Routine outcome measurement and progress monitoring is well established to enhance quality assurance in clinical psychology service delivery but is not widely used in routine care. A major barrier to more widespread implementation is the lack of public domain, brief, psychometrically sound outcome measures that easily integrate into clinical information systems. The current study assessed a brief 10-item version of the widely used Depression Anxiety Stress (DASS)-42 scale, which we called the Depression Anxiety Stress-10 (DASS-10) scale. In two clinical samples of adults (n = 1036, 445 men, 591 women; and n = 1084, 493 men, 591 women), the DASS-10 had a replicable two-level factor structure, which at the lower level had two factors assessing stress-anxiety and depression, which each loaded onto a superordinate psychological distress scale. The items in the distress score discriminated between a clinical sample (n = 376) and a community sample (n = 379) and were sensitive to clinical change. The measure has the potential to make routine outcome measurement and progress monitoring more cost-effective to implement than existing measures, particularly when integrated with practice management software to make administration, scoring, and use easy.

Emerging research suggests that death anxiety is a transdiagnostic construct, which may underpin a number of mental illnesses. Although cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has been found to be the most effective treatment for death anxiety, no self-guided treatments for this construct exist at present. Furthermore, there is a growing need for accessible, scalable and cost-effective psychological treatments. To address these gaps, we created Overcome Death Anxiety (ODA), an online CBT-based programme which specifically targets fears of death. ODA was designed to be a fully automated, standalone, yet individualised online treatment. The present study outlines the development and structure of this programme using responses from four users to illustrate feasibility. Research is needed to examine the efficacy and usability of ODA with a larger clinical sample.

Given the high prevalence and adverse outcomes associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), development and expansion of effective treatment modalities are important. The present study compared the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy targeting intolerance of uncertainty (CBT-IU) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for treating GAD. A total of 30 Iranian patients with GAD (Mage = 25.16 ± 6.73) were randomised to receive either CBT-IU (n = 15) or SSRI (n = 15). Measures included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), Why Worry-II (WW-II), Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS), and Negative Problem Orientation Questionnaire (NPOQ). Repeated measures analysis of variance tested differential treatment outcomes. The results of intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis indicated that although both CBT-IU and SSRI were effective treatments for GAD, CBT-IU produced significantly better results than SSRI at post-treatment. This clinical trial provides preliminary cross-cultural support for the treatment of GAD using CBT-IU, with findings suggesting that this non-medication intervention reduces GAD symptoms.

Research investigating social anxiety and the impacts on romantic relationships remains scarce. An online questionnaire examining romantic relationship status, social anxiety and depression symptomology, relationship satisfaction, and several relationship processes was completed by 444 adults. Individuals with higher social anxiety were less likely to be in romantic relationships. For the 188 adults in our sample in current relationships, relationship satisfaction was not influenced by social anxiety when controlling for depression. Although it was proposed that self-disclosure, social support, trust, and conflict initiation might influence romantic relationship satisfaction, none of these mechanisms interacted with social anxiety to explain additional variance in relationship satisfaction. These findings indicate that depression symptomology may be a treatment target for socially anxious individuals wishing to improve romantic relationship satisfaction.