Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) are efficacious in treating social anxiety disorder (SAD). It is not yet clear, however, whether they share similar trajectories of change and underlying mechanisms in the context of SAD. This randomized controlled study of 108 unmedicated adults with generalized SAD investigated the impact of CBGT vs. MBSR...
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) emphasize the importance of mindfulness practice at home as an integral part of the program. However, the extent to which participants complete their assigned practice is not yet clear, nor is it clear whether this practice is associated with positive outcomes. For this systematic review and meta-analysis,...
Worry is a key component of anxiety and may be an effective target for therapeutic intervention. We compared two psychological processes (attention and acceptance) on the frequency of intrusive worrying thoughts in an experimental worry task. 77 participants were randomised across three groups and completed either a 10 min attention or acceptance-based psychological exercise, or progressive...
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with cognitive deficits in attention, executive control, and memory, although few studies have investigated the relevance of cognitive difficulties for treatment outcomes. We examined whether cognitive functioning and history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) were associated with response to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for PTSD-related...
Worry is the principle characteristic of generalised anxiety disorder, and has been linked to deficient attentional control, a main function of working memory (WM). Adaptive WM training and mindfulness meditation practice (MMP) have both shown potential to increase attentional control. The present study hence investigates the individual and combined effects of MMP and a dual adaptive n-back...
Few empirical studies have explored the associations between formal and informal mindfulness home practice and outcome in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). In this study ninety-nine participants randomised to MBCT in a multi-centre randomised controlled trial completed self-reported ratings of home practice over 7 treatment weeks. Recurrence of Major Depression was assessed...
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to effectively prevent relapse and reduce residual depressive symptoms (RDS), yet it faces barriers to dissemination. The present study examined Mindful Mood Balance (MMB), the first web-based approach to deliver the core content of MBCT. Of the 107 recurrently depressed individuals screened, 100 elected to enroll in the study and...
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) involves approximately twenty hours of therapist contact time and is not universally available. MBCT self-help (MBCT-SH) may widen access but little is known about its effectiveness. This paper presents a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of MBCT-SH for students. Eighty students were randomly assigned to an eight-week MBCT-SH condition or a wait-list...
Nightmares are a common and serious problem in psychotherapeutic practice, although they are seldom considered as independent mental disorders. There are some promising approaches to the treatment of nightmares, notably Imagery Rehearsal Therapy, a cognitive-restructuring treatment. The core of this approach is the modification of the nightmare script and repeated imagination of the new script....
The experience of psychosis can lead to depression, anxiety and fear. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) facilitates individuals to accept difficult mental experiences and behave in ways that are consistent with personally held values. This study was a single (rater) blind pilot randomised controlled trial of ACT for emotional dysfunction following psychosis. Twenty-seven participants with...
Decentering has been proposed as a potential mechanism of mindfulness-based interventions but has received limited empirical examination to date in experimental studies comparing mindfulness meditation to active comparison conditions. In the present study, we compared the immediate effects of mindful breathing (MB) to two alternative stress-management techniques: progressive muscle relaxation...
The effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on recurrence of depressive episodes, mental health and quality of life: A randomized controlled study.
This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a treatment combining mindfulness meditation and interventions taken from cognitive therapy, in patients suffering from chronic-recurrent depression. Currently symptomatic patients with at least three previous episodes of depression and a history of suicidal ideation were randomly allocated to receive...
Rachman's (1980) analysis [Rachman, S. (1980). Emotional processing. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 18, 51-60] of emotional processing is extended and applied to the prevention of relapse and recurrence in depression. It is proposed that effective emotional processing leads to changes in the ability of triggering cues to reactivate depressogenic processing cycles at times of potential relapse....
Although the application of cognitive techniques to both the measurement and modification of delusional beliefs has recently been developed in more theoretical detail (e.g. Chadwick & Lowe, 1994, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 355-367) there has not been an effort to examine the variability of delusional phenomenology across time. In the present study we report on the treatment of 6...
Fifty-eight chronic nightmare sufferers were randomly assigned to two groups: treatment (n = 39) and wait-list control (n = 19). Treated Ss were taught a cognitive-behavioral technique called imagery rehearsal in which they learned in a waking state to change a nightmare and then to visualize the new set of images. Subjects were assessed pre-treatment and 3 months followup for nightmare...
There is encouraging evidence that structured psychological treatments for depression, in particular cognitive therapy, can reduce subsequent relapse after the period of initial treatment has been completed. However, there is a continuing need for prophylactic psychological approaches that can be administered to recovered patients in euthymic mood. An information-processing analysis of...
Dreaming is held to consist of three elements: periodic, unrelated visual bursts, emotional episodes, and the cognitive synthesis of the first two. The theory predicts that there are two kinds of visual imagery in dreams: one vivid, detailed, colorful, large and in the center of the visual field. The other less vivid, less detailed, less colorful, smaller, and in the periphery. These vivid...