A growing body of research suggests that mindfulness- and acceptance-based principles can increase efforts aimed at reducing human suffering and increasing quality of life. A critical step in the development and evaluation of these new approaches to treatment is to determine the acceptability and efficacy of these treatments for clients from…

Background: Clinicians working with clients who have mild intellectual disabilities (IDs) have shown growing enthusiasm for using a cognitive behavioural approach, amid increasing evidence of good treatment outcomes for this client group. However, very little is known about the views and experiences of clients with IDs who have undergone cognitive…

Up to 95% of teens and young adults in western societies are online, and research shows striking evidence that users suffering from social fears use the Internet more frequently. Social phobia (SP) is one of the most common anxiety disorders, characterized by early onset and more frequent histories of childhood and adolescent shyness. SP is often…

This study examined the effectiveness of a school-based, collaborative technology intervention combined with cognitive behavioral therapy to teach the concepts of social collaboration and social conversation to children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders ("n" = 22) as well as to enhance their actual social engagement…

University and college counseling centers struggle with rising service demands without a corresponding increase in resources. Consequently, counseling centers must seek creative ways to not only maintain the status quo, but expand capacity while preserving effectiveness. In other countries, therapist-assisted, Internet-delivered treatment has been…

A lack of satisfaction with one's body is common among women with obesity, often prompting unhealthy "dieting." Beyond typically slow improvements in weight and body composition, behavioral factors might also affect change in body satisfaction. Age and race/ethnicity (African American vs. White) might moderate such change. Obese women (N…

Objective: The longer term efficacy of medication treatments for binge-eating disorder (BED) remains unknown. This study examined the longer term effects of fluoxetine and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) either with fluoxetine (CBT + fluoxetine) or with placebo (CBT + placebo) for BED through 12-month follow-up after completing treatments.…

Few studies have evaluated ways to thin punishment schedules. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using variable ratio (VR) schedules to thin the time-out schedule gradually. Warnings were used in some conditions to assist potentially with schedule thinning, but this analysis was limited. Participants were 3 young students who…

Trichotillomania is an impulsive control disorder not so commonly encountered in psychiatric clinical practice. Usually patients visit to dermatologists for hair loss and subsequently being referred to psychiatrists. It is characterized by impulsive hair pulling leading to hair loss. It may follow biting the hairs and even swallowing of hairs…

Researchers have theorized that changing the way we think about our bodily responses can improve our physiological and cognitive reactions to stressful events. However, the underlying processes through which mental states improve downstream outcomes are not well understood. To this end, we examined whether reappraising stress-induced arousal could…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of 6 to 10 sessions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for self-stigma around sexual orientation linked to same-sex attraction (what has generally been referred to as internalized homophobia; IH) in a concurrent multiple-baseline across-participants design. Three men and 2 women showed sizeable…

Research shows poor decision making in adolescents who self-harm and a positive correlation between decision-making abilities and duration since last self-harm episode. This exploratory study investigated whether decision making in self-harming adolescents could be improved through treatment with a novel cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). It also…

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses affecting a significant proportion of women and a smaller number of men. Approximately half of those with an eating disorder (ED) will not meet the criteria for anorexia or bulimia nervosa, and will be diagnosed with an eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). Until recently, there were no…

Public speaking anxiety (PSA) is a common social phobia. Although cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice, difficulties arise with both in vivo and in vitro exposure (lack of therapist control, patient's inability to imagine, self-flooding, and a lack of confidentiality resulting from public exposure). Virtual reality CBT…

The rates of suicide attempts and death by suicide vary considerably over the lifespan, highlighting the influence of different contextual, risk, and protective factors at different points in development (Daniel & Goldston, 2009). Hopelessness and lack of connectedness to others are two factors that have been associated with increased risk for…