Behavioural psychotherapy has been demonstrated as the treatment of choice in most forms of serious mental disorders. In some instances it interacts synergistically with drug therapies. The Buckingham Project is a field trial of a comprehensive mental health service that employs behavioural analysis and therapy in the management of all cases of adult disorders occurring in an epidemiologically defined population. A multi-disciplinary team provide in vivo treatment. Results suggest that the incidence and prevalence of major episodes of mental illness have been substantially reduced and that the need for traditional hospital-based care has been minimised. The significance of this project for planning health services and for the future of behavioural psychotherapy is discussed.

This study describes the effectiveness of using, then fading, a response cost procedure to reduce the frequency of persistent nosepicking by a 7-year old boy in a school classroom. The procedure which was employed by the class teacher and a teacher aide was easily implemented. Substantial success was achieved.

Cognitive behaviour therapists have argued that certain types of maladaptive thoughts cause affective distress and psychological problems faced by the individuals. The paper reports on a scale which assesses the degree to which peoples' thoughts and real-life experiences cause negative affect and positive affect (the THARL Scale). The Scale has been found to be a reliable and valid instrument.

Compared to the study of adult fears, childhood fears have not been extensively investigated in terms of their psychophysiological bases. However, limited findings suggest that children exhibit psychophysiological reactivity to fear-eliciting stimuli. Other data suggest that fear imagery produces psychophysiological arousal and that youngsters may be trained in fear imagery. Psychophysiological measures have also been used in the evaluation of desensitisation as seen in a limited number of case studies, single-subject experimental analyses and group outcome comparisons. In general, psychophysiological changes have been reported that are suggestive of reduced autonomic arousal. Methodological and theoretical issues are discussed including the selection of psychophysiological measures and the desynchrony between measures of fear.

A system of assessing social competence based on empirical analysis of a sample of non-referred subjects was applied to a group of subjects referred for social skills training. Scores obtained with the system discriminated between the referred and non-referred subjects. Data also supported the use of the system to evaluate changes which occurred during the course of the training program. However, this finding was not uniform across all subjects. Discussion centres on the variables which might account for this lack of uniformity and on further applications for the system as a research and therapy tool.

The Direct Instruction Corrective Reading Program Comprehension B was taught to an experimental group of 31 Year 6 students at the rate of 2 or 3 lessons per week for 8 months. A comparison group of 26 Year 6 students at an associated school were involved in a variety of literacy activities for equivalent periods of time. The ACER Tests of Learning Ability for Year 6 students were administered to all participants as a pre-test and a post-test. Analyses of the post-test data indicated that the experimental group was superior to the comparison group on the three subtests and the total score. Norm-referenced comparisons showed that the experimental group attained above average levels of performance, which contrasted with the average achievements of the comparison group. This differential was interpreted as evidence that the experimental group made educationally significant gains as a result of undertaking Corrective Reading Comprehension B.