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Worry is a phenomenon that is present in multiple psychopathologies. Given the widely accepted transdiagnostic role that worry plays in psychopathology, reliable measures for this construct are pivotal for clinical practice. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) is one of the most widely used and established measures of worry in both clinical and non-clinical populations and it is accepted as a highly reliable measure. The present study aimed to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the PSWQ for the Portuguese population. The total sample consisted of 428 participants, 256 from the community, and 172 from the clinical population. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a model of one factor with a method factor containing the negatively worded items.

This case study of an undecided university student has two aims: to assess the effect of life design career counselling on autobiographical reasoning and career variables, and to analyse the client's narrative transformation using the innovative moments coding system. Results show improvement in career development and organization of autobiographical narrative. The client's narrative evolved from basic to complex levels of elaboration. The spontaneous emergence of re-conceptualization innovative moments differs from previous studies and suggests that counselling length and tasks can facilitate re-conceptualization. Among the implications, the use of narrative change markers to fit counselling tasks to clients' level of development is discussed.

According to the Dialogical Self Theory, the Self can move along the imaginal landscape of the mind and adopt different I-positions, endowing each position with a voice and enabling dialogical relationships (e.g., agreement, disagreement) among each other. Internal dialogues may have an important role regarding identity construction, self-regulation, and support, among others. However, if internal dialogues are not efficient or meaningful voices are suppressed, they may cause psychological problems. The current study aims to adapt and validate the Portuguese version of the Internal Dialogical Activity Scale - Revised (IDAS-R) and explore its correlations with personality dimensions and psychological indicators. The 397 participants, aged 15-73 years old, completed the IDAS-R and questionnaires to assess Well-Being, Satisfaction with Life, and the Big-Five Personality dimensions. Confirmatory factor analyses identified a factorial structure different than the one originally proposed. The CFA provided a best-fit model with four subscales – Identity Dialogues, Spontaneous Dialogues, Social and Supportive Dialogues, and Distressing Dialogues. All internal dialogues, except Identity Dialogues, correlated negatively with Well-Being and Satisfaction with Life and correlated positively with Neuroticism. We discuss these results, the possibility of assessing such dynamic processes by quantitative methods and point to new directions in the research of internal dialogicality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special section contains studies in which innovative moments are used as markers of changes in meaning in psychotherapy. Innovative moments, as an empirical operationalization of the concept of "unique outcomes" from narrative therapy, have been used as a strategy to evaluate changes in meaning in psychotherapy sessions and interviews. Innovative moments are defined as exceptions to the problematic pattern of meaning that is associated with clients' suffering. The emergence of these change markers indicates that flexibility is occurring in the meaning system. This special section contains five studies. Esposito et al. address innovative moments in group intervention by considering the idea that these events are not just individual but also interactional and collective events. Shimshi et al. study shifts between self-states and their relation to innovative moment production in therapy. These shifts are associated with the production of innovative moments, providing further support for the idea that flexibility and the emergence of these change markers are associated. Leeav et al. analyze the relationship between innovative moment production and the therapeutic alliance in a single case study. Fernandez-Navarro et al. interview therapists to understand whether coding innovative moments in sessions may help therapists become more attuned to these events in practice. Finally, Koustafa et al. analyze the evolution of innovative moments in a small sample of individuals with bulimia nervosa. Together, these studies illustrate the potential of this concept as well the domains in which it may be applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Innovative moments (IMs) pinpoint new and more adaptative meanings that emerge in clients' discourse during psychotherapy. Studies with adult clients have found a greater proportion of IMs in recovered compared to unchanged cases, but similar studies have yet to be conducted with adolescents. Aims: The paper aims (1) to study retrospectively the emergence of IMs in therapy, using a post‐therapy interview, in adolescents that underwent psychotherapy for depression, and (2) to characterize the themes present in IMs identified retrospectively in the interviews. Method: Semi‐structured post‐treatment interviews conducted with 24 adolescents on the experience of taking part in a clinical trial of youth depression, were coded using the Innovative Moments Coding System. After identifying IMs, a thematic analysis identified the prominent themes within them. Results: Higher presence of IMs were found in recovered compared to unchanged cases. Two main themes emerged in the IMs, changes that occurred with therapy and attributions of changes. Recovered cases presented more IMs centred on the self, whereas unchanged cases identified more non‐specific changes. Conclusion: This study suggests that it is possible to code IMs, identified retrospectively, based on post‐therapy interviews with adolescents. Meaningful differences were found between recovered compared to unchanged cases. Therapeutic recovery was associated with a higher focus on the self and more specificity in clients' representations of the change process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In psychotherapy, ambivalence may be conceptualized as a conflict between two distinct motivations: one that is favorable to change (pro-change) and another that favors the maintenance of a problematic pattern (pro status quo). Previous studies identified two processes by which clients resolve this conflict: imposing the innovative part and silencing the problematic one (dominance), and establishing negotiations between the innovative and the pro status quo parts (negotiation). The present exploratory study examined ambivalence resolution in a sample of clients diagnosed with complicated grief. Results revealed that, in recovered cases, negotiation increases and dominance decreases from the beginning until the middle sessions of therapy and the opposite tendency is observed from the middle to the final sessions. Unchanged cases reveal an overall high proportion of dominance and an overall low proportion of negotiation. These results are partially divergent from those reported in previous studies with samples of clients diagnosed with major depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worry is a phenomenon that is present in multiple psychopathologies. Given the widely accepted transdiagnostic role that worry plays in psychopathology, reliable measures for this construct are pivotal for clinical practice. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) is one of the most widely used and established measures of worry in both clinical and non-clinical populations and it is accepted as a highly reliable measure. The present study aimed to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the PSWQ for the Portuguese population. The total sample consisted of 428 participants, 256 from the community, and 172 from the clinical population. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a model of one factor with a method factor containing the negatively worded items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Recently, Goldfried suggested that one main reason for the underdevelopment of psychotherapy as a scientific enterprise was the lack of acknowledgment of past contributions. In this article, this issue is illustrated by analysing the particular case of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). ACT has clear overlaps with therapies from the systemic tradition, such as strategic therapy in the line of the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto and with the more recent models of solution‐focused therapy and narrative therapy. This article analyses theoretical overlaps with these models (e.g. the paradoxical nature of human problems and the nature of language) as well as examples of similarities in therapeutic strategies (externalization and the miracle question). It concludes by suggesting that this practice of inadvertently obliterating the past does not favour the development of the field or the creation of consensus but rather contributes to the ongoing proliferation of 'new' psychotherapy models. Trends that may contribute to circumventing this problem are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]