Attentional bias and emotional reactivity as predictors and moderators of behavioral treatment for social phobia

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a well-established treatment for anxiety disorders, and evidence is accruing for the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Little is known about factors that relate to treatment outcome overall (predictors), or who will thrive in each treatment (moderators). The goal of the current project was to test attentional bias and negative emotional reactivity as moderators and predictors of treatment outcome in a randomized controlled trial comparing CBT and ACT for social phobia. Forty-six patients received 12 sessions of CBT or ACT and were assessed for self-reported and clinician-rated symptoms at baseline, post treatment, 6, and 12 months. Attentional bias significantly moderated the relationship between treatment group and outcome with patients slow to disengage from threatening stimuli showing greater clinician-rated symptom reduction in CBT than in ACT. Negative emotional reactivity, but not positive emotional reactivity, was a significant overall predictor with patients high in negative emotional reactivity showing the greatest self-reported symptom reduction.     

A comparison of chinchilla auditory evoked response and behavioral response thresholds

The auditory sensitivity of the chinchilla was measured by both a behavioral and auditory evoked-response (AER) procedure. There was no significant difference in either the waveform or the threshold of the AER recorded over the tentorium from awake and anesthetized chinchillas. The chinchilla threshold for pure tones appears to be more sensitive when measured by the behavioral technique than by the AER method. Both the AER and behavioral response of three chinchillas exposed to a 105 dB SPL octave band of noise centered at 2 KHz for 3 h shifted markedly after the exposure. However, the difference between the AER and behavioral response threshold was reduced or absent. During the process of recovery the difference between the two responses begins to reappear.     

Counseling,Risk Taking,and the Learning Process

It is crucial that counselors recognize that the problem-solving process that occurs in a counseling situation is synonymous with classroom learning. It is imperative that counselors understand the nature of the problem-solving process and how to guide and nurture this process, to increase their own effectiveness and their counselees' growth. Understanding the concepts of risk taking and intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement and their relationships to the counselees' problem-solving processes will allow counselors to establish their own counseling approaches and respond to the counselees' learning needs. Jerome Niles is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. Marianne DeVoe is an assistant professor of educational foundations at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.     

Issues in Multicultural Counselor Education

The author argues for a culture-specific program for counselor education with the caveat that within a culture each individual is unique, examines the process of categorization as a possible device in generating cross-cultural understanding, and suggests that education should identify cultural bias to keep it to a minimum.     

Writing content predicts benefit from written expressive disclosure: Evidence for repeated exposure and self-affirmation

Expressive disclosure regarding a stressful event improves psychological and physical health, yet predictors of these effects are not well established. The current study assessed exposure, narrative structure, affect word use, self-affirmation and discovery of meaning as predictors of anxiety, depressive and physical symptoms following expressive writing. Participants (N = 50) wrote on four occasions about a stressful event and completed self-report measures before writing and three months later. Essays were coded for stressor exposure (level of detail and whether participants remained on topic), narrative structure, self-affirmation and discovery of meaning. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software was used to quantify positive and negative affect word use. Controlling for baseline anxiety, more self-affirmation and detail about the event predicted lower anxiety symptoms, and more negative affect words (very high use) and more discovery of meaning predicted higher anxiety symptoms three months after writing. Findings highlight the importance of self-affirmation and exposure as predictors of benefit from expressive writing.     

The BAI–PC as a Screen for Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD in Primary Care

Despite the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in medical settings, mental health problems often go undetected and patients do not receive appropriate treatment. The main goal of this study is to provide additional information about the Beck Anxiety Inventory – Primary Care (BAI–PC), a brief instrument that screens for patients with anxiety. This study provides information on the performance of the BAI–PC as a screening instrument for depression and PTSD in addition to its original purpose as a screening instrument for anxiety. This efficient tool can identify patients who can benefit from effective psychological treatments and facilitate referrals to psychologists working in medical settings.