Editorial: Applications of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy in Response to COVID-19

The corona virus (COVID-19) continues to have a devastating health, economic, and social impact on our local and international communities. Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies (CBTs), as a family of therapies that posit cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and interpersonal change processes in the understanding and successful treatment of mental health disorders, have risen to the challenge. This special issue represents contributions from CBT experts on the impact on psychopathology, new assessment methods, adaptations of integrated behavioral health, telehealth, psychology training, and discusses a public health framework. The issue includes a series of articles offering guidance for the clinician on interventions for those impacted by trauma, CBT for youth and families, and telehealth for psychotic spectrum disorders and group therapy for social anxiety.     

Development of Family Functions and Relationship in Families: A Mixed-Design Study

Abstract

This is a mixed-design study that examines the effects of a psychoeducation program on family functioning and the parent-adolescent relationship. The quantitative dimension of the study was quasi-experimental and included the pretest, post-test and follow-up model with control and experiment groups. The data were collected from both parents and adolescents. In the study, there were 32 adolescents in the experiment group (18 male, 14 female), while the control group consisted of 31 adolescents (15 male, 16 female). The results of the study show that the education program decreases the problem behaviors of adolescents while increasing family functions and promoting the adolescent-parent relationship     

An Integrative Model for the Analysis and Treatment of Insomnia

The present paper describes an integrative cognitive-behavioural model for the analysis and treatment of insomnia. According to the theoretical model, insomnia is the result of an interaction between sleep-interfering processes (e.g. various kinds of arousal, and processes whereby various stimuli, behaviours and cognitive activities lead to arousal) and sleep-interpreting processes (sleep-related beliefs, attributions, attitudes, etc.). It is argued that insomnia involves various combinations of such processes, and that treatment should be based on a cognitive-behavioural analysis of how these processes combine in each particular case of insomnia. The treatment model focuses both on a reduction of sleep-interfering arousal processes (e.g. by replacing willful goal-directed control strategies with skills of mindful observation and acceptance) and on a modification of sleep-interpreting processes (by means of behavioural experiments and psychoeducative interventions).     

Attentional Bias,Self-consciousness and Perfectionism in Social Phobia Before and After Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy

Attentional bias for threat words (as measured by the emotional Stroop task), selfconsciousness and perfectionism was studied in 24 patients with social phobia before and after cognitive-behaviour treatment. A total of 18 (75%) of the patients were classified as treatment responders on the basis of reduced scores for social anxiety. The treatment responders showed a significant reduction in attentional bias for social threat words, in public self-consciousness and in perfectionism. The non-responders showed an equal reduction in perfectionism; as they had a much higher level of perfectionism before treatment, however, their change only amounted to a lowering of their level of perfectionism to the level that characterized the treatment responders before treatment. The treatment responders, on the other hand, reduced their level of perfectionism to that of non-clinical samples.     

What is IPT? The Basic Principles and the Inevitability of Change

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is an empirically validated treatment for a number of psychiatric disorders. Like all psychotherapies, IPT can be described by its theoretical foundations and its primary targets, tactics, and techniques. The need for continued creativity in IPT and other treatments is reviewed, and several specific proposals for change in IPT based on clinical observations and theoretical considerations are discussed. A paradigm for collaboration between academic research and clinical observation required for continued creativity is offered. Change is inevitable, and the empirically validated therapies such as IPT will be even more effective as they incorporate and test new and creative elements.

Family Business-Owning Couples: An EFT View into Their Unique Conflict Culture

This study expands the understanding of business-related tensions within business-owning couples through an interdisciplinary literature review, through a longitudinal data analysis, and through application of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to a case study. Business-owning husbands and wives in this study reported that conflicts related to work/family life balance and unfair distribution of resources (money, time, energy) between family and business systems create the greatest tensions. Low family functionality, wives' role dissatisfaction, transfer of resources from family to business, and husbands' identification of wives as major decision makers were all predictors of wives' higher tension levels. Husbands reported increased tension when wives worked more hours in the business. Three elements of EFT are applied to a family business couple.     

浸润后现代精神的心理治疗模式--焦点解决短期疗法述评

焦点解决短期治疗是近20年逐步发展成熟的心理治疗模式,在西方社会得到了广泛的应用.主要从焦点解决短期治疗的产生背景、基本理念、应用价值及其局限性这三个方面对这种新兴的心理治疗模式作出简单的述评.     

An Exploratory Evaluation of the Family Meal Intervention for Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

Although weight restoration is a crucial factor in the recovery of anorexia nervosa (AN), there is scarce evidence regarding which components of treatment promote it. In this paper, the author reports on an effort to utilize research methods in her own practice, with the goal of evaluating if the family meal intervention (FMI) had a positive effect on increasing weight gain or on improving other general outcome measures. Twenty‐three AN adolescents aged 12–20 years were randomly assigned to two forms of outpatient family therapy (with [FTFM] and without [FT]) using the FMI, and treated for a 6‐month duration. Their outcome was compared at the end of treatment (EOT) and at a 6‐month posttreatment follow‐up (FU). The main outcome measure was weight recovery; secondary outcome measures were the Morgan Russell Global Assessment Schedule (MRHAS), amenorrhea, general psychological symptoms, and eating disorder symptoms. The majority of the patients in both groups improved significantly at EOT, and these changes were sustained through FU. Given its primarily clinical nature, findings of this investigation project preclude any conclusion. Although the FMI did not appear to convey specific benefits in causing weight gain, clinical observation suggests the value of a flexible stance in implementation of the FMI for the severely undernourished patient with greater psychopathology.     

Parents Plus Systemic,Solution‐Focused Parent Training Programs: Description,Review of the Evidence Base,and Meta‐Analysis

Parents Plus (PP) programs are systemic, solution‐focused, group‐based interventions. They are designed for delivery in clinical and community settings as treatment programs for families with child‐focused problems, such as behavioral difficulties, disruptive behavior disorders, and emotional disorders in young people with and without developmental disabilities. PP programs have been developed for families of preschoolers, preadolescent children, and teenagers, as well as for separated or divorced families. Seventeen evaluation studies involving over 1,000 families have shown that PP programs have a significant impact on child behavior problems, goal attainment, and parental satisfaction and stress. The effect size of 0.57 (p < .001) from a meta‐analysis of 10 controlled studies for child behavior problems compares favorably with those of meta‐analyses of other well‐established parent training programs with large evidence bases. In controlled studies, PP programs yielded significant (p < .001) effect sizes for goal attainment (d = 1.51), parental satisfaction (d = 0.78), and parental stress reduction (d = 0.54). PP programs may be facilitated by trained front‐line mental health and educational professionals.     

Addressing Culture,Gender, and Power with Asian American Couples: Application of Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy

Asian Americans juggle the intersections of multiple social identities and societal discourses as they respond to experiences of immigration, marginalization, and patriarchy, integrate collectivist and individualistic family values, and form families and intimate relationships. In this study we examine what we have learned as we apply Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT) with heterosexual couples of Asian heritage. SERT begins with sociocultural attunement and the assumption that relationships should mutually support each partner. Drawing on case examples, we illustrate how we practice sociocultural attunement as couples respond to the relational processes that comprise the Circle of Care (mutual influence, vulnerability, attunement, and shared relational responsibility). We emphasize three key socioemotional themes that intersect with gender: (1) intangible loss; (2) quiet fortitude/not burdening others; and (3) duty to the family.