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Family plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of depression. It has also been shown that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can be effective in treating depression. The prominent role of family in Iranian culture makes the application of CBT in family context preferable. In this article, we describe the evolution of psychotherapy in Iran and illustrate it through a case of CBT family therapy for Mrs. A. Keywords: psychotherapy: family therapy: CBT: culture; international psychology; depression

Treatment drop-out is a common problem in the everyday practice of psychotherapy. In the cognitive-behavioral psychology literature, there are scant data on drop-out from therapy and the data available vary widely according to the definition of drop-out and the intensity of treatment. This study presents results obtained in the Behavioural Therapy Unit of the University of Barcelona. Of the 203 patients seen in the unit, 89 (43.8%) dropped out, mostly in the early stages of the intervention. The most common reasons for this were low motivation and/or dissatisfaction with the treatment or the therapist (46.7%), external difficulties (40%), and patients' feeling of improvement (13.3%). Patients who dropped out differed from those who continued; they more often presented affective or eating disorders or problems with impulse control. The observed drop-out rate is in line with figures reported for psychotherapy in general and by those studies which have considered cognitive-behavioral therapy in particular. Keywords: cognitive-behavior therapy; psychotherapy; adherence; drop-out

Differential responsiveness to intervention programs suggests the inadequacy of a single treatment approach for all children with autism. One method for reducing outcome variability is to identify participant characteristics associated with different outcomes for a specific intervention. In this investigation, an analysis of archival data yielded 2 distinct behavioral profiles for responders and nonresponders to a widely used behavioral intervention, pivotal response training (PRT). In a prospective study, these profiles were used to select 6 children (3 predicted responders and 3 predicted nonresponders) who received PRT. Children with pretreatment responder profiles evidenced positive changes on a range of outcome variables. Children with pretreatment nonresponder profiles did not exhibit improvements. These results offer promise for the development of individualized treatment protocols for children with autism. Keywords: autism, behavioral treatment, behavioral profiles, individualized treatment, pivotal response training

The goal of this effectiveness study was to investigate the role of pretreatment interpersonal relationship functioning in two forms of group cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for veterans with PTSD. Analysis of data from 45 veterans who completed either trauma- or skills-focused CBT indicated no overall differences between the two treatments in PTSD symptomatology, alcohol abuse, or violence perpetration at four months post-treatment. However, there was a stronger inverse relationship between intimate relationship functioning and violence outcomes in the trauma-focused group versus the skills-focused group. While no differences in violence outcomes were found between the treatments at poorer levels of pre-treatment intimate relationship functioning, those receiving trauma-focused treatment with better pre4reatment intimate relationships reported less violence Extended relationship functioning and violence outcomes were less strongly associated in the trauma focused group versus the skills-focused group. The theoretical implications of these results, as well as the clinical opportunities to improve CBT for PTSD by capitalizing on patients' relationships, are discussed. Keywords: cognitive-behavioral treatment; effectiveness; interpersonal; outcomes: PTSD; relationships

The Treatment Evaluation Inventory of Kazdin, French, and Sherick is a 19-item measure of the perceived acceptability of behavioural treatments. Development of two brief forms was based on data from two sources. For Study 1, data from 218 completed questionnaires were used to develop internally consistent brief scales. In Study 2 internal consistency and the validity of the brief forms were estimated for a set of 131 questionnaires. Item reduction was achieved by analysis of item total minus item correlations. Brief forms with 3, 6, 9, and 12 items were proposed. Their internal consistency (Cronbach [alpha]) and construct validity were based on correlations of scores on each short form with the full scale scores and on comparing means of different forms. Discriminant validity was based on the difference between two groups (estimated effect size 0.7). Scores for all forms showed high internal consistency and correlated highly with total scale scores. Only the 12-item brief scale yielded mean scores similar to the fun scale. The 3-item form could be used as a quick screen, and the 12-item form for more intensive purposes as it is most similar to the full-scale.

Although the concept of separation-individuation was developed to describe the psychological differentiation of children from their parents and their development into individuals, the concept is also useful to explain what happens to the elderly when one spouse becomes the caregiver for the other. According to behavior analytic theory, behavior is determined by the environmental context. The context consists of what happened before the behavior, as well as its consequences, positive or negative. The caretaker's beliefs also affect behavior, and dysfunctional beliefs can lead to depression or other problems. For example, if a spouse believes only she can care for her husband, the lack any time away from the affected spouse that may result from this belief can result depression, fatigue, and stress for the caregiver. A case is discussed in which a caregiver had several self-rules about caregiving and the duties of a spouse, which were causing problems. Treatment consisted of providing reassurance, and then modifying the dysfunctional self-rules. The problem behavior of the husband, wandering and trespassing in the nursing home, was treated by removing rewards associated with the behavior, which were given in the form of increased attention. This combination approach was successful, and the woman's depression subsided. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Eight experts in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) provided personal examples of their own successes and failures in applying REBT to themselves. The experts actively talked to themselves both rationally and irrationally. Understandably, there were far more shoulds, oughts, musts, and have to's in the narratives in which the experts described when they failed to use REBT than when they succeeded in using REBT. Rational self-talk was more prevalent in the examples of how REBT was successfully used by the experts.

Complicated grief occurs where the usual process of mourning extends beyond culturally accepted time periods. In this randomised controlled trial the authors compared two psychological therapies for complicated grief, cognitive [...]