Review of Cognitive-behavioural therapy in groups.

Reviews the book, Cognitive-behavioural therapy in groups by Peter J. Bieling, Randi E. McCabe, and Martin M. Antony (2006). With increasing pressure to make effective treatments more accessible and cost effective, many psychologists and health care professionals are being asked to provide CBT in a group format. This book aims to provide a bridge between manualized CBT and the theory and knowledge of group process factors. Although some of the material presented is based primarily upon clinical experience rather than empirical work, this is a reflection of the relatively underdeveloped research literature related to optimal CBT group structure and process. Overall, the reviewer believes it is difficult to identify any significant weaknesses in the book, and recommends it highly. Chapters on group CBT for specific disorders cover significant amounts of useful information that will be helpful to practitioners familiar with individual treatment of the disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive-behavioral therapy for impulsive children.

Reviews the book, Cognitive-behavioral therapy for impulsive children by Phillip C. Kendall and Lauren Braswell (see record 1985-97646-000). In the book's preface, the authors summarize its content in the following statement: "The program tries to teach impulsive kids to stop and think before they act." Although the volume's focus is specific to non-self-controlled children, it is also a clinical resource for professionals working with children with conduct disorders. The authors succeed at demonstrating the use of cognitive-behavioral self-control therapy by offering a conceptual framework aided by clinical material. Case vignettes not only demonstrate correct and successful applications of cognitive-behavioral therapy but also illustrate areas where difficulties arise, and recommendations are provided on how to handle them. Although the authors recommend that these techniques need to be individualized, the manual provides excellent clinical guidelines for the use of cognitive-behavioral self-control therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive therapy with schizophrenic patients.

Reviews the book, Cognitive therapy with schizophrenic patients by Carlo Perris (see record 1989-97536-000). The author wrote this book with the purpose of presenting cognitive psychotherapy as a part of a successful holistic, cognitive behavioral program implemented at small community-based treatment centers, and as individual therapy with relatively young patients suffering from a schizophrenic disorder. The program de-emphasizes the medical model and introduces a 24-hour psychosocial milieu treatment model conducted over at least 9 full months, in which the patient is responsible for goal-setting, interpersonal problem solving, and medication schedule, with little family intervention. Throughout the text, the author writes about cognitive psychotherapy. The words "cognitive psychotherapy" not "cognitive therapy" would seem to be most appropriate for the tide of the book. For some therapists and researchers, specific information on cognitive therapy includes more details on tasks and measures of performance ranging from arousal, attention, and concentration through recognition, recall, immediate, delayed, long-term, and short term and executive functions, that is, the information processing approach. One of the attractions of the book is that readers first learning about cognitive psychotherapy are offered an opportunity to explore the future use of cognitive psychotherapy with schizophrenic patients and other patient groups. For psychotherapists, mental health workers, graduate, and undergraduate students, Cognitive Therapy with Schizophrenic Patients, is a thorough introduction to a new treatment strategy for schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive-behavioral therapies for trauma (2nd Edition).

Reviews the book, Cognitive-behavioral therapies for trauma (2nd edition) by Victoria M. Follette and Josef I. Ruzek (see record 2006-02767-000). This humbly titled text actually provides exhaustive coverage of several important trauma-related areas. As suggested by the book cover, this second edition seems to go beyond updated references and leading-edge changes. The book does indeed appear to be a radical revision without departing from the core intent, which was to provide a one-stop shop for practitioners working with trauma survivors. Functioning more as a compendium than a standard text, this book acts as a single resource for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In appropriate fashion, a historical review serves to contextualize the subsequent sections and associated chapters. The majority of the book is then divided into three sections: Assessment, Interventions, and Specialized Populations and Delivery Considerations. The final chapter serves as direction for the future of applied cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in several diverse settings. Overall, the text is a comprehensive desk reference for many practitioners treating PTSD. As noted in this review, some chapters are presented in a manner that is accessible to a broad readership, whereas others are geared more towards the experienced practitioner. Notwithstanding, the sound empirical foundations provided for the assessments, interventions, and tangential issues related to PTSD make this volume a valuable compendium resource for clinicians. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive versus behavior therapy in the group treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder.

This study examined the effects of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) compared with traditional behavior therapy (exposure and response prevention [ERP]) in the group treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Of the 76 participants who started treatment, 38 were wait-listed for 3 months before treatment to assess possible course effects. Both treatments were superior to the control condition in symptom reduction, with ERP being marginally more effective than CBT by end of treatment and again at 3-month follow-up. In terms of clinically significant improvement, treatment groups were equivalent on the conclusion of treatment, but 3 months later significantly more ERP participants met criteria for recovered status. Only 1 of 7 belief measures changed with treatment improvement, and the extent of this cognitive change was similar between CBT and ERP groups. Discussion includes consideration of optimal formats for the delivery of different types of treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive-behavioral treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: The brain-gut connection.

