PE group during the follow-up period. On a descriptive level, CBT resulted in lower relapse rates and higher compliance ratings at post-treatment and at follow-up than PE. Both forms of therapy led to significant psychopathological improvement at post-treatment and at follow-up. The brief group CBT intervention showed some superiority to the PE programme, which could be of considerable clinical and economical importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a special issue on technological developments and applications in clinical psychology and psychotherapy. The question of why it is important to deal with such developments is raised. An overview of the individual topics and articles in the issue is given, and additional aspects are discussed. This is followed by an overview of possible advantages and disadvantages of technological developments as well as problems to be solved. Overall, the developments are still largely underresearched, but—if utilized—hold considerable promise in changing the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy as well as training in the field. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every theory of psychotherapy is composed of a myth and an associated ritual. A myth is a conceptual scheme for explaining clinical problems. A ritual is based upon a myth and is a model of the clinical change process. This article goes far beyond the observation that theories of psychotherapy consist of a myth and a ritual to propose that they share a common underlying structure. The central purpose of this article is to delineate this structure. This structure constitutes a metamodel of theories of psychotherapy. The article shows how the metamodel is a fresh conceptual tool (a) for understanding, analysing, comparing and contrasting, and integrating the basic concepts and principles of theories of psychotherapy and (b) for building case formulations and treatment plans from a theory of psychotherapy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report on a randomized, controlled clinical trial on the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), comparing manualized psychotherapy to wait-list control. This is the first study to evaluate Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy (BEP), which combines cognitive–behavioral and psychodynamic approaches within one treatment method. Forty-two police officers with the diagnosis of PTSD participated in the study; 22 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 20 to the wait-list control group. Assessments of PTSD and comorbid conditions were made 1 week before treatment, after treatment session 4, upon termination of treatment (16 sessions), and at follow-up 3 months later. As expected, no significant differences between groups were observed at pretest or at session 4. At posttest and at follow-up, BEP had produced significant improvement in PTSD, in work resumption, and in some comorbid conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes to take ELIZA, a computer simulation of psychotherapy, seriously in order to see whether any therapeutic movement can be achieved by interaction with ELIZA. With or without the covariance correction, there remain a surprising number of significant differences. Quite frankly, the writers expected very few differences other than chance, given the normal subjects, highly artificial setting, and the most peculiar method of therapy. ELIZA does seem to have an effect upon subjects. It is fascinating to note that references to family and friends, and references to dreams, are among the least frequent responses on the part of the subjects.

This article focuses on models of therapeutic intervention for the black population. Ethnic minority psychologists sometimes have argued that because of important cultural differences between blacks and whites, traditional methods of psychotherapy are inadequate for black clients. Epidemiological studies that record numbers of patients, types of disorders, and method and length of treatment; analogue studies that consist of more-or-less controlled laboratory investigations of same and differing race interviewer-interviewee interactions; and a small number of outcome studies of actual psychotherapy.

This article presents information on measuring martial happiness. This study was an attempt to explore the influence of dynamic conflict, as conceptualized and measured within a multivariate framework on a measure of expressed marital happiness. The present authors are inclined to view avowed marital happiness as one component of the general phenomenon of avowed happiness. In a review of the measurement and correlates of avowed happiness. The area of objectively measured dynamic conflict as a potential antecedent of expressed happiness is, to our knowledge, a new line of investigation. In as much as a major goal of counseling and psychotherapy has been the uncovering and relief of repressed conflict and some techniques in the service of reduction of such conflict have been developed.

Ninety-one of 100 patients who had participated in a structured outpatient intensive group psychotherapy program for bulimia were contacted and successfully interviewed by phone 2-S years after treatment, Seventy-nine (87%) had completed therapy. Overall, 60 (66%) were doing well at follow-up, although some had required additional treatment, 8 (9%) were improved albeit still symptomatic, and 23 (25%) were classified as treatment failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief report presents preliminary findings regarding the use of short-term group treatment for bulimia. Ten patients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III (DSM-III) criteria for bulimia were treated in a 12-session psycho-educational format. Results indicated that all patients reduced the frequency of their bulimic behavior and showed change in attitudes related to pathological eating behavior. The preliminary results surest that short-term group treatment may be a moderately effective treatment intervention for bulimia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]