Many of the clients being treated by behaviour therapists will also be taking benzodiazepines. The use of these drugs may interact with the problems presented to the behaviour therapist and complicate treatment. In addition the behaviour therapist may be asked to help in managing withdrawal in those who have become dependent on benzodiazepines. The evidence relating to the effects of these drugs and their withdrawal reactions is discussed and suggestions made as to how withdrawal might best be managed.

This paper describes an attempt at retraining continence in elderly psychogeriatric patients using behavioural methods. Thirty patients across four wards were selected and divided equally into experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent a training programme lasting a total of seven weeks whilst the control group continued with the usual nursing procedure.

The results showed no significant differences in frequency of incontinence between the different groups at the end of the programme. However, there were indications that a continence training programme is more likely to be beneficial to those patients who have a low level of incontinence rather than those for whom incontinence is a more severe problem. For these patients, those in the experimental group showed increased levels of incontinence after the training period compared to the control group.

Five obsessive—compulsives who had previously benefited from individual behaviour therapy, but had subsequently relapsed, were included in 10-week group therapy programme designed to re-establish this behavioural approach with particular emphasis upon those factors which appeared to have been related to relapse.

Considerable reductions in ratings of ritualistic behaviour and obsessional thinking were achieved and maintained at one year follow-up, with associated generalization to other areas of personal functioning. Possible prognostic variables were systematically examined. The results are discussed with reference to previous research studies.

This study was designed to investigate the relative effects of two behavioral group treatments on short-term (knowledge and attitude change) and long-term (recidivism) variables among persons with multiple arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Subjects were randomly assigned to a behavioral treatment that was highly-individualized and focused on principles of self-control or to a general behavioral treatment (which focused on alcohol education, relaxation training, and guided reevaluation of situations typically associated with DUI arrests). Results showed that subjects in both groups reported, over treatment, a more frequent use of portable breath test devices for assessing blood alcohol levels and perceived an increased probability of being arrested if they drank and drove. In addition, subjects in the individualized behavioral groups reported that they subsequently spent more time thinking about avoiding DUI. However, the two treatment groups did not differ in their rates of DUI arrest recidivism (which averaged 11.7% per year over the three-year follow-up period). One third of the subjects were rearrested for DUI during the 36-month follow-up period, although there were indications that rearrests may have been delayed as a function of the treatment interventions. Taken together, the data suggest that these drunk-driving recidivists may be responsive to the treatment interventions described herein. Additional research is needed to specify the relative impact of the behavioral techniques utilized in the treatment programs and to identify strategies for maintaining treatment gains over longer periods of time.

The Hyperventilation Syndrome is a common disorder and clinical psychologists will be regularly confronted with it, because the syndrome is closely interwoven with psychological problems. The literature is reviewed with respect to pathophysiology of the complaints, aetiology of the syndrome and treatment. A new developmental model is presented and directions for future research are proposed.

The Functional Performance Record (FPR) identifies and provides a means of recording the actions, behaviour and functioning of those whose independence is reduced either permanently or for prolonged periods by physical or mental or psychiatric disabilities. It is for use in goal setting, evaluating outcomes, monitoring standards of care, service planning and research.

Three years following the initial behavioral—cognitive treatment for a case of writer's block with his Master's thesis, the subject was faced with writing his doctoral dissertation. Without the prompt or assistance of the original therapist, the subject used the task analysis, chaining, distraction control, and reinforcement procedures to successfully complete the writing project, although without using a formal work schedule. The subject's perceptions of these techniques and their effectiveness during the writing of the dissertation are presented and discussed.