Reviews the book, Cognitive-behavioral treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: The brain-gut connection by Brenda B. Toner, Zindel V. Segal, Shelagh D. Emmott, and David Myran (see record 1999-04420-000). This treatment manual represents a significant step forward in improving the biopsychosocial understanding and level of care available to patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Couched in cognitive-behavioural terms, the book identifies the pathogenic schema or toxic thoughts that characterize individuals prone to IBS symptoms. The goal of treatment is to shift the patient from a medical view that the IBS condition is largely outside the person's control to a view that the symptoms are under significant patient control. The book, part of the publisher's series of treatment manuals for practitioners, follows an accepted format with respect to cognitive techniques and interventions (collaborative empiricism, use of questions, present focus, self-help assignments, automatic thoughts). Practitioners who are not familiar with the rationale and techniques of cognitive behaviour therapy will appreciate the detail, which is provided for implementing their program. The book would have been strengthened by a discussion of medication, especially analgesic and bowel medications that might be having positive and negative effects on the IBS condition. By remaining loyal to the cognitive behavioural framework, the authors may have missed an important dimension of biopsychosocial patient care. Also, more attention to the sensory aspects of IBS symptoms (e.g., uncontrollable urges) would have strengthened the intervention. Still, this remains an excellent book and is highly recommended to all health professionals who work with patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and chronic illness conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Adapting cognitive therapy for depression.

Reviews the book, Adapting cognitive therapy for depression by Mark A. Whisman (see record 2008-03297-000). The goal of this volume is to provide detailed, empirically supported instructions for adapting CT for complex, comorbid presentations in depression. All of the chapters follow a similar format, which makes them very easy to read and absorb. They are all written by experts in the field using clear, jargon-free language. Each chapter provides instructions for adapting the assessment, case conceptualization, and cognitive treatment of clients presenting with a number of types of complexity. For the most part, these instructions are supported by the research literature. As such, this is a work that is readily accessible to professionals at all levels of training and expertise, and represents an invaluable resource for clinicians working with depressed clients. Furthermore, this text is an excellent scholarly resource of the most up-to-date research literature on the applicability of CT to complex populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing the continuum of delusional beliefs: An experimental study using virtual reality.

A key problem in studying a hypothesized spectrum of severity of delusional ideation is determining that ideas are unfounded. The first objective was to use virtual reality to validate groups of individuals with low, moderate, and high levels of unfounded persecutory ideation. The second objective was to investigate, drawing upon a cognitive model of persecutory delusions, whether clinical and nonclinical paranoia are associated with similar causal factors. Three groups (low paranoia, high nonclinical paranoia, persecutory delusions) of 30 participants were recruited. Levels of paranoia were tested using virtual reality. The groups were compared on assessments of anxiety, worry, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anomalous perceptual experiences, reasoning, and history of traumatic events. Virtual reality was found to cause no side effects. Persecutory ideation in virtual reality significantly differed across the groups. For the clear majority of the theoretical factors there were dose–response relationships with levels of paranoia. This is consistent with the idea of a spectrum of paranoia in the general population. Persecutory ideation is clearly present outside of clinical groups and there is consistency across the paranoia spectrum in associations with important theoretical variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive therapy for depressed adolescents.

