Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe and chronic mental disorder that is highly prevalent within Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers. A severe psychiatric disorder, combat-related PTSD is typically accompanied by multiple comorbid psychiatric disorders, symptom chronicity, and extreme social maladjustment. Thus, PTSD is a complex…

Recent controlled studies have supported the effectiveness of anger management training for people with intellectual disabilities (IDs). This report describes an evaluation instrument designed to assess their usage of specific anger coping skills. The Profile of Anger Coping Skills (PACS) is designed for completion by a staff member or carer.…

RBackground: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is being increasingly recognized in children and adolescents. Yet comparatively little attention has been given in the literature to management. Methods: Description of the main features of the disorder, precipitating and maintaining factors and diagnostic assessment. Outline of different views on the…

This paper describes Skills for Academic and Social Success (SASS), a cognitive-behavioral, school-based intervention for adolescents with social anxiety disorder. Clinic-based treatment studies for socially anxious youth are reviewed, and a strong rationale for transporting empirically-based interventions into schools, such as SASS, is provided.…

Women with lifelong vaginismus (N = 117) were randomly assigned to cognitive-behavioral group therapy, cognitive-behavioral bibliotherapy, or a waiting list. Manualized treatment comprised sexual education, relaxation exercises, gradual exposure, cognitive therapy, and sensate focus therapy. Group therapy consisted of ten 2-hr sessions with 6 to 9…

Serious sequelae of youth depression, plus recent concerns over medication safety, prompt growing interest in the effects of youth psychotherapy. In previous meta-analyses, effect sizes (ESs) have averaged 0.99, well above conventional standards for a large effect and well above mean ES for other conditions. The authors applied rigorous analytic…

Group CBT programs are widely used for assisting teenagers with anxiety, depression and other psychological problems. The majority of reported programs have targeted school or clinical populations however few have specifically targeted adolescents from highly troubled and disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper describes a group CBT program that was…

Research concerning the treatment of sexual offenders has generally focused on the treatment of adult offenders. The effectiveness of treatments for male adolescent sexual offenders (N = 644) was assessed in a meta-analysis of 10 studies. Overall, the results were surprisingly encouraging, suggesting that treatments for male adolescent sexual…

Few studies examine the effectiveness of panic control treatment across diverse ethnic groups. In this paper we present data on 40 patients (African American, n = 24; Caucasian, n = 16) with panic disorder and comorbid agoraphobia who presented at an anxiety disorder clinic in an inner-city area. On initial assessment both groups were similar on…

Among psychologically distressed Cambodian refugees, somatic complaints are particularly prominent. Cambodians interpret anxiety-related somatic sensations in terms of "Wind" ("khyal"), an ethnophysiology that gives rise to multiple catastrophic interpretations; and they have prominent trauma-memory associations to anxiety-related somatic…

Objective: This study examines the role of an introductory course in cognitive therapy and the relative importance of trainees' characteristics in the selection process for an advanced course in cognitive therapy. Method: The authors assessed the files of all trainees who completed one academic year introductory course in cognitive therapy over…

The case of Sam is conceptualized using a normalizing cognitive approach, which assumes that the cultural acceptability of his appraisals distinguishes them as psychotic. The treatment approach that is based upon such a case formulation involves the evaluation of such distressing appraisals and the generation of alternative explanations.…

Recent advances in our understanding of worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have led to the development of efficacious treatments for GAD. Although multidimensional treatment packages have shown efficacy, we know little about the efficacy and clinical utility of individual treatment components. This study evaluates the efficacy of…

In this article, we describe a pilot study that investigated the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for auditory hallucinations. Eleven inpatients with either chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder participated in 2 CBT groups of differing treatment duration (i.e., 7 versus 20 sessions). The results showed that…

Select research and practice issues that merit further attention are described. Specifically, we argue that the pathways for profitable research include studies of normative development, assessment and diagnostic considerations, the role of parents, and the ways to optimize the conduct and evaluation of treatment. At present, the field is too…