Reviews the book, Cognitive therapy for depressed adolescents by T.C. R. Wilkes, Gayle Belsher, A. John Rush, and Ellen Frank (see record 1994-98433-000). This book offers chapters on adaption of cognitive therapy for depressed adolescents, ten key principles of adolescent cognitive therapy, diagnosis and assessment, developmental considerations, the therapeutic relationship, family involvement, the initial phase, the middle phase, the final phase, three comorbidity chapters (substance abuse, sexual victimization, suicidal adolescents), hospitalized adolescents, psychopharmacological treatment, and treatment failures. The sequence of chapters makes perfect sense, and despite four senior authors and five co-authors, it is as if one master hand prevails. The writing never wavers—crisp, flowing, and superbly readable. Whenever possible, adolescent and adult therapy of depression are contrasted, and at times, techniques effective or ineffective for early and late adolescents are cited. One might say the current work is a downward extension of the 1979 Beck book, with developmental considerations and family therapy included. This manual motivates me to reread Beck, Burns, Piaget, Bowlby, and the Socratic method series of papers in this Journal (Overholser). Manuals such as this should result in improved supervision. Finally, Drs. Wilkes, Belsher, Rush, Frank, and their associates (Drs. David A. Brent, Graham J. Emslie, Miriam S. Lerner, Anthony Nowels, Warren A. Weinberg) provide this reviewer with one more humility and awe inducing experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An open trial of integrative therapy for generalized anxiety disorder.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), although effective, has the lowest average effect size for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), when compared to effect sizes of CBT for other anxiety disorders. Additional basic and applied research suggests that although interpersonal processes and emotional avoidance may be maintaining GAD symptomatology, CBT has not sufficiently addressed interpersonal issues or emotion avoidance. This study aimed to test the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an integrative psychotherapy, combining CBT with techniques to address interpersonal problems and emotional avoidance. Eighteen participants received 14 sessions of CBT plus interpersonal emotional processing therapy and three participants (for training and feasibility purposes) received 14 sessions of CBT plus supportive listening. Results showed that the integrative therapy significantly decreased GAD symptomatology, with maintenance of gains up to 1 year following treatment. In addition, comparisons with extant literature suggested that the effect size for this new GAD treatment was higher than the average effect size of CBT for GAD. Results also showed clinically significant change in GAD symptomatology and interpersonal problems with continued gains during the 1-year follow-up. Implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive therapy for depressed adolescents.

Reviews the book, Cognitive therapy for depressed adolescents by T. C. R. Wilkes, Gayle Belsher, A. John Rush, and Ellen Frank (see record 1994-98433-000). This book offers chapters on adaption of cognitive therapy for depressed adolescents, ten key principles of adolescent cognitive therapy, diagnosis and assessment, developmental considerations, the therapeutic relationship, family involvement, the initial phase, the middle phase, the final phase, three comorbidity chapters (substance abuse, sexual victimization, suicidal adolescents), hospitalized adolescents, psychopharmacological treatment, and treatment failures. The sequence of chapters makes perfect sense, and despite four senior authors and five co-authors, it is as if one master hand prevails. The writing never wavers—crisp, flowing, and superbly readable. Whenever possible, adolescent and adult therapy of depression are contrasted, and at times, techniques effective or ineffective for early and late adolescents are cited. One might say the current work is a downward extension of the 1979 Beck book, with developmental considerations and family therapy included. This manual motivates me to reread Beck, Burns, Piaget, Bowlby, and the Socratic method series of papers in this Journal (Overholser). Manuals such as this should result in improved supervision. Finally, Drs. Wilkes, Belsher, Rush, Frank, and their associates (Drs. David A. Brent, Graham J. Emslie, Miriam S. Lerner, Anthony Nowels, Warren A. Weinberg) provide this reviewer with one more humility and awe inducing experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: Science and practice.

Reviews the book, Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: Science and practice edited by David A. Clark and Aaron T. Beck (2009). Drs. Clark and Beck’s book Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: Science and practise is a comprehensive review of cognitive therapy for anxiety from its empirical theoretical foundation to its clinical application to disorders. Although the focus of the text is ultimately on the cognitive treatment of anxiety, the rich theoretical background that is interwoven throughout makes this book of interest to academics and graduate students as well as clinicians. The book is divided into three parts, each with several chapters: 1) cognitive theory and research on anxiety; 2) assessment and intervention techniques used in cognitive therapy for anxiety; and 3) the application of cognitive therapy to specific anxiety disorders (e.g., panic disorder, obsessive– compulsive disorder [OCD]). Overall, this book is an excellent resource for researchers and clinicians working in the field of anxiety disorders. The reference section alone makes it a valuable addition to one’s bookshelf, and the authors have done an excellent job of organising a vast, and at time disparate, body of research into a cohesive review of cognitive theory as it applies to anxiety. Although the treatment chapters may be a bit overly ambitious in attempting to review both the research and the application of the cognitive model to the treatment of specific disorders, the book in its entirety is clearly an essential text for those interested in obtaining a comprehensive understanding of cognitive therapy and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specificity of treatment effects: Cognitive therapy and relaxation for generalized anxiety and panic disorders.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 76(5) of Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (see record 2008-13625-021). In the article, "Specificity of Treatment Effects: Cognitive Therapy and Relaxation for Generalized Anxiety and Panic Disorders," by Jedidiah Siev and Dianne L. Chambless (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2007, Vol. 75, No. 4, pp. 513-522), the individual measures were not listed in the domains labeled "Panic" and "Cognitive" for the ?st and Westling (1995) citation in Table 3. The corrected table is included, with the added text appearing in bold font.] The aim of this study was to address claims that among bona fide treatments no one is more efficacious than another by comparing the relative efficacy of cognitive therapy (CT) and relaxation therapy (RT) in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder without agoraphobia (PD). Two fixed-effects meta-analyses were conducted, for GAD and PD separately, to review the treatment outcome literature directly comparing CT with RT in the treatment of those disorders. For GAD, CT and RT were equivalent. For PD, CT, which included interoceptive exposure, outperformed RT on all panic-related measures, as well as on indices of clinically significant change. There is ample evidence that both CT and RT qualify as bona fide treatments for GAD and PD, for which they are efficacious and intended to be so. Therefore, the finding that CT and RT do not differ in the treatment of GAD, but do for PD, is evidence for the specificity of treatment to disorder, even for 2 treatments within a CBT class, and 2 disorders within an anxiety class. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive responses to failure and success relate uniquely to bipolar depression versus mania.

This project examined cognitive responses to failure and success and their association with depression and mania within bipolar disorder. Many cognitive variables that are associated with unipolar depression have been found to be involved in bipolar disorder, more specifically bipolar depression. This research was the first to examine tendencies to hold high standards, engage in self-criticism, and generalize from failure to an overall sense of self-worth. In Study 1, undergraduates were screened for risk of mood disorders and completed structured diagnostic interviews. History of bipolar spectrum disorders and history of depression had separate associations with negative generalization. The association of generalization with bipolar spectrum disorders was accounted for by current depressive symptoms. For Study 2, the authors developed a measure of the tendency to engage in positive generalization following success experiences. In a sample of 276 undergraduates, this measure related uniquely to risk for mania. Results of these 2 studies suggest that responses to failure are associated with a history of depression, whereas responses to success are associated with a risk for mania. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of cognitive behavioural therapies.

Reviews the book, Handbook of cognitive behavioural therapies edited by Keith S. Dobson (1989). This book is not what I would normally consider a handbook, lacking the breadth I expect in such a book. It is, rather, an edited text with a number of interesting articles that would be most useful for covering approaches in a course on psychotherapy and behaviour change. These include a good chapter on cognitive assessment by Segal and Shaw, comprehensive chapters on five different types of cognitive therapy by leading proponents of the approach, plus a chapter on methods with children, and finally a theoretical chapter by Mahoney. There are also helpful introductory and concluding chapters by Dobson. In his concluding chapter on the present and future of the approach, Dobson provides an interesting summary of issues, covering theory growth and revision, cognitive assessment, therapy expansion and evaluation, and the exploration of developmental bases of adult disturbance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specificity of treatment effects: Cognitive therapy and relaxation for generalized anxiety and panic disorders: Correction.

Reports an error in Specificity of treatment effects: Cognitive therapy and relaxation for generalized anxiety and panic disorders by Jedidiah Siev and Dianne L. Chambless (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2007[Aug], Vol 75[4], 513-522). The individual measures were not listed in the domains labeled Panic and Cognitive for the ?st and Westling (1995) citation in Table 3. The corrected table is included, with the added text appearing in bold font. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-11558-001.) The aim of this study was to address claims that among bona fide treatments no one is more efficacious than another by comparing the relative efficacy of cognitive therapy (CT) and relaxation therapy (RT) in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder without agoraphobia (PD). Two fixed-effects meta-analyses were conducted, for GAD and PD separately, to review the treatment outcome literature directly comparing CT with RT in the treatment of those disorders. For GAD, CT and RT were equivalent. For PD, CT, which included interoceptive exposure, outperformed RT on all panic-related measures, as well as on indices of clinically significant change. There is ample evidence that both CT and RT qualify as bona fide treatments for GAD and PD, for which they are efficacious and intended to be so. Therefore, the finding that CT and RT do not differ in the treatment of GAD, but do for PD, is evidence for the specificity of treatment to disorder, even for 2 treatments within a CBT class, and 2 disorders within an anxiety class. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Les troubles obsessionels compulsifs: Principes, thérapies, applications (2e édition).

Reviews the book, Les troubles obsessionels compulsifs: Principes, thérapies, applications (2e édition) by Martine Bouvard (2006). This book is addressed to clinicians who wish to apply cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). There are ten chapters, each one written by different authors according to their respective fields of expertise. The reviewer praises the editor for compiling a comprehensive guide to CBT treatment for OCD, but did not think there was enough of a difference between the 1st and 2nd editions to warrant a new edition